Rock climbing in Northwest Italy around Genova and Liguria

The area around Genova along the North West coast of Liguria district in Italy offers some fantastic places to go rock climbing. The famous crags of Finale Ligure dominate the area, but there are many more crags along this coast, known as the Italian Riviera.

The famous area of Finale Ligure offers fantastic diverse sports climbing of great quality and character, with over 20 crags offering over 2000 routes across a wide range of grades. There is everything from single pitch sports routes to multi-pitch bolted routes up to 250m long that are situated in the hills behind the coastal village of Finale Ligure.

The Ligurian Apennines surround Genova and provide around 30 different crags, which are mainly single pitch sport routes. Many of these climbing areas are on the coast, making for relaxed sea cliff climbing in a warm Mediterranean climate. The Ligurian Appennines extend north of Genova in a series of valleys where again there are many single pitch sport routes.

For dramatic sea cliff climbing the crags of Muzzerone between Sestri Levante and La Spezia offer a wide choice of routes. These range from single pitch routes on slabs to steep and overhanging multi-pitch routes across a wide range of grades.

Here the rock climbing is on very good quality limestone rock that has recently been re-bolted. All the routes are described in the guidebook, called "Muzzerone E Levante Ligure", which is available to buy from our shop. The Muzzerone area has always been popular due to its dramatic landscape and easy access to some fantastic sea cliff rock climbing.

Close to the French border is the town of Cuneo. Running from here are a series of valleys that include many excellent crags including Andonno. The vast majority of these crags provide single pitch sport routes that are ideal for climbers of all abilities, with plenty of routes across all grades. Andonno is the best and most extensive crag in the Cuneo area. The climbing is mainly single pitch routes on good quality limestone rock. There are over 270 routes with the vast majority of these in F6a to F7c grade range. This area is covered by the Andonno E Cuneese guidebook, which is available from our shop.

Further along the coast from Finale towards the French border are a series of valleys running into the hills behind the sea. Over the years these have become known as the OltreFinale crags, which as the name suggest are the alternative crags to Finale Ligure. In total there are 5 valleys, which are Val Varatella, Val Nimbalto, Val Pennavaire, Valle Argentina and Val Nervia. Together this combined area has 80 climbing sectors and over 2,000 routes across a wide range of grades on solid limestone rock. The climbing is mainly single pitch sports routes though there are some bolted multi-pitch routes up to 170m long. There are also around 300 limestone boulder problems at Triora in the Massi di Loreto region. 

The best bouldering area in the Genova area is at Varazze. Varazze is situated between Genova and Savona, with all the problems on metamorphic rock (similar type to the Alps). There are over 1,100 documented problems with the vast majority of these in the Font 6a to Font 7b. The best time to boulder at Varazze is between September and May. 

To the west of Genova rising above the village of Castelnuovo ne’ Monti is the sandstone buttress of Bismantova. Here there are many bolted multi-pitch routes between 100m and 150m long in the beautiful setting of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine National Park. The Pietra di Bismantova rock climbing guidebook covers this area and details around 250 routes, which is available to buy from our shop.

The Genova area covers a lot of different and varied climbing, which are covered by different guidebooks. These guidebooks can be bought from our shop.

Genova Climbing season - The best time of the year to visit to go rock climbing the Genova area is in the autumn and spring. The winter is also a good time though a little more thought is required in choosing a crag that will be in the sun. During the summer it would be just too hot.

Getting to this area is very easy with a major international airport at Genova, called Cristoforo Colombo Airport. Alternatively a little further away is Turin airport. A hire car is essential to visit many of the crags.