Roman Ghost Shipwreck Found off Italy’s Portofino After 67 Years
Divers from the Carabinieri underwater unit in Genoa have rediscovered what is believed to be a Roman “ghost shipwreck” off Punta Chiappa, a rocky headland near Camogli in the Portofino Marine Protected Area. The site lies in the Ligurian Sea, on Italy’s north-west coast, a short distance east of Genoa. The divers spotted an intact Roman amphora at a depth of more than 40 metres during a training dive.
Liguria’s underwater archaeology service, STAS Liguria, then surveyed the area and mapped nine Dressel 1A wine amphorae wedged in cracks along a steep underwater cliff. The jars date from the late 2nd to early 1st century BC, when ships carried Italian wine across the western Mediterranean. Two amphorae that were exposed were raised to protect them.
The find is probably the site reported by diving pioneer Duilio Marcante in November 1959 at about 45 metres. When divers went back in May 1960 they could not find it again, amid suspicions that it had been looted, which is how it earned its “ghost” name.
No ship’s hull has been confirmed so far, and the link with the 1959 find remains a working theory. It is not yet known whether more of the wreck survives beneath the cargo.
For seafarers, the discovery is a reminder that the sea lanes off Genoa and La Spezia, still busy with ships today, have carried trade for more than 2,000 years.
