I was born in Turin in 1963. My father, was born in Casale Monferrato in 1929. His mother died in childbirth, and his father soon after, so he was brought up by an uncle. He was an accountant and in his spare time a photographer, even though his big passion was the mountains. My mother, a nurse, was born in San Secondo di Pinerolo into a family of farmers. I grew up there, at the foot of the Alps, and at the age of 9 my father decided it was time to take me to the mountains with him. From 1972 to 1977, the year he died, was the best period of my childhood which largely made me who i am. With him i climbed dozens of peaks, of which more than 20 above 4000 metres. In 1977 i started to attend assiduously the CAI and then the Giovane Montagne of Turin with who i did about a hundred ski tours, developing however a strong independent spirit. In 1977 i also started to climb but only in 1980, through self-teaching, i became serisouly passionate about rock. In 1981, with a few friends from school, i reached the grade of VI. In 1982 i opened my first route in Val di Susa, And then i continued in the Valle dell’Orco and opening new routes became my main activity. At the age of 21, i had already climbed the hardest routes in the Western Alps, both ice and rock, and i accomplished a few very difficult routes alone, often without a rope.

At the age of 16 i started work in a factory, at 18 i got a diploma in graphic arts and photography at Turin. I worked in a printing works until, in 1984, i was called for military service in Sardinia. Here, with the Sardinia cimbers, i opened many lines with an explorative character. In 1985, after dismissal from the miltary, i returned to Turin and worked in a printing factory until June 1986, the date in which i packed my bags and moved to Cagliari definitively. Here, i worked for a printing company as a mounter, and i started to open sport climbs at the crags on the island. But above all my books have made Sardinia known by climbers around the world. The first guidebook i wrote by hand during my military service, the second together with Bruno Poddesu on one of the first computers to be made. But my first real book was published by Alessandro Gogna (Melograno Edizioni) and included all the climbing in the Valle dell’Orco (1987). The first guidebook to climbing in Sardinia, “Pietra di Luna”, was published thanks to a Sardinia editor (Saredit) in 1988. Since then 5 editions have been published. I also wrote other books about Sardinia, like “Sardegna Non solo Mare” for the CDA (1991), “Gennargentu Ultimo Paradiso” (2001, Fabula) and various small guides (Fabula). For the Italian Touring Club i wrote the “guida grigia” about the Mountains in Sardinia that in 1999 won the Cardo d’Argento award at the Trento Festival and was presented by the President of the Republic emeritus Francesco Cossiga in Cagliari. For Versante Sud in Milan i wrote “Rock Paradise” (2000), one of my best and most valued work, “Climbing in Corsica” (2001) and “Passaggio a Nord Ovest (2005). With Versante Sud i was one of the designers and chief editors of the yearbook UP. On the side, i wrote articles for all the national and international climbing and mountaineering magazines.

In 1989 i married Cecilia Marchi, in 1995 my first daughter Sara was born, and in 2001 my second daughter Elena was born. Since 1993 i left the work as a representative and i became self employed. Through self-teaching i learnt how to use design and editing programmes on the computer and i personally edited the layout and the photos of nearly all my books. In 1998 i designed the first website for cimbing in Sardinia, in 2000 Sardiniaclimb.com was born for the Sardiniapoint partnership. Subsequently, Sardinaclimb was accompanied by Pietradiluna.com of which i am the administrator. I collaborate with various websites, above all with Planetmountain.com, the leader in Europe of mountain web, for who i wrote and write many articles. On the side i go to many conferences both in Italian cities and abroad and i am a valued blogger on social networks.

In sport climbing i have reached the grade of 8b redpoint and 7c+ onsight. Since 1998 i have been involved, with my friend Rolando Larcher in opening a few of the most beautiful routes in the world at first in the Alps and in Sardinia, then in Corsica, Sicily, Marocco, Turkey and Venezuela. I have also travelled for climbing to Nepal, China, Patagonia, Canada, the USA, England, Spain and Greece. In 2012 i made “Blu Trad”, my first film with my daughter Sara, presented at the Trento and Poprad (Slovakia) Festivals. Including both tradiotional and sport routes, i have opened more than 2000 lines and worked for numerous public administrations in Sardinia as a bolter, contributing in a fundemental way to create and make some of the most famous climbing areas in Europe known, such as Cala Gonone, Baunei, Jerzu, Isili, Domusnovas, Masua and San Vito Lo Capo in Sicily, where i was the first person to open sport lines. I have been registered with CAI since 1974, and since 1993 an Academic for alpine merits. Since 2012 i have been invited to take part in the English Alpine Club, of which i am a member. I 2007 i became a Regional Mountaineering instructor and then Free Climbing instructor. Since 2012 i am a National Instructor for Free Climbing and a member of the Central School of the CAI. I have run numerous climbing courses also as a director. Since 2005 i am the editor of the international magazine Vertical, edited in 4 languages and distributed in 26 countries.

cover: photo by © Cecilia Marchi contact: info@pietradiluna.com