canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Fosso Pisciarello

River Velino, the main river in Sabina, becomes a true river in Antrodoco plain, thanks to the big karst springs bringing water from the underground of Terminillo, Nuria and Giano mounts. Before Antrodoco the Velino is only a nice mountain stream flowing in a tight rocky valley known as Gorges of Velino. This is a natural way of communication between the two sides of Appennino Range, so here Romans built one of their most important roads: via Salaria.

The karst sides of Gorges of Velino are very poor in water. However a few valleys host streams that are interesting to canyoneers, like Fosso Pisciarello. It has waterflow only in very rainy periods, and/or at snowmelt. It has the typical features of a canyon of Sabina: usually dry, not so tight, many rappels, it developes amidst woods and rocks. Fosso Pisciarello gives the right chance for a beautiful and not scary adventure in Nature.

I remember ...

Canyons can hide themselves very well sometimes. The canyon of Fosso Pisciarello is completely invisible from the outside. Times and times again I passed near it without even realizing there were a valley, a stream. From the outside you see a rocky mountainside covered with woods, and nothing else.

The canyon of Fosso Pisciarello was discovered by Giancarlo Cicconi, a mountaineer who thinks to the mountain as a terrain with no real limitations. Giancarlo plans his itinerary by looking at a topographic map, then he goes there and follows the planned line no matter the walls of blackberry bushes, the landsliding slopes, the rocks laying on the line. Nothing stops him! No place is too infamous for him.

In the second half of eighties the majestic canyons of northern side of Gran Sasso are discovered thanks to Giancarlo's will to follow lines on a map. Thanks to those explorations Gran Sasso revealed a face no one imagined before. On other mountains, unfortunately, the "lines on a map" prooved to be dry gullies hosting sliding stones and impassable blackberry bushes. Giancarlo, however, goes on happy following any blue line on topographic maps.

Anyone has his own way in searching and finding unknown canyons. I have mine, and it brought me to find many unsuspectable canyons, but I have to admit it would never brought me to discover the canyon of Fosso Pisciarello.

Chapeau to Giancarlo!

Photos 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.

Copyright © 2002- Michele Angileri. All rights reserved.