The main goal of cruise CORSARO was the collection of bio-geological and hydrological data from the Santa Maria di Leuca (SML) deep-water coral province in the Ionian Sea.In addition to the study of this site, CORSARO carried out the exploration of sectors of the Southern Adriatic marging identifying new deep-water sites, although all pre-modern. A variety of living and dead white corals (Lophelia, Madrepora, Desmophyllum and Caryophyllia) were collected at SML and in the Adriatic. These materials will be functional to paleoceanographic-based geochemical (stable isotopes, trace and minor elements) studies. Corals are also useful for assessing the genetic connectivity of Mediterranean coral banks at present but also in a temporal projection though the application of paleogenetic evaluation (based on degraded DNA).