The site is located right in correspondence with the Timpa Nature Reserve of Acireale (CT).
Being a historical wreck, the Diving Center Jonio Pro-Dive Catania has the Nulla Osta issued by the Superintendence for Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the Sea and by the Port Authority of Catania which allow you to carry out guided dives otherwise prohibited.
After navigating for about 20 minutes with the dinghy, the descent takes place along the anchor chain at a depth of about 6 meters, continuing until the seabed overhangs the blue at a depth of 38 meters.
Already at a depth of 20/25 metres, the unmistakable shape of the large upturned ship appears, in all its majesty, to the eyes of the diver.
It is the large propeller and the rudder, facing upwards, that constitute the first elements of the ship with which you come into contact, undoubtedly representing the most suggestive part of the dive which is characterized by an infinite variety of photographic cues also thanks to the colonization present there. During the second part of the dive you go along the side at the point where the ship was probably hit.
From here it is possible to safely enter the wreck for a stretch of approximately 15 meters in a straight line "from light to light".
It is advisable to use an underwater torch as, inside, it is possible to see shrimps and groupers (Epinepheus sp.).
Escaping from another gash near the bow, visible in its entirety since it has not been affected by damage, the ascent begins along the adjacent lava wall following the large chain of the anchor lying on the wall and also rich in marine life.
-History of the Wreck updated in 2021-: Until what time ago and for about thirty years, the history of the Wreck of the Timpa coincided with that of the Terni merchant vessel used by the Regia Marina, during the Second World War, for the transport of materials and supplies from the port of Naples to the ports of eastern Sicily.
From historical artifacts, that motor vessel appeared to have been hit and sunk off Capo Mulini on the evening of 16 June 1943 while it was sailing towards the port of Syracuse from Naples, on a shuttle service to bring supplies to the military in Sicily.
Recently, thanks to the in-depth studies of some local divers and access to the historical documentation of Lloyd's Register of Shipping in London and the subsequent retrieval of valuable documents at the "Japan Center For Asian Historical Records National Archives Of Japan in Tokyo, has finally allowed to determine that the "Wreck of the Timpa" is none other than the "Taikosan Maru", a steamer flying the Japanese flag that sank in the body of water the Timpa of Acireale, in the province of Catania, during the Great War.
