RAFTING

There is no particular historical record about rafting, but since ancient times men had used pneumatic rafts, composed of sewn and inflated animal skins to cross and descend small and large rivers, whether for commercial activities, such as transporting merchandise, whether for warfare purposes to transport troops and weapons. In a different form, those were the first rafting descents, albeit not for tourism purposes.
After the American Civil War, in 1869, US Army soldier John Wesley Powell set out to explore the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon for the first time with ten men, four boats and food for his 99-days journey. Due to various adversities, such as lack of supplies, Powell’s sketchy maps and miscalculations, the expedition experienced moments of deep tension that led to the mutiny of 3 men. The irony was that the abandonment occurred just before the last rapid, before arrival at the Grand Canyon exit.
In 1871, Powell remade the experience, and produced a detailed map of the area, inspiring 1960 movie Ten to dared by William Beaudine.
Rafting touristic practice started in U.S.A. in 20th century, notably around 50s. Instead, in Europe, around 80s, and in 1984, a group of canoeists on the Sesia River, commissioned a California conductor named Brian Larky to instruct them in the techniques of operating this “new” river craft.
In our country, inflatable boats were used only for marine or lacustrine scope. At the beginning, the rough dinghies, prototypes of the present ones, started to be used with oars and paddles. The equipment was very rudimentary, but time rewarded the courage and passion of these Italian pioneers.
Thus, in 1985, the first accompanied descent have been organised. Until that date, only French Ministry of Youth, Popular Education and Sports had already set and regulated this river activity, defining a training path for Guides and Teachers resulting in the attainment of State-recognized licenses.

On December 15th, 1987, the Associazione Italiana Rafting (A.I.Raf.), after becoming Federazione Italiana Rafting (F.I.Raft.) , has been founded in Milan, Italy, in order to promote and regulate rafting as a sport. It has created multi-level professional training courses for Guides, Teachers, and Trainers.
Nowadays, this sport can be enjoyed by tourists and amateurs as well as by agonists at professional level, thanks to Federazione Italiana Rafting, and to the permanent training for Guides, Teachers, and Trainers.

RIVER CLASSIFICATION
Internationally, all rivers are rated on a class scale, structured by level of difficulty based on water volume, and on technical management required. The scale graduates levels from 1 (very easy), to 6 (very difficult). This latest level is characterized by dangerous and high technical management of whitewater
The Tevere and Aniene Rivers stretches we sail are rated as level 1 with some tracts as level 2. The easy navigation allows children, beginners, and people without any experience to practice rafting in there.