Climbing and Deep-Water Soloing in Sicily

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Climbing in Sicily? As well as its nature, sea and great cultural heritage, Sicily also offers those passionate about climbing with big ambitions some wonderful limestone rocks to climb.

Climbing and DWS reward you with thrilling experiences in evocative places whose multifaceted solid rock faces are never as crowded as the cliffs in other parts of Italy.

Sicily’s sport climbing capital is San Vito Lo Capo (Trapani). With its rock faces a stone’s throw from an uncommonly alluring sea, this is where the best climbers in Europe gather in autumn every year for the San Vito Climbing Festival.

San Vito Lo Capo, famous for its beach and nature reserve, the Riserva Naturale Orientata dello Zingaro, offers many opportunities for lovers of this sport: from Custonaci to Cala Firriato there’s an uninterrupted succession of routes for climbers of all levels.

The faces of Monte Monaco, just outside the town of San Vito, also have classic and modern “multipitch” routes with spectacular views.

For lovers of Deep-Water Soloing the area has Cala Firriato: here the most daring, free from ropes, can climb the cliffs above the sea caves over crystal-clear waters.

Palermo also has a great variety of cliffs: the favourites are Schiavo, Valdesi, Mariella Crack’n Up, Preistoria, Anfiteatro on Monte Pellegrino and Bauso Rosso on Monte Gallo.

Moving towards eastern Sicily, in the Madonie Regional Nature Park, you can climb Monte d’Oro in Collesano and the Rocca di Sciara in Caltavuturo.

In the Nebrodi National Park there’s the Rocche del Crasto, Rocca Calanna and Rocca Traura, all with uncommonly beautiful rock faces immersed in rugged wild terrain, where eagles and griffons hover undisturbed.

From If you go down to the sea from Taormina, you can climb from the beach itself in the small, but picturesque Stockholm beach area.

There are no cliffs suitable for sports climbing in the Catania area because of the poor quality of the rock. There’s only a small face of very smooth, compact basalt on Etna in the Zafferana Etnea area around Acqua Rocca degli Zappini. This has short climbs on ready-prepared single-pitch routes. In the village of Ragalna you can climb indoors on artificial walls and in Catania there are the artificial indoor walls of the university sports centre, CUS Catania.

The Siracusa and Ragusa area is dominated by enchanting canyons, known as “cave”, in which you climb immersed in the silence of nature. Around Siracusa there’s Cavadonna, Arena, Gole della Stretta, Cava Grande, Nome e Cognome and Antro dell’Eco, and Timpa Rossa in Rosolini.

The most well-known cliffs of Ragusa are Ambiguità, Laddinara, Umpa Lumpa, Pandora and Cava D’Ispica.

Siracusa is the leading location for lovers of Deep-Water Soloing: every year, fans of DWS from all over Europe gather to climb above the sea in the enchanting inlets in its cliffs and over the caves in the PlemmirioMarine Protected Area.

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