Il Medico

Il Medico is Ustica's signature dive — a volcanic wall and pinnacle system on the island's northwestern tip where the marine reserve's strictest protection zone has produced grouper of astonishing size and number. Giant grouper — locally called cernia — hover between divers with zero fear, their bulk casting shadows across the reef. Posidonia meadows at the base transition upward through gorgonian-draped ledges to a current-swept pinnacle top crowded with bream and damselfish.