A visit to the Canyon of Motta San Giovanni

Adventure, nature, history. If you are looking for a destination that can encapsulate all your passions, Calabria will give you places full of magic, far from the best-known tourist routes. You will find unspoilt landscapes, breathtaking views and precious traces of a past sedimented between the layers of rock.

A few kilometres from Reggio Calabria a route awaits you that will surprise you. Comfortable shoes, backpack on your shoulders: off you go.

Leaving the town of Motta San Giovanni behind, one ventures towards a place where time seems to have stopped: a canyon shaped by the river, with caves and deep inlets.

The water has moulded the sandstone and made it a work of art: narrow tunnels, vertiginous crags. It is known as the canyon of Rocca Boara and, walking through it, one arrives at a sandstone ‘’window‘’ that overlooks the Strait of Messina and from which one can admire Mount Etna. All around, a wild and uncontaminated nature, the traces left by the inhabitants of a distant past. On the top of the hill you can discover an ancient Byzantine church, in Sant'Ilario.

Your excursion begins in the historical centre of Motta San Giovanni, from here - following the streets of the village - you push on towards the ridge of the mountain, until you reach the Cambareri locality.

The sight is extraordinary: lush nature envelops the labyrinth of pale stone carved by water. A wild, unspoilt environment that holds precious signs of the history of this territory. Embedded in the rock, you can observe ancient marine fossils, which tell of the long and patient work of the water that created the narrow corridors of this precious geological site. The view of the Strait of Messina and Mount Etna repays any effort, just enough time to catch your breath and then continue on to the ancient Byzantine church on the hill, a mysterious place steeped in sacredness despite being empty and silent for decades.

Some associations organise excursions to the canyon of Motta San Giovanni, guiding tourists to discover this suggestive but still little-known place. Comfortable clothing, hiking shoes, a hat and a good supply of water in the rucksack are recommended to best tackle the route.