Indemus.com: sell your artwork in digital format, on the internet

canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Canale San Nocaio

News
Canyons by area

Lazio
Abruzzo
Umbria
Toscana
Molise
Campania
Basilicata
Calabria
Sardegna

Ultralight ropes canyoning technique
Home

In dolomite-limestone mountains of northwestern Calabria we find spots of an unusual kind of rock. It is limestone, but it looks minced by some tremendous cataclysm, broken in small pieces. This rock generates a charming scenery of badlands.
Canyon of Canale San Nocaio is dug in a reef of such a minced limestone. So going through San Nocaio canyon is a good and funny way to appreciate thoroughly the forms and colors made by this unusual kind of rock.

Name	Canale San Nocaio
Area	Calabria, Valle del Lao
Nearest village	Papasidero
Entrance altitude (above sea level)	800 m
Exit altitude (above sea level)	480 m
Length	2500 m
Longest rappel	18 m
Rock	"minced" dolomite limestone
Rating	3 (spring, autumn)
Shuttle	Advisable. Can do without.
Explored by	Michele Angileri, Andrea Pucci; 11 agosto 2008

I remember ...

Canale San Nocaio has two more canyons. The first is about 2 km long, and it's situated 2 km after the end of main canyon (the one described in this page). Rock is the same: minced limestone. Canyon is wide, with trees and bushes inside. Can be covered without ropes, by walking (water at pelvis) and climbing on boulders. It has a good flow-rate and many springs.

Second canyon is at the feet of the village of Papasidero, where San Nocaio joins to river Lao. It is a beautiful dark corridor between high and very compact walls, so tight that you may not realize there's a canyon even when you pass over it, on the bridge of the road to Scalea. It has no cascades, so it can be covered without ropes, like former canyon.

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.