North Italy: A climber’s paradise

North Italy is a climbing dream

We had just finished our week long cycling tour of Puglia ( Italy: How to plan an epic cycling holiday in Puglia ) and now only had two weeks to explore northern Italy. This equated to two weeks of frantic road tripping, pizza eating and gelato guzzling. Somehow I had to squeeze some climbing into the mix. To make things harder, we were travelling with friends who had never been to Italy before (lots of sightseeing in order) and who didn’t like climbing (even more sightseeing required ). Once you add in the rainy May weather and climbing days suddenly became in short supply. And as easily as that I have a happy excuse to go back.

A preword

Before I start, no, sadly I did not climbing everywhere in Northern Italy! Did I get close? Absolutely not. But did I completely and utterly fall in love with Italy? Most definitely!

Umbria

Ferentillo

By chance, our non rock climbing friend was delayed for a few a days. Whilst unfortunate, we were ecstatic at the chance to enjoy some climbing while waiting! So there we are googling places to climb close to Rome, what a choice! If are fortunate enough to live close to a climbing area, you may not understand my excitement… but I came from Perth; where even one climbing area is considered a luxury! So imagine my excitement… multiple climbing areas! All pretty close to Rome. All looking like they offer a good number of climbing routes and suitable grades! Wow. What a great introduction to Italian rock climbing!

The town and fortress

Somehow, we decided on Ferentillo. Ferentillo is a cute town on the way from Rome to Perugia. Two fortresses perch on either side of the town, standing like sentinels watching over the town. Makes for a dramatic sight; and worth a detour even if you’re not into climbing!

You can even stay in the ground of one of the fortresses. We booked a fabulous Airbnb. The buildings are built from the ruins of the fortress and you even get to walk through a medieval archway on your way in. You can easily walk to the tower at the top, giving a feel for what this quiet town once felt like.

The climbing

You’re barely out of the city centre and you reach a climbing area- Isola. Great rock, great excellent climbs and easy access; we were living the dream!

I fully appreciate that some people might not like easy access. To them, the journey to the crag is part of the adventure. I am not one of these people. Sure, there is an appeal of climbing somewhere secluded, where you are not fighting for crag space but give me the option of just rocking up in my car and starting to climb… I’m a sucker for this luxury.

And so it was with Isola. We parked our car on the side of the road, looked up , and there we were. Beautifully bolted climbs. We got climbing.

Two magical days we spent climbing here. The third sadly disrupted by the rain. Would that we could have spent longer here; an epic climbing spot, only a few other climbers about, heaps of routes and we hadn’t even touched the surface of all Ferentillo had to offer. But it was time to move on.

Pale

From the small village is a popular climbing area “Falesia di Pale”. There are multiple small climbing areas scattered around in close proximity. From the village it’s a short 10 minute walk along a scenic path overlooking the valley to get there. While there were some good climbs, this is clearly a popular crag with lots of climbers about. While we still greatly enjoyed the climbs, the business of the area somewhat detracted from our joy as lots of climbs were blocked up. Annoyingly groups seemed to employ the “towel on a pool lounger” technique and left their gear and ropes up while climbing elsewhere, further blocking routes!

In summary, good climbs with gorgeous views (obviously) but too busy.

Gola della Roccheta

Wow. It was pure luck that we happened onto this crag and it was incredible. We were based in Assisi (see my sightseeing in Italy post) and after a few days of city exploring decided it was time for another climbing adventure. Cue google nearby crags.

Gola della Roccheta is a dramatic valley looking town into the city of Gualdo Tadino. To get there you drive all the way through the town and as far along on via della Roccheta as you can. Then walk along the path for just under an hour and you’ve reached the crags. To the right there is a slab climbing area; we used this to warm up- nice easy climbs to get going but with decent views.

Then it was time for the main event. The big wall. To get here you climbed steeply up the cliff; ropes were conveniently in place to help you up. It was like climbing before even climbing. The views from even the base of this climbing area were spectacular! While most the climbs were unfortunately out of our ability the few climbs we did were well worth the hike in! Plus we didn’t have the energy for any more climbs after the adventure in and knowing we had to hike back out again! It was an unreal experience climbing in such isolation with such views!

And yet. Dare I say it: I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Ferentillo for the easy access climbing but I’m not sure I would make hike into Gola Della Roccheta again. Proof that I am a lazy adventurer.

Lake Garda

We winded our way up from Perugia to lake Garda via Venice. Venice, as a famous canal city is not particularly renowned for its cliffs. So compulsory rest days over, we were back to climbing! Or not it would appear. Rain struck yet again.

A kinda climb

Does it count as climbing if we only recced the spot? I’ve decided it did since we fully intended to climb…

Metoga crag, Garda

After a long drive we decided to check out the crag so we wouldn’t waste time the next day hunting how to get there. Multiple wrong turns later and we knew it was a good decision. it tirns out that you cannot reach the crag by driving along the shoreline and heading up. Instead you drive along Via Volpara and park at the crag car park.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/KyLwg5FT892aFhKy6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

From the car park walk along the driveway like road and continue when it becomes a path. Follow it as it turns toward the cliffs and there you are. We clambered around and explored for a while, getting very excited about many climbs we would do the next day before turning around as the sun set.

So how can I recommend this spot if we didn’t climb? Well I can definitely call it a great micro adventure. As for the climbing. Well it looked great. And I wish I could climb there because the views over Garda town and the lake were stunning.

Arco

Arco. The reason we didn’t climb at metoga. Weather once again cut plans short. ( Okay, also a decision to day trip into Switzerland. ) We realised we were one rope short of our plans for climbing in Switzerland, it was raining and we didn’t suddenly didn’t have time to climb at Garda but drove to Arco instead. Do I regret that decision? Absolutely not! Even the drive in the rain would have been worth it.. magical views around every bend! But then arriving to Arco- it was a climber paradise.

Maybe I’m naive, maybe I have spent too long in Australia. But either way, walking around the streets of Arco I felt like a child at Christmas! There were outdoor shops and climbing shops one after another! Perth, a full on city many, many times larger than Arco has not a single climbing store as good as every single one of these! We were hunting for a rope and I have never enjoyed shopping so much!

Arco climbing

Rope bought, weather clearing, we thought we would check out one of the local crags. Again, I was flabbergasted by the choice and I know for certain I will be back to Lake Garda and Arco!

Falesia Belvedere

We wanted something easy and pretty. And did Belvedere deliver. A short walk from the car park ( even I can’t complain about this one) and we reached the crag. It was perfect. Sadly we were in “arm saving mode” so a few easy climbs is all we did. But sometimes, that’s all you need.

Goodbye Italy (for now)

And so that’s our Italian climbing adventure. The final part of our trip included the best day trip to Switzerland but you can read about that in my other post.

I can’t wait to go back. The only questions- to go back to places I’ve been because they were amazing, or to explore the hundreds of climbing areas Italy has to offer!