Rocca di Perti

🚶‍♂️ 10-35' - ⛰️ 130-360 MSL - 🧭 W / SW / N - ☀️ Almost all the sectors facing W / SW from mid-morning onwards, North sectors are shady

Rocca di Perti, together with Monte Sordo, is the area with the highest concentration of sport climbing sectors and amazing routes, one of the most important climbing complexes in Finale.
It basically consists of two slopes extending from North to South for more than 1500 meters. The North face is more shady, while the West face is exposed to the sun for most of the day.
This topo collects a crazy amount of 700+ lines that are grouped in sectors on both the faces. They can satisfy even the most exigent climbers. Average difficulties are spreaded around the 6th grade, but there are many easier lines and hard ones (up to 8c+!)
The rock is really good, featuring the well-known pockets of Finale. Since climbers have been enjoying this area for many years, some routes could result in being polished, but many new lines have been born in the last few years and offer brand new rock.
Climbing is generally technical on tiny pockets and requires good footwork. There are also some small caves with steep overhangs and roofs.
Best season to come here is the Winter due to the warm temperatures and maximum level of friction. Different situation for the North area since its walls face North, becoming more spicy during Spring and Autumn.
As often happens in the Finale area, Rocca di Perti has an extended network of paths. To keep the approaches easier to understand, we grouped the sectors in logical areas and added the trails to the topo. Keep the GPS on and follow these suggested paths.

Please note that in the last years, many car accesses have been limited. The narrow roads and the traffic jam could obstruct the emergency services, so we kindly ask to use only the car parks reported in this topo.

Ok let's get now into the sectors' collection.

Falesia dei tre porcellini is an easy sector that we suggest for beginners. In fact, average difficulties are around 5+/6a and there are about 30 nice routes. There are slabs, cracks and dihedrals. The base is comfortable and protections are safe.
Settore settentrionale destro and sinistro di Perti are huge sectors with many single and multi-pitches, holy moly, more than 100 lines. Sport routes feature mainly slabs, while we find the classic cracks and dihedrals for the multi-pitches. The view is amazing from here. To come back to the base it is generally possible to rappel down or use the descending paths more easily (reported in the topo).
La cengia degli androidi has long exposed lines from 6a to 7a. Slabs are fingery. The base is quite uncomfortable and not suggested for children.
Perti versante nord is one of the historical sectors of Finale, featuring mainly multi-pitches. Historic lines follow the logical easiest paths along the wall, on dihedrals and slabs. As for Settore settentrionale destro and sinistro di Perti, the descent from the top of the route can be done by rappelling down or using the network of paths shown in the topo. Most of the routes are equipped with glue in bolts, but others require the trad gear or even bolts and hammer. The rock is good and the North exposition allows climbing also during the warm periods of the year.
Tigrotto is a small sector collecting 11 routes with North exposition. Climbing requires a huge amount of strength, since the walls are quite steep and not so long. Difficulties up to 8b.
Grotto di Perti is a beautiful sector with a high concentration of hard lines. The right part (the cave) is really overhanging with routes from 7a and up to 8c. Left part is less steep with fingery lines around 7a. The base is comfortable and protections are quite spaced.
Cengia degli urucchi is the left extension of Grotto di Perti. It has 4 lines from 6a to 7a and the base is comfortable.
Parete delle gemme has a short and easy approach, 30+ easy routes from 4c to 6c. This sector is highly frequented during winter and many routes (except for the new ones) are polished. Protections are generally good.
Ombre Blu are nice and large sectors close to each other. They have been revamped quite recently, with new lines added to the historical ones. Now there are 80 lines with difficulties focused on the 5 and 6 grade. Climbing is technical and the rock is good. Some old routes have spaced protection, keep a good concentration while climbing and give your best.
Falesia degli dei has a tens of really exposed routes from 5 to 6c. The base is a narrow ledge, protections are good. Routes are split within different ledges connected by steel cables which can be used as belay.
L’olimpo is an aerial sector with almost 20 routes from 6a to 7c. These lines are definitely fingery.
Settore centrale di Perti has a great number of routes (60+) with a difficulty range extending from 5 to 8b. There are both slabs and overhangs. This sector offers nice and historical multi-pitches, along cracks and dihedrals. Some lines have spaced protections.
Il giardino, one of the highest sectors of Rocca di Perti with its 360+ meters above sea level, offers an amazing view and a good rock. Typical climbing style of Finale on almost 30 routes. There are routes for every taste, from 6a to 8b.
EKU 28 and Coda di lupo sectors have brand new rock. There are few but nice lines and these sectors are on the way to reach Placca dell’oasi.
Placca dell’oasi has 30+ easy lines around the 6th grade. There are nice technical slabs.
Placca Piotti is a long wall collecting a bunch of old but gold routes. Climbing is generally technical on vertical walls and slabs. Most of the routes have been re-bolted, but since they are quite historical, they may be a bit polished (the good winter friction helps a lot in these cases). Friction is better on the second pitches. The base is sometimes on ledges and some route access could require a bit of climbing on ramps. The sectors on the right have short trails that sometimes have fixed ropes / steel cables. Take care to not crowd the ledges.
Pancia dell’elefante features a technical climb on vertical walls with small pockets. There are a dozen lines ranging from 5 to 7c. Lines count many repetitions and are a bit polished, but the more recent ones still have a good friction. Base is large and comfortable, but the access is steep and exposed on fixed ropes (attention).
Testa dell’elefante is a small sector with a bunch of short and overhanging lines from 6a to 7a. Climbing is physical on pockets.
Grottino di Perti has only 3 lines on roofs. Be careful of the rope drag. To reach it is necessary to go over sector Testa dell’elefante, getting to routes' anchors going down the woods and finally rappelling down inside a hole.
Scimmiodromo a bunch of hard overhanging lines, some of the most powerful of Finale. There are even a couple of technical lines in the sector on the left called Placca del Gibbone.
Falesia della lucertola is a small sector offering 10 routes that are mainly in the range of 5+/6a. There are still some projects.
Falesia del gabbiano has good rock and a tens of lines from 5 to 6c. Routes are short and intense.
Falesia di Billy Budd has only 4 but interesting lines on a vertical compact wall. Lines are quite fingery and intense.

Ok, we finally closed the circle by giving a brief explanation of the sector you can find here in Rocca di Perti. We are sure Finale will welcome you as kindly as it did us and you will enjoy the climbing a lot. To conclude we have some extra notes about the area.

Finale Ligure is known all over the world as one of the best areas for the outdoor sport. Climbing here is amazing, thanks to the infinite number of crags, thousands of lines and the mild climate which allows the practice of this sport all year round.
History of climbing has been written on these vertiginous walls with sea view, smooth slabs and overhangs always of excellent limestone with pockets. Slabs are unforgiving and extremely fingery, but they will make you rediscover the pure essence of climbing.
The area also offers beautiful trekkings, mountain bike trails and lovely sea shores.

Finale is extremely important from a naturalistic point of view due to the great variety of natural environments which has allowed the conservation of a high biodiversity, with an abundance of rare and exclusive animal and plant species. The area is karstic and generally is covered by vegetation, made up of Mediterranean scrub, holm oak woods and meadow areas.
We have a great diffusion of birds of prey that nest in the cliffs.Some areas are closed to encourage this nesting, so please respect this constraint and live in balance with this unique environment.
Finale’s municipality has prohibited the free camping. We suggest you go to the campsites, especially during the high season.

Rocca di Perti has an infinite amount of stories about climbing to tell. Just think of Via dello Spigolo, the oldest route of Finale, located in the sector Perti versante Nord and first climbed in 1928. This line has been climbed back and equipped in the 1970s, together with other historical lines as Il vecchio and La Simonetta (ground up bolted in the sector Settore settentrionale di Perti).
In the following years many climbers gave the decisive boost to the sport climbing development.
During the 1980, Alessandro Grillo and Mauro Oddone discovered Parete delle gemme. Few years later (1987) E. Pesci and I. Zanetti bolted the lines in Placca del Gibbone.
Then it was the turn of Settore delle Ombre blu by Alessandro Grillo (that has been re-bolted quite recently) and Placca Piotti by Ivo Piovano e Aldo Ferrante.
Gerardo Fornaro bolted L’olimpo in 1991, restyled in the last years by Carlo Voena Stefano Balbo with new routes.
Andrea Costaguta set up the last routes in Testa dell’elefante (1997) and Scimmiodromo 1998. Still in 1998 Andrea equipped the 3 lines of Grottino di Perti.
More recent routes have been set up in Tigrotto sector (2007) by Matteo Felanda, Domenico Spatari and Angelo Corso.
Marco Thomas Tomassini, helped by Daniele Canale, equipped lines in Placca dell’oasi and Eku 28 sectors in the first months of 2013. In the same year Carlo Voena bolted the right sector of Placca Piotti. Marco added further lines to Parete delle gemme and Gerardo Fornaro and Gianni Salvarani bolted La cengia degli androidi.
In the middle of 2010, the Rollo & Rallo team equipped Falesia dei tre porcellini and the Falesia degli during 2015. There are still bolting possibilities in this one.
2015 has also been the year of Falesia della lucertola and Falesia del Gabbiano by Giorgio Delfino.
Mauro Rossi took care of Billy Budd sector in 2016 falesia Billy Budd, then he managed to also equip Cengia degli Urucchi in 2021. Mauro bolted two great lines in sector Coda di lupo during February 2022.
The sector under Il giardino has been almost entirely equipped by Mauro Carena, Sergio Repetto, Matteo Felanda e Claudia Giglio in 2022.

Part of the work of these great climbers has been sponsored by the local climbing shops in Finalborgo, as Rockstore, Outpost Mountaineering, Il buranchetto shop and Montura store, and by the CAI Novi Ligure. They gave their contribution with some material to support the local bolting.

Finale Ligure has a huge amount of bolters, so one could find both old spaced protection and new safe ones. Anchors are often French styled, so ensure that you are able to rappel down.