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Michele Angileri

Vurga Nera

We are in northeastern Sila, the so-called Sila Greca. Above the mountains are covered by the famous pine forests. Below the craggy mountainsides made of limestone and flysch flake and fill the valleys with huge amounts of debris which make one of the main features of Calabrian landscape: the fiumare, deserts of stones meandering at the bottom of valleys.

In their upper parts, before reaching the fiumare, streams run through steep valleys that can hide gorges and waterfalls. The main valley forming the fiumara Coserie is called Vurga Nera because of its big pools ("vurga" is a Calabrian word for "pool"). In summer the Vurga Nera gorge can be traveled bottom-up for long, passing the pools by swimming or avoiding them (if possible). The upper part of Vurga Nera, however, have cascades requiring rope and harness.

Name Vurga Nera
Area Calabria, Sila Greca
Nearest village Longobucco
Elevation loss 320 m
Length 6 km
Highest cascade 15 m
Rock limestone, flysch
Rating4 (summer)
Shuttle Needed
Explored by First canyoning descent: Michele Angileri, Andrea Pucci; august 14 2008

 

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I remember ...

The Vurga Nera gorge was traveled for the first times by hikers, bottom-up, and even by some canyoneer who, however, traveled the hiking part only.
In 2008 I wondered if the Vurga Nera might offer anything more than a relatively simple excursion. So I went to the gorge from above, starting at 780 m height, with my friend Andrea. We found a sequence of cascades and emerald pools that made the Vurga Nera an interesting canyoning route.

In the following years I began to reflect on the possible existence of other canyoning routes in the numerous valleys that form the fiumara Coserie. However, I did no reconnaissance or exploration, partly because it did not seem very probable, partly because I had other, more promising places to explore.
Only in 2018 my friend Saverio Talerico began to systematically cover the numerous valleys that form Coserie stream, thus discovering unexpected gorges ...

Photos 5, 13, 18 by Andrea Pucci

Copyright © 2002- Michele Angileri. All rights reserved.