| Rock
Climbing in Southern Italy The rock climbing in
southern Italy is very diverse from single pitch sports routes
to long multi-pitch routes up to 350m long that have a mixture
of fixed gear plus placing Trad gear on good quality limestone
rock. There is also a large bouldering area on classic sandstone
rock.
The majority of the sports routes are on the northeast region
of Puglia, which has a Mediterranean climate of warm winters
and hot summers. Therefore the ideal time to visit is from
the autumn through to the spring. In total there are 10 separate
crags in this region, with routes available across a good
selection of grades.
However go further south into the Calabria region it becomes
very mountainous with the rock climbing at an altitude over
1000m. This is where the long multi-pitch routes are with
the crag at Monte Alpi offering routes up to 350m long and
at Pietra S. Angelo they are up to 230m long. In this mountainous
area the rock climbing is ideal in the summer as there is
snow during the winter.
The large sandstone bouldering of Bosco Gallipoli is situated
in forests between Potenza and Matera. The woods are at a
low altitude and the winter rarely sees snow making this an
ideal year round location as the leaf cover allows acceptable
climbing conditions even in the hotter periods. |
