Bathymetric data (Bibliography) indicate that the PVC extends for about 50 km in an E–W direction and has a complex morphology, being composed of several main volcanic edifices (Fig. 1). These data, used to obtain a 3D digital model of the PVC (Fig. 1), highlight: • the different depths of the northern and southern flanks of the PVC, whose seafloor lies respectively at 1,900 m and 3,300 m below sea level. The 1,400 m offset between the two flanks represents the surface expression of a lithospheric fault generated at the tear of the northern edge of the subducting Ionian plate. The southern flank shows widespread morphologies, at various scales, attributable to gravitational and volcano-tectonic collapses; • the flat summit of two volcanic edifices, whose positions at 70 m and 200 m below sea level suggest a phase of emergence during the last glaciation (about 18,000 years ago); • the presence, in the western sector of the PVC, of a caldera collapse within which small volcanic cones affected by intense hydrothermal activity has been detected. Sampling activity (Bibliography) focused on the summit and the south-eastern flank of the PVC recovered a few fragments of volcanic rocks (lavas) and several fragments of sedimentary rocks (pelagic sediments, carbonate hardgrounds, volcanoclastites). Many of the recovered samples are coated with a thin manganese crust. Petrological data indicate a basaltic andesite composition for the recovered lava samples (Fig. 2; Bibliography). .