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Michele Angileri

Fosso di San Renzano

The limestone mountains north of Terni are furrowed by valleys that are dry most of the year. That's because rain water easily goes underground in karst areas like this one. Water flows on the surface only when the underground ways are full, i.e. in the most rainy periods of the year.
Karst, however, is really strange: in some places the water comes out on the surface, perhaps to go back underground just ahead.
Consider the Fosso di Pincano, a majestic canyon with a relatively large supply basin. It is almost always dry due to karst but one of its little tributaries, the Fosso di San Renzano, though fed by a very small supply basin, has water flowing even if the main creek is dry. That water evidently comes from the underground, maybe from the other side of the hill ...

The issue deserves to be investigated by an underground hydrography scholar: the canyoneer is instead interested in investigating the morphological characteristics of the stream, in knowing the number and the features of potholes and waterfalls, in assessing the aesthetics and sportiness of the descent, ... thus discovering that the Fosso di San Renzano is an interesting canyoning route, especially if descended in good water conditions.

Name Fosso di San Renzano
Area Umbria, Monti Martani
Nearest village Montebìbico
Elevation loss 210 m
Length 650 m
Highest cascade 19 m
Rock Limestone
Rating2
Shuttle No
Explored by Berti, Paterni, Mazzocchio, Crescimbeni; march 2nd 2017

 

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I remember ...

When I re-explored the Fosso di Pincano with my friend Andrea Pucci I passed at the confluence with Fosso di San Renzano. The streams were both dry. Seen from below, the final cascade of San Renzano looked like any other Pincano's little tributary: nothing made me think of an interesting canyoning route in that dry creek. Moreover we traveled all the Pincano valley, down to Via Flaminia, where we had left a shuttle car. If we had returned on foot we would have passed at the beginning of San Renzano canyon, thus realizing that the Fosso deserved an exploratory descent.

Francesco Berti, instead, happened to descend Pincano canyon when San Renzano creek had plenty of water, and he also did the return trail on foot ...

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