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canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Vallone di Basilicò

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In the area of the northern Sila that ranges from Paludi to Bocchigliero including the great part of Trionto valley we find limestone marl and flysch instead of granite and gneiss. That makes the landscape quite different from the rest of Sila massif: it reminds the Alto Ionio Calabrese (the mountain area between Villapiana and Rocca Imperiale).
Marl and flysch give particularly beautiful colors to rocks and the water of streams.

The Vallone di Basilicò, with its cascades and emerald pools, give us the chance for admiring the most beautiful features of this particular sector of Sila.

Name	Vallone di Basilicò
Area	Calabria, Sila
Nearest village	Bocchigliero
Entrance altitude (above sea level)	800 m
Exit altitude (above sea level)	340 m
Length	5 km
Longest rappel	29 m
Rock	Limestone, marl, flysch
Rating	5
Shuttle	Needed
Explored by	Michele Angileri, Andrea Pucci; august 19th 2012

I remember ...

For several years, every time I traveled the road from Caloveto to Bocchigliero the eye went to the opposite side of the Laurenzana stream trying to catch some evidence of the existence of a canyon in the Valley of Basilicò. But there was nothing giving a glimpse of substance to this idea.
Nevertheless, the Basilicò continued to inspire me much more than the parallel and very close Vallone Santa Croce. So one summer I went there to make a reconnaissance. The aerial photographs showed a dirt road that reached the confluence of the Basilicò and Laurenzana, and I made my way there. That day, however, was very hot, so hot that I was suffering even in the car with the air conditioning at maximum power. I arrived at the beginning of the dirt road already cooked by the heat, with a principle of a headache, and so when I saw that the dirt road was closed by a gate and realized that I should get me a few miles down the hill and then on the way back uphill under the sun, I gave up.

Years later came the exploration of the Vallone Santa Croce, which turned out to be a beautiful and unusual canyon. The Basilicò is the parallel valley: the same hill, same rock (probably), same height difference ... Anche il Basilicò doveva nascondere al suo interno una bella gola, sebbene invisibile dall'esterno! Like Santa Croce, Basilicò must hide a beautiful canyon though invisible from the outside!

The deduction proved to be correct :-)

Video by Michele Angileri and Andrea Pucci

Photographs in this website show ultralight ropes (6 mm ropes made of high tenacity fibers). Read multimedia book Ultralight ropes canyoning technique to learn how to use them.