canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Fosso di Galantina

Fosso di Galantina is among the main streams going down Monti Sabini to river Tevere. It flows in a really fascinating area, with rupestrian hermitages lost in mediterranean bush. The almost abandoned medieval village of Roccantica looks at Galantina from above.

I remember ...

The countryside of Roccantica, a small village at the foot of Sabini Mounts, always fascinates me by its beauty. There's everything nice here: mediterranean woods, little mediaval villages and remains, the sweet sun, a fire-red sky at sunset, ancient paths sometimes dug in the rock ... Somewhere in the forest you may find a forgotten rupestrian hermitage, a cavern, a karst pit ... there are some canyons too! nice and mild like all the rest here.

Among the numerous excursions I did in Sabini Mounts there was the ones to explore Fosso di Galantina. The first was to verify it was really a canyon and to understand which access path was the best. The second time I had rope and gear. I was alone. I needed to place one bolt in a little dry waterfall I didn't trust to downclimb. On the other waterfalls I anchored my rope on trees. I didn't see anything making me think of a former descent made by someone else. It was 1996.

Months later I met Alberto Graia ... I had heard about him: a strong climber who had explored and bolted rock walls in the mountains north of Rome. The person I met was a keen on mountains, forests and landscapes. He had gone hiking through Tuscia and Sabina, moved by his will to see and know. I didn't feel astonished knowing that a guy like him had explored some canyons in northern Lazio, even Fosso di Galantina. That kind of man can! He had descended it with 3 partners in august 1991. No need to place a bolt, to leave a trace. But their exploration was destined to remain unknown unless someone (like me) talk or write about it.

Years have passed and Alberto never went to Galantina canyon again. Memory is confusing, but he did black-and-white photographs! You can see a couple of them aside.

Nowadays Alberto goes on climbing, less than before because family and work leave him less time than once. Since 2006 Alberto owns a special restaurant, where good food and great wines come together with exhibits of landscape and climbing photographs and lectures made by climbers and travellers. A special man can do only special things!
The restaurant is called Ten

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