The Protected Marine Area of Cinque Terre, facing the five towns, is enclosed between the promontory of Punta Mesco and the Capo of Montenero in Riomaggiore. Established in 1997, includes four municipality, Riomaggiore, Vernazza, Monterosso al Mare, Levanto and the villages of Manarola and Corniglia.
The purpose of are is conserve biodiversity and habitats of the sea of the Cinque Terre. The coastline is characterized by steep cliffs, dry and isolated reefs, inhabited by countless Posidonia oceanica, a plant that forms dense meadows, a place of refuge and breeding for many organisms. Seabed degrade quickly. with rocky soil close to the coastline and sandy to greater depths. Among the gorgonians stands the Eunicella verrucosa, a white gorgonian, rare in the Mediterranean and widespread in the Atlantic Ocean. The steep rocky seabed of Punta Mesco and Capo Montenegro are also rich in corals, including rare black coral.
The Cinque Terre is also home to whales and dolphins, and its waters are included in the Cetacean Sanctuary.

The Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre includes the coastal stretch that runs from Tramonti, right after Portovenere, and Monterosso to the west. Its purpose is to protect and safeguard the territory of the Cinque Terre, deeply modified by man's hard work, where the original vegetation was replaced by terraces planted with vines, supported by a network of dry stone walls of about 6729 kilometers.
The most serious threat of the Cinque Terre is the abandonment to which they are subjected, due to emigration and the decline of the vines. The National Park aims to recover this example of local architecture through the maintenance of viticulture, the only human activity that can preserve this landscape.
The landscape is made up of rocks of different origin and age, marked by lack of flat sections and a high, jagged coastline, poorly recorded by inlets and headlands. The mountains shelter the coast from northern winds, while warm and humid current from the sea climbs to the spurs causing the condensation of water vapor and precipitation on the ridge at high altitude.
The vegetation is very diverse. The original oak forests were partly replaced by terraces or other cultivated plants such as Maritime pine, Aleppo pine, cork and chestnut trees. Along the coast grow the samphire and the caper, while in rural areas stand out the dusty miller and the rue. Among the rocks is easy to see the tree euphorbia. Throughout the area are common shrubs such as rosemary, thyme, everlasting and lavandula and you can also admire arbutus, mastic, spiny broom, myrtle, oak, juniper and red phillyrea, asparagus, sarsaparilla, etruscan and marine honeysuckle.
In terms of wildlife, the park hosts many species. Among mammals we find dormouses, moles, weasels, marten, foxes, badgers and wild boar. Among birds stand herring gull, peregrine falcon and raven. Wooded areas meet reptiles such as the wall lizard, the lizard, the rat snake, the grass snake and the snake of Aesculapius and near streams live frogs and salamanders.