Italian Sport Climbing in April

There's a via ferrata up the Colodri that I climbed easily without a kit (i.e., tethers), but buying one does open up other opportunities. I rented a bike from a guy named Fabrizio (there was a bike shop in the middle of town, by what was the only climbing shop at the time; I think it was called Goby Sport) to get around town and to the neighboring areas. The ride up to Massone was a little steep but doable. It nice for exploring the valley on rest days though. Jerry Moffat liked to drive his Motoguzzi really fast on the backroads in that area.

I lived in Sicily for 1.5 years. I've seen almost every crag on the island. Almost all the pages on here for Sicily were published by me. I picked up the guidebook 'A Sud', which is dedicated to the crags in southern Italy, crossed the Strait of Messina via ferry in my car, and followed the guide to a few of the crags, with the little time I had. I didn't roam around southeastern Italy, I visited some crags further west. I never saw a soul at the crags I visited. I've seen huge single pitch walls with big boulders lying around them, but covered in vegetation.
I've seen enormous single pitch sport walls along the coast of Sperlonga. I climbed a 3 pitch sport route on a sea wall in Sorrento. I visited Arco, made some friends there, saw a couple of great gear shops there, climbed single and multipitch (with summit logs). You're going during a great time of year! I'd love to go back. Maybe I'll join you if life permits.

Nick Votto wrote:Also.....if you wanted to pull a really cool move you could fly from Naples to Sardegna (Cagliari) for super cheap and then fly over to Venice. It'll cost you a bit more but gas and tolls in Italia are so expensive that flying is often close to the same cost. The climbing there is world class

I've been climbing there and have a friend there that is very friendly and speaks perfect English. Man! I miss that place!

Paul Hutton wrote: I've been climbing there and have a friend there that is very friendly and speaks perfect English. Man! I miss that place!

Cala Gonone is probably my favorite place I've ever climbed....magical!

Ken Noyce wrote:we'll probably drop Naples from the trip, and yes, we will definitely be renting a car!

Renting a car (and operating a car with gas and tolls) is expensive. Especially if you're going to pick it up in Rome and drop it in Venice.

But really you need it if you're going to get to the climbing areas.

Parking is tricky. Navigating the ancient convoluted streets of any substantial city is frustrating (even with a GPS?) - better to just stop at a parking garage on the outskirts and walk or train in from there. Like some places in USA, need to think about strategies for not having your car broken into.

A way to avoid the one-way drop-off extra rental charges might be to fly in and out of Milano, drive S down to Florence and Tuscany - (skipping Rome). Then N + E making your way to Venice and Arco (with various stops along the way). Then it's fast and easy to drive the autostrada / interstate from Venice back to Milano (the bigger airport is a ways NW from the city).
. . (If need to fit in both Rome and Venice in one trip, then it's hard to avoid a drop-off charge).
. . (perhaps fly into Rome see the city no car, train to Milano, rent car there, fly home from MXP).
. . (or might combine Amalfi / bay of Naples + island of Sardegna + Rome city / region on a separate trip?)

Naples bay and Amalfi coast is beautiful interesting area. Just not the main city and its close neighbors - (and want to have some strategies to avoid crime).
Better to spend several days around there and see the bay and Vesuvius from different angles, do some hiking + climbing on the Amalfi coast, take ferries to some islands. A wonderful day for Sharon and me was riding our tandem bike W to E on the Amalfi coast road.

But unless you need to say you saw the ruins of Pompeii (or perhaps if you've read the book Gomorrah), Naples doesn't make sense as a quick stop on a "grand tour" of Italy.

Ken

Renting a car makes sense depending on where you go and what you intend to do. Last time I was in Italy was on the honeymoon. We reserved a car for a couple of days to drive around Tuscany from our base in Florence. We actually only ended up using it one day (in part because it was REALLY tricky figuring out how to get in and out of Florence) but it was a glorious day. Wine tasting and castle touring in Montalcino, the Abbey at Monte Oliveto. Really kick ass. In contrast, on the same trip, we went to the north and the Dolomite, but without a car. While we had a great base in the Dolomites, Corvara, it was virtually impossible to get to any trails or via ferrata because of the lack of a car (which most of the British and German tourists seemed to have by the way). That was a big disappointment.

Fat Dad wrote:Renting a car makes sense depending on where you go and what you intend to do. Last time I was in Italy was on the honeymoon. We reserved a car for a couple of days to drive around Tuscany from our base in Florence. We actually only ended up using it one day (in part because it was REALLY tricky figuring out how to get in and out of Florence) but it was a glorious day. Wine tasting and castle touring in Montalcino, the Abbey at Monte Oliveto. Really kick ass. In contrast, on the same trip, we went to the north and the Dolomite, but without a car. While we had a great base in the Dolomites, Corvara, it was virtually impossible to get to any trails or via ferrata because of the lack of a car (which most of the British and German tourists seemed to have by the way). That was a big disappointment.

Great info about the car. WE are still debating which portions of the trip to rent a car for and which we can get by with public transportation so that's great information!

kenr wrote: Renting a car (and operating a car with gas and tolls) is expensive. Especially if you're going to pick it up in Rome and drop it in Venice. But really you need it if you're going to get to the climbing areas. Parking is tricky. Navigating the ancient convoluted streets of any substantial city is frustrating (even with a GPS?) - better to just stop at a parking garage on the outskirts and walk or train in from there. Like some places in USA, need to think about strategies for not having your car broken into. A way to avoid the one-way drop-off extra rental charges might be to fly in and out of Milano, drive S down to Florence and Tuscany - (skipping Rome). Then N + E making your way to Venice and Arco (with various stops along the way). Then it's fast and easy to drive the autostrada / interstate from Venice back to Milano (the bigger airport is a ways NW from the city). . . (If need to fit in both Rome and Venice in one trip, then it's hard to avoid a drop-off charge). . . (perhaps fly into Rome see the city no car, train to Milano, rent car there, fly home from MXP). . . (or might combine Amalfi / bay of Naples + island of Sardegna + Rome city / region on a separate trip?) Naples bay and Amalfi coast is beautiful interesting area. Just not the main city and its close neighbors - (and want to have some strategies to avoid crime). Better to spend several days around there and see the bay and Vesuvius from different angles, do some hiking + climbing on the Amalfi coast, take ferries to some islands. A wonderful day for Sharon and me was riding our tandem bike W to E on the Amalfi coast road. But unless you need to say you saw the ruins of Pompeii (or perhaps if you've read the book Gomorrah), Naples doesn't make sense as a quick stop on a "grand tour" of Italy. Ken

Yeah, I just talked to the wife about this and she really wants to see pompeii. We are looking into the option of flying from venice to naples as there appear to be very cheap flights which would help to avoid the one way rental fees and such. Thanks again for all the info!

Ken Noyce wrote:she really wants to see pompeii.

Then I suggest, Do it Right.
Spend several days, with a base well outside the main city. We stayed in Salerno, but our focus was on road-cycling. There are at least two train lines into the city.
For sure drive the Amalfi coast road.
Check for sport climbing nearby.
Anyway there are some great hikes along the Amalfi coast.
Perhaps visit the island of Capri.

For the full cultural experience which your wife deserves, she ought to read in advance this book:
Gomorrah, by Roberto Saviano.
. . (my Italian immigrant friend here in USA says she can't read it, because her family is from that area and the book is true).

Ken

kenr wrote: Then I suggest, Do it Right. Spend several days, with a base well outside the main city. We stayed in Salerno, but our focus was on road-cycling. There are at least two train lines into the city. For sure drive the Amalfi coast road. Check for sport climbing nearby. Anyway there are some great hikes along the Amalfi coast. Perhaps visit the island of Capri. For the full cultural experience which your wife deserves, she ought to read in advance this book: Gomorrah, by Roberto Saviano. . . (my Italian immigrant friend here in USA says she can't read it, because her family is from that area and the book is true). Ken

Cool, I'll definitely suggest it. Thanks again!

Ken, have you made any more progress on a climbing ideas on the Amalfi Coast? I'm in the same boat as you, traveling there in late June and hoping to climb something! I've found a few websites of guide/climbing organizations there. Seems like many parts of the Amalfi Coast and Capri have deep-water soling, but I can't find much on beta for accessing those areas.

I'm not planning to take any gear beyond shoes so I thought DWS would be an awesome option. Looks like you have a few months on me as far as research, I'd love to hear anything you found!

DamnitHiggins wrote:Ken, have you made any more progress on a climbing ideas on the Amalfi Coast? I'm in the same boat as you, traveling there in late June and hoping to climb something! I've found a few websites of guide/climbing organizations there. Seems like many parts of the Amalfi Coast and Capri have deep-water soling, but I can't find much on beta for accessing those areas. I'm not planning to take any gear beyond shoes so I thought DWS would be an awesome option. Looks like you have a few months on me as far as research, I'd love to hear anything you found!

Unfortunately, we decided to skip the amalfi coast and instead are going to be spending some time up in Arco and doing more northern italy stuff, so I kind of stopped researching that area shortly after the end of this thread. Good luck!

Anyone on this post going to be in Italia in June?? May be spending the month there, based in the north. Cheers