Portofino might be a high-flying town, but it offers British divers the chance to enjoy budget-priced diving getaways. It has also now welcomed back a greatly missed underwater icon - no, not Zac Macaulay, he just went along to watch more...

Gavin Parsons takes a short break to rediscover Italy and is pleasantly surprised by the high-quality diving and the low-budget price. Might Portofino suit you next year? more...

Southern Italy has much to offer the holidaymaker, as they say on those TV travel programmes, but did you realise that diving was on the agenda? John Bantin has travelled down to Sicily, sampling caverns and wreck-diving in Scopello and profuse marine life in steeply sloping Ustica more...

Midway between French Corsica and Italian Sardinia, John Bantin finds huge groupers flourishing among the rocks of Levezzi and a plethora of wrecks within the borders of Italy more...