Underwater Sculptures Revive Marine Life in Tuscany
There’s a fisherman off the coast of Tuscany who’s been fighting illegal trawlers not with politics, but with marble adn underwater sculptures. In a small bay near Talamone, where the Tyrrhenian Sea once teemed with fish, Paolo Fanciulli has built something extraordinary – a sculpture park beneath the waves. It’s both beautiful and blocking some of the most destructive fishing methods still active in European waters.
The fight against bottom trawling has been going on for decades. It’s a practice that drags heavy nets across the seabed, scooping up everything in its path, fish, plant life, habitats, you name it. In the UK, it’s still allowed in many marine protected areas, despite growing pressure to ban it completely. In Tuscany, Fanciulli decided he’d seen enough.
“I grew up on this water. When I was a boy, the sea was full of life. Now, it’s like a desert,”
he said recently. His father had fished in the same bay. Over the years, they watched the fish stocks dwindle as illegal trawlers moved in, particularly at night when enforcement was weak.
At first, he tried reporting it. Then protesting. Then blockading a nearby commercial fishing port. Nothing worked. So in the early 2000s, he started dropping concrete blocks into the sea to damage trawling nets. And they worked. However, it was a limited fix, until an idea foe underwater sculptures struck.
Why not turn the blocks into sculptures?
By teaming up with artists and using donated marble from the same quarry once used by Michelangelo, he created an underwater museum – Casa dei Pesci, the House of the Fish. The works, carved by sculptors from across Europe, now sit in around eight metres of water, visible to divers and even snorkelers on clear days. Many are already covered in algae and coral, becoming part of the marine ecosystem.
The impact of the underwater sculptures has been more than aesthetic. Since the sculptures went in, illegal trawling has dropped sharply in the area. Fish have returned. Seagrass meadows, essential to oxygenation and biodiversity, are growing again. One sculpture shows a man curled around a fish, a nod to the bond between humanity and nature. Another features enormous eyes watching the surface, a reminder that the sea is no longer unwatched.
Back on land, Fanciulli runs Pescaturismo, a form of fishing tourism where visitors spend the morning on his boat learning about the sea, the fish, and why preserving it matters. The trips help fund more sculptures, with five more expected to be placed this summer.
The underwater museum is now a popular destination. However, the project was never just about drawing tourists but about restoring the marine world one sculpture at a time. And it’s working.
Closer to home, bottom trawling continues in many parts of UK waters, including within designated marine protected zones. As the campaign to limit or ban it altogether gains momentum, Fanciulli’s approach might offer inspiration. Art as a shield, beauty as a barrier.
His message is simple: “We have to protect the sea. It protects us back.”
While local activism has been at the heart of Paolo Fanciulli’s efforts, international organisations continue to highlight the urgency of protecting marine ecosystems from practices like bottom trawling. The Blue Marine Foundation offers further insights into how seagrass meadows, like the ones Fanciulli fights to protect, are vital not just for marine biodiversity but also for carbon capture and coastal survival.
Watch the Story Behind the Sculptures
L’arte dell’attivismo is a short film that follows Paolo Fanciulli’s remarkable journey from a traditional Tuscan fisherman to an ocean activist using underwater art to protect the coastline. The documentary is part of a broader campaign encouraging governments to end destructive fishing practices. It captures not only the environmental importance of his work, but also the personal determination behind it.
For more positive news and updates on marine conservation visit, EyeOnLondon. We’d love to hear your views in the comments.
[Image Credit | Benjamin Jones]
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