The Rockfax Sicily sport climbing guidebook covers the climbing areas around San Vito and Palermo.

Buy this Rockfax Sicily sport climbing guidebook from our shop.


The Di Roccia di Sole - Climbing in Sicily Guidebook, Crags covers 123 single-pitch sport crags throughout Sicily, including the crags around Siracusa and Ragusa in eastern Sicily.

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Rock Climbing in Sicily

Rock climbing in Sicily offers everything from big wall multi-pitch rock climbing to single pitch sports routes, with the added bonus of visiting an island steeped thousands of years of civilization and culture. The rock climbing here offers a great sense of adventure and there is a warmth and hospitality from the islands population that is always willing to help tourists and foreigners. The rock climbing on Sicily is generally found along the northern and eastern coastlines, and can be broken down into 4 main areas:

1 – Trapani – San Vito Rock Climb Area

Near Trapani is one of the most famous seaside resorts of Sicily called San Vito Lo Capo. Along the coast on the west side of San Vito lo Capo is a great coastal cliff nearly 4km long, called Scogliera di Salinella.  This cliff has over 800 high quality single pitch sport routes on a mixture of limestone and marble rock. The climbing is varied with tufas, holes, slabs, overhangs, caves and cracks across a wide range of grades (F3a to F9a). However most of these routes are in the easy to mid-grade range, with around half the routes graded at F6b+ and below.

Rising up from San Vito lo Capo is Monte Monaco and Pizzo Monaco, where there is a mixture of bolted and trad multi-pitch routes between 150m to 400m long as well as single-pitch sport routes.  There are other crags around the San Vito area such as Macari, Castelluzzo, and Custonaci.

Apart from the very hot summer months, it is possible to climb at San Vito throughout the year, though the ideal time is from October to mid-May, as most of the crags face west. The San Vito Lo Capo area is perfect for combining a sun, sea and rock climbing holiday.

Map of the Rock Climbing Areas of Sicily

Map of the Rock Climbing Areas of Sicily

Rockfax Sicily sport climbing guidebook2 – Palermo Rock Climbing Area

Rising up within the city of Palermo is the mountain of Monte Pellegrino, and is the largest climbing area in Sicily. This mountain is over 600m high and extends from south to north for several kilometres, offering a continuous sequence of limestone walls exposed on every side. The majority of the climbing is on the west side of the mountain and in all there are 9 major crags, offering single pitch and multi-pitch routes up to 200m long. There are 100’s of sport routes here, as well as long classic routes, making it the most important rock climbing area in southern Italy. However there are still enormous possibilities for new routes and long stretches of the wall are still untouched.

Palermo multi-pitch climbing guidebookTo the north of Palermo and rising from the sea is Monte Gallo. It is an isolated mountain consisting of a number of different peaks, with some walls up to 300m high. The rugged nature of the mountain and its steep walls mean it has an Alpine feel to it, offering adventurous multi-pitch climbing.  The vast majority of the routes require trad gear such as cam and nuts, though the belays usually have some sort of fixed gear. The climbing is mainly concentrated on the Monte Santa Margherita and Quota 280 (the triangle on Monte Galle) areas with routes between 100m and 300m long on good quality limestone rock.  The Palermo multi-pitch climbing guidebook describes a selection of routes on Monte Gallo and is available to buy from our shop.

3 – Messina Rock Climbing Area

Di Roccia di Sole - Climbing in Sicily Guidebook, CragsIn the northeast side of Sicily the rock climbing around Messina consists of 11 separate limestone crag. Here there is a combination of sea cliffs and multi-pitch bolted routes up to 150m long. The largest crag is at Castelmola, near Taormina, which offers nearly 80 single pitch sport routes across a good selection of grades.

4 – Siracusa – Ragusa Rock Climbing Area

Siracusa is the 3rd largest climbing area in Sicily that is situated around the Monti Iblei plateau.  The main climbing area is called Canicattini that has many canyons, up to 200m deep, offering over 400 routes across all grades on limestone rock.  The style of climbing is mainly single-pitch sport routes, however, at Monti Climiti there are bolted routes up to 100m long with 9 different crags spread out on 3 sides of the mountain.

Ragusa represents another significant climbing area in Sicily.  Again, the climbing is situated in canyons with Cava d’Ispica and Modica being the main climbing areas.  There are 100’s of single-pitch sport routes across a wide range of grades on limestone rock.

Rock Climbing in Sicily - Logistics

The ideal time to visit Sicily to go rock climbing is from autumn right through to spring. It is not unusual to be climbing in shorts and t-shirt on beautiful crags overlooking the sea during the winter months.

For the majority of the multi-pitch and all of the single pitch sports routes at least a 70m rope is recommended, with around 15 quickdraws. However for some of the multi-pitch routes it would be advisable to take 2 half 60m ropes and trad gear such as nuts and cams.

Average Peak Temperature for Palermo, Sicily

Sport climbing in Sicily - San Vito lo Capo GuidebookRock climbing guidebooks for Sicily.

The largest guidebook covering all of Sicily is called "Di Roccia di Sole/Climbing in Sicily - Crags", and it describes 123 single-pitch sport climbing areas across the island.  Di Roccia di Sole - Crags is the only guidebook covering the climbing around Siracusa and Ragusa. There are 3 other guidebooks that only cover the sport climbing around San Vito. These are called “Sicily Rock – San Vito Sport Climbing”, “Sport climbing in Sicily - San Vito lo Capo”, and “Rockfax Sicily Guidebook”.  The “Palermo multi-pitch climbing guidebook” covers a selection of adventurous multi-pitch routes on Monte Gallo.  All of these guidebooks are available to buy from our shop.

  • Sicily rock climbing photograph – Bella Senz'anima, F7c
  • Sicily rock climbing photograph – Bolt Products, F6c+
  • Sicily rock climbing photograph – Per Nostre Amici, F6a+
  • Sicily rock climbing photograph – The Wish F7c
  • Sicily rock climbing photograph – Tower Piller, F6a
  • Sicily rock climbing photograph – Stargate, F7c

To view a larger photograph showing the variety of rock climbing and sport climbing to be found around on the island of Sicily, please click on the thumbnail images.

The Rockfax Sicily sport climbing guidebook covers the climbing areas around San Vito and Palermo.

Buy this Rockfax Sicily sport climbing guidebook from our shop.


The Di Roccia di Sole - Climbing in Sicily Guidebook, Crags covers 123 single-pitch sport crags throughout Sicily, including the crags around Siracusa and Ragusa in eastern Sicily.

Buy this guidebook from our shop.

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