Map of the rock climbing areas in southern Italy

Rock Climbing Areas of Southern Italy

The rock climbing in the southern part of Italy is not as popular or as developed as that of the north of the country. Hence there is more scope to put up new routes in these areas. The more popular rock climbing areas are described below:

Rock Climbing Around Matera and Bari
The sports climbing in this area is generally single pitch routes on well bolted limestone rock. Including the area around Foggia, there are 9 major crags, all of which offer routes across all grades. The area is low lying and therefore is ideal from autumn through to the spring.

Rock Climbing Between Potenza and Cosenza
The rock climbing between Potenza and Cosenza is at an altitude of between 1,000m and 1,600m, and is therefore ideal for rock climbing during the summer. There is a good mixture between single pitch sports routes to long multi-pitch routes up to 350m long, across all grades. In total there are 11 major crags in this area.
To the east of Potenza is an extensive sandstone bouldering area, which is at an altitude 300m. The boulders are in woods making this an ideal destination throughout the year.

All of these crags described above are included in the guidebook, called " A Sud", which covers all of southern Italy and is available to buy from our shop.

Rock Climbing in Sicily

Just outside of the capital Palermo is Monte Pellegrino, described as the most important rock climbing area in southern Italy. The limestone crags offer everything from single pitch sports routes and multi-pitch bolted routes over 200m long. To the north of Palermo is Monte Gallo which offers big wall bolted routes up to 370m long. The crags around Monti Climiti, near Siracusa, in the southeast of Sicily, offer single and multi-pitch routes up to 140m long.
Rock climbing in Sicily is not for the faint hearted though it does offer a great sense of adventure. Due to the relative poor road infrastructure compared with the rest of Italy and the great distances involved it is necessary to stay at least a week. However you will be assured to be away from the crowds and enjoy everything from big wall multi-pitch rock climbing to single pitch sports routes. The ideal time to visit is from autumn right through to spring. The Sicily rock climbing guidebook, which describes all the sports routes on the island of Sicily is available to buy from our shop.

Rock Climbing around Napoli (Naples)

Along the coast just outside of Napoli is some fantastic sea cliff climbing. Situated around the towns of Gaeta, Circeo, Sperlonga and Moneta the rock climbing is mainly multi-pitch, which the majority is situated on the coast itself.