Gorropu Gorge

Walls of grey limestone rise more than 500 metres on either side of the Rio Flumineddu at Gorropu, and at the tightest point the floor of the gorge narrows to roughly four metres. It is regarded as the deepest canyon in Italy and one of the deepest in Europe, a slot cut into the Supramonte, the wild karst upland of eastern Sardinia. The gorge marks the boundary between the municipalities of Orgosolo and Urzulei, and its name comes from a Sardinian word for a cliff or a hollowed-out place.

The canyon began along a fault line and was deepened by the steady work of the Flumineddu. Fossils embedded in the rock show that the limestone formed on the sea floor, in a span roughly between 190 and 60 million years ago, long before it was lifted into mountains. Inside the gorge the riverbed is choked with enormous pale boulders, and the light changes quickly as the walls close in overhead.

Gorropu is also a refuge for rare life. A columbine found nowhere else, known as the Gorropu aquilegia (Aquilegia nuragica), grows on its rocks and is listed among the Mediterranean endemics at risk of extinction. The Sardinian brook salamander, often described as one of Europe's rarest amphibians, lives in its waters alongside the native Sardinian trout, while yews and old Mediterranean scrub cling to the ledges. Eagles, martens, mouflon, foxes and wild boar range across the surrounding plateau. The canyon has also appeared on screen, as a location for the 1985 Italian western "Tex e il signore degli abissi".

Getting there

The town of Nuoro lies about 21 km away in a straight line; Dorgali and Urzulei are the closest villages and the usual starting points. One footpath descends about 4 km from the Genna Silana pass on the SS125 road, with a drop of around 650 metres; another follows the Flumineddu valley for roughly 7 km from the Dorgali side. The nearest airport is Olbia Costa Smeralda (OLB), about 79 km away.