Rock climbing in the Marches Region of Italy

The Marches region of Italy (or Le Marche in Italian) is a well-known tourist area of Italy. The Marches are located in Central Italy on the Adriatic coast with many blue flag beaches, castles, and towns like Ancona, Urbino, Pesaro, and Ascoli Piceno. Rising up from the coast are the Umbria-Marches Apennines where there are many excellent limestone crags. This makes the Marches region an excellent place to spend a few days rock climbing as part of your general holiday. The map shows the main rock climbing areas in the Marches region of Italy.

The largest crags in the Marches region are Furlo, Cingoli, Falcioni, Gola di Frasassi, Pioraco and San Giorgio. In total there are over 60 limestone crags, with the rock climbing typically being single pitch sport routes. However at crags such as Gola di Frasassi there are multi-pitch bolted routes up to 170m long and at Falcioni there are routes up to 150m long. The climbing suits all styles and requirements across a wide range of grades.

The crags in the Marches are located at altitudes typically ranging between 300m and 700m and face many different orientations. The best time to climb in the Marches is from early autumn through to late spring, as it is always possible to find either the sun or shade depending upon the temperature. 

There is a comprehensive guidebook called “Calcare di Marca” that covers 66 different crags in the Marches region of Italy. Buy this guidebook from our shop.

South of the Marches Region, near the towns of the Teramo and L’Aquila is the Gran Sasso National Park. The Gran Sasso National Park is one of the best places to go bouldering in the summer in Italy, and is in fact the most famous limestone bouldering area in the country. Here the fantastic limestone rock has been sculptured by the wind and rain to provide a multitude of different problems. The bouldering is at an altitude between 1,500m and 2,500m making it a perfect place to go bouldering in the summer. There are 4 main bouldering areas in the Gran Sasso National Park, which are Monte Aquila, Val Maone, Vallone delle Cornacchie, and Valle del Monte. Further east is the Vado di Sole area, and to the north is the sandstone area of Poggio Umbricchio.

A definitive guidebook covers the bouldering at Gran Sasso, called “Magia di Calcare” that can be bought from our shop.