Pietra del Toro - bouldering in Southern Italy

One of the main rivers in Basilicata, the river Basente, flows past high peaks and the towns of Pietrapertosa and Castelmezzano on the one side, and Campomaggiore on the other.

Thanks to the inexorable erosive action and the inevitable landslides a series of boulders of all shapes and sizes have created an enormous playground for climbers, and hidden deep in the forest of the Gallipoli Cognato and Campomaggiore parks lie numerous different bouldering areas. At present the biggest is located at Pietradeltoro and this boasts over 500 problems from 4C to 8B , many of which were crushed by the powerful fingers of Michele Caminati and Mauro Calibani, the latter having played an important role in developing the area right from the outset. The boulders vary in height up to 7m and great attention has been placed on preparing the landing areas, with works comparable to building the pyramids in Egypt.

Despite being immersed in the forest, the boulders are situated at an altitude which ranges from 3 to 600m and climbing is therefore not recommended in summer but if it's raining or snowing up north then you can almost all always climb with just a T-shirt down here in Southern Italy. Having said that, bring a fleece jacket just in case.

- Bouldering area Pietra del Toro


Basilicata Bloc Fest 2010 by Michele Caminati