A canyoner in the water of a canyon, helmet and wetsuit on Down the river

Class IV rafting under Europe's tallest waterfall

Papigno

The put-in is directly beneath the Marmore falls, where the water comes off the cliff and the noise fills the gorge. Everything downstream of that point is rapid.

How the day goes

  1. A lesson on land first: the strokes, the commands, what happens if you go in.
  2. Wetsuit, neoprene shoes, splash jacket, buoyancy aid and helmet, then the shuttle down.
  3. The rapids under the falls, with the crew paddling on the guide's call.
  4. Out downstream, and back to the centre.

This is the hard grade and it asks you to paddle through water that is actively moving you; the family descent at Arrone runs the calm part of the same river.

Where it is

Papigno at its real position from Rome, with everywhere else we list behind it — so you can see how far out this one is.

Papigno, and where it is from Rome Papigno drawn at its real position relative to Rome, about 93 minutes by car. The faint dots are the other places we list, so you can see how far out this one is. 93 min Rome Papigno

Open it where the roads are

Takes you to Via Carlo Neri 28, 05037 Papigno (Terni), the address the operator publishes.

Getting there

Getting there, the comfortable way

  • 1 h 33drive from the middle of Rome
  • 109 kmeach way
  • 2 h 30once you are there
  • Rent a car for the day

    The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.

    • You pick it up in Rome and drop it back in Rome
    • No timetable to build the day around
    • The stops on the way are the good part, and they need a car

    Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Localrent, and anything about that booking goes through them.

    See prices on Localrent
  • Have a driver take you, door to door

    No parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.

    • Picked up where you are staying, dropped back there
    • No parking to find and no ZTL to worry about
    • Nobody spends the day driving

    Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.

    See prices on Welcome Pickups

Also around Papigno

A waterfall dropping into a pool Down the river

Canyoning in the Mola and Casco canyons

Two routes: a base descent in the Mola canyon in the Valle del Salto, reached with ten minutes of walking, where the descent can be stopped at any point; and an advanced one in …

See the day

More down the river

A river running through a wooded valley Down the river

Soft rafting on the Aniene

Five kilometres down the Aniene. Helmet and paddle included, shuttle to the start.

€25 per person

Books on viverelaniene.com

See the day
A river running through a wooded valley Down the riverTrending

Urban rafting on the Tiber

Paddle under Castel Sant'Angelo and past Tiber Island, down the middle of Rome.

A sports club — you join them for the day

See the day
A waterfall dropping into a pool Down the river

Canyoning in the Sabina gorges

Forty-five minutes walking in, then two hours down the Fosso Ravi gorge.

€50 per person

Books on avventuristicandopark.com

See the day
A canyoner in the water of a canyon, helmet and wetsuit on Down the river

Power rafting on the Aniene

The same stretch of the Aniene as the soft rafting but run in wetsuits, with a land briefing first, then strong currents, rapids, surfing and jumps at the end.

See the day

We have not verified this one yet. Everything below comes from the operator and we have not checked it — treat it as a lead, not as a listing.

Photograph by Վիկաֆոքս, Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0. Not this place: it shows what the day looks like, and will be replaced with the operator's own photograph or ours from the field.

Links marked affiliate pay us a commission — you pay the operator's own price and we never take your money. How we rank