Cascata del Sasso

Sant'Angelo in Vado, Pesaro and Urbino Province, Italy

About Cascata del Sasso


Hiking Distance: 500m round trip (to base)
Suggested Time: 30-45 minutes (to base)

Date first visited: 2013-05-23
Date last visited: 2013-05-23

Waterfall Latitude: 43.66808
Waterfall Longitude: 12.43505

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Cascata del Sasso was a picturesque waterfall that was different amongst the waterfalls we’ve witnessed in Italy in that it was one of the wider block-type waterfalls.

The vast majority of waterfalls in the country that we had seen to this point were of the taller, thinner variety.

Cascata_del_Sasso_038_20130523 - Cascata del Sasso
Cascata del Sasso

In terms of dimensions, it’s said to be around 100m wide and 15m of cumulative height.

It certainly felt like one of the lesser known waterfalls, especially given how Italian waterfalls tended to be relatively unknown to begin with.

About the Cascata del Sasso

Cascata del Sasso was on the Metauro River near the town of Sant’Angelo in Vado.

The river was said to start in the long Apennine Mountains then drain out towards the Adriatic Sea.

Further to the east was the town of Urbania, and further east of that was the provincial capital of Urbino (part of the joint Pesaro-Urbino Province) in the Marche Region.

Cascata_del_Sasso_045_20130523 - Context of the main road and a side road leading closer to the bottom of Cascata del Sasso. Not pictured here are the industrial buildings by the main road
Context of the main road and a side road leading closer to the bottom of Cascata del Sasso. Not pictured here are the industrial buildings by the main road

Unfortunately, immediately adjacent to the falls was an extensive industrial zone, which was perhaps the most striking thing we noticed when we went looking for the falls.

Therefore, we have to believe that there might be some degree of pollution from industrial runoff in the immediate vicinity of the river.

It also made us wonder whether it would be a good idea to swim here or even fish (though I noticed signs saying fishing was prohibited).

Experiencing the Cascata del Sasso

From the official pullout and viewing area (see directions below), there was grassy overlook with a picnic table right at the brink of the Cascata del Sasso.

Cascata_del_Sasso_008_20130523 - Picnic table and lookout at the brink of the Cascata del Sasso
Picnic table and lookout at the brink of the Cascata del Sasso

Some informal trails appeared to lead right to the top of the waterfall itself, and this would be where I’d imagine some daredevils might have managed to kayak over the falls.

Another branch of this path also led to the concrete reinforcement wall adjacent to the brink of the falls immediately beneath the official overlook.

Since the view of the Cascata del Sasso from the official signposted viewing spot wasn’t very satisfactory, we sought to improve the experience by exploring a bit.

So, we walked down a rural road further downstream before we encountered some informal paths that went around what appeared to be some old house or mill.

Cascata_del_Sasso_006_20130523 - Looking across the brink of the Cascata del Sasso
Looking across the brink of the Cascata del Sasso

This path then led to some informal trails leading right to the banks of the Metauro River beneath the waterfall.

Of these trails, the most obvious paths happened to be the steepest and muddiest paths (i.e. most difficult).

However, I noticed that the path that ran up against the cliff wall was the least steepest and easiest to get down (as well as to get back up).

Once I made it to the banks of the river, I then scrambled further downstream as far as I could to get the photo you see at the top of this page.

Given the heavy rain from earlier in the day that we showed up, the scrambling was indeed very muddy and slippery.

Cascata_del_Sasso_011_20130523 - Scrambling behind this building or mill in search of a safer way to descend to the front of the Cascata del Sasso
Scrambling behind this building or mill in search of a safer way to descend to the front of the Cascata del Sasso

I also didn’t entertain crossing the swollen river to get to the other side where the views of Cascata del Sasso would have been more direct (though the internet literature has shown some photos were taken from there under more benign conditions).

Overall, I probably spent about 45 minutes away from the car encompassing all the scrambling, tripod photography, and walking.

Authorities

Cascata del Sasso resides near the town of Sant’Angelo in Vado in the Pesaro-Urbino Province of Italy. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit the Pesaro-Urbino Tourism Board website.

Cascata_del_Sasso_001_20130523 - The signpost for Cascata del Sasso by the official overlook at its top
Cascata_del_Sasso_044_20130523 - While walking down a rural street in search of a better view of Cascata del Sasso, it appeared that scrambling around this building would provide the most straightforward way of accessing the base of the waterfall
Cascata_del_Sasso_009_20130523 - This partial view of Cascata del Sasso that didn't require us to get down and dirty, but it certainly teased us into doing so
Cascata_del_Sasso_014_20130523 - At the first spot where the vegetation cleared up along the banks of the Metauro River, I got this view of Cascata del Sasso
Cascata_del_Sasso_020_20130523 - I went a little further downstream along the banks of the Metauro to get this view of Cascata del Sasso
Cascata_del_Sasso_024_20130523 - Another look across the Cascata del Sasso swollen by some recent rains
Cascata_del_Sasso_042_20130523 - Last look across the Cascata del Sasso before heading back up to the parked car
Montepulciano_001_20130523 - View of the surrounding countryside around Cortona (one of the Tuscan towns we saw after visiting Cascata del Sasso)
Montepulciano_053_20130523 - Looking out towards Val d'Orcia from Montepulciano, where we had spent the night after visiting Cascata del Sasso
Montepulciano_059_20130524 - The Piazza Grande (Big Square) atop Montepulciano, which was another one of the towns we saw after visiting Cascata del Sasso.  This was apparently where some scenes of Twilight: New Moon were filmed
San_Quirico_dOrcia_110_20130525 - Just west of Montepulciano were the quintessential Tuscan scenery of Val d'Orcia


We drove to Cascata del Sasso from Narni, but we’ll describe the drive as if we were headed north of say Assisi.

From the toll-free E45 autostrada well north of Perugia (and Assisi), we exited at San Giustino.

We then followed the E78 for about 42km on a twisty mountain road over a pass across the Apennine Mountains, and into the Metauro Valley where we eventually passed through the town of Sant’Angelo in Vado.

Just on the eastern outskirts of town, there was a turnoff (Via Ca Maspino) into an industrial zone on the right.

Strangely, the signpost for Cascata del Sasso was at this turnoff, but we were only able to see it heading west on the E78 as opposed to heading east, which was the direction we were originally going!

Anyways, we followed Via Ca Maspino until we turned left onto Via Cascata del Sasso.

Then, we followed Via Cascata del Sasso for a few blocks until we reached the signposted pullout in a little over 300m.

The E78 detour from the San Giustino exit at the E45 to the waterfall was a little less than a hour’s drive each way.

To give you a little more context, San Giustino was 79km (about an hour drive) north of Assisi, 146km (under 2 hours drive) north of Narni, 117km (under 2 hours drive) east of Florence, 111km (over 90 minutes drive) east of Siena, and 88km (about 90 minutes drive) northeast of Montepulciano.

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Right to left sweep of the falls from the signposted overlook at its top


Left to right sweep starting from the defunt stone mill then panning over to the wide waterfall before ending at the scrambling path that got me to this spot

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Tagged with: sant'angelo, vado, pesaro, urbino, marche, italy, waterfall, metauro, sasso, apennine, urbania



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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