The concentration of vanadium was measured in 35 samples of the epiphytic lichen Parmelia caperata collected along the coast of the Ligurian Sea (Italy), in order to detect the possible bioaccumulation of vanadium due to a huge crude oil burning occurred in that area in 1991. The cartographic elaboration of data shows a pattern of distribution of vanadium concentrations according to different degrees of deviation from background condition, showing that 8 years later memory of the accident is still detectable in foliose lichen thalli.