Canyoners descending a gorge on a rope Down the river

Hydrospeed: riding the Nera rapids on a float

Papigno

Hydrospeed puts you in the river instead of on it. You hold a moulded float, wear fins, and go down the rapids with your face a hand's width above the water.

How the day goes

  1. Kit and briefing at the centre, then down to the water behind the guide.
  2. Into the current holding the float, kicking with the fins to steer yourself.
  3. The rapids taken one line at a time, following the guide's route down.

The operator asks for strong swimming and a sporting build, because here the river reaches you directly and there is no boat to climb back into.

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 honce 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 …

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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

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A river running through a wooded valley Down the river

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

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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

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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.

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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 Krish Dulal, Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0. 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