Days 62-65 – Bianco to Reggio Calabria, Italy – 142.5km
A small boy playing an accordion. He’s the first thing I see as I enter Samo, the last pocket of civilization before I disappear into the wilderness for a couple days. He looks at me ponderously and then ambles onward, slowly expanding and compressing his odd device. If not for him, I could be forgiven […]
Days 60 & 61 – Il Piccolo Eremo delle Querce to Bianco, Italy – 85km
The old ways persist in Calabria. Admittedly, rural regions around the world tend to hold more firmly to tradition, for reasons that are ideological as much as economic, but history doesn’t just place a thumb on the scales here; it’s pulling downward with both hands. Il Piccolo Eremo is an unusual combination of past and […]
Days 58 & 59 – Serra San Bruno to Il Piccolo Eremo delle Querce, Italy – 63km
Suor Rossana ushered me into the workshop. “This is where we host classes in iconography,” she explained. Despite its name, it has sometimes been difficult to spot the Basilian sites on the Cammino Basiliano. In some cases, small piles of rocks are all that remain, and one would need a divination rod and some peyote […]
Day 57 – San Vito Sullo Ionio to Serra San Bruno, Italy – 32km
What’s the best way to create a long-distance walking route from scratch? Over the last few days, I’ve been kicking around that question, and I’ve found the Cammino Materano and Cammino Basiliano to make for an interesting comparison. Both routes demonstrate the ambition of their creators. While the Basiliano spans many more kilometers, the Materano’s […]
Days 55 & 56 – Catanzaro to San Vito Sullo Ionio, Italy – 73km
As morning flipped to afternoon, I ambled along in a somnambulant fashion, with little of the characteristic spring in my step. I still labored to take in the scene around me, far more scorched than any landscape since Lazio, but my eyes found their way back to my feet much more often than normal. When […]
Day 54 – Gariglione to Catanzaro, Italy – 53km
Pace is not an end unto itself, or at least it probably shouldn’t be most of the time. After all, if the goal were simply to move through the walk as swiftly as possible, one would probably be advised to stick to the highway and ignore the more scenic trails. It’s like the old line […]
Day 53 – San Giovanni in Fiore to Gariglione, Italy – 40km
Monte Gariglione is the tallest peak in the Sila, topping out at 1765m. The mountain refuge where I’m spending the night isn’t quite that high, but it’s close, and given that I couldn’t be bothered to start a fire, I’m feeling the cold of that elevation as I clumsily type up this reflection. It wouldn’t […]
Day 52 – Verzino to San Giovanni in Fiore, Italy – 35km
One of the more difficult aspects of history to wrap my mind around was the sheer landedness of people. The fact that most premodern humans rarely traveled more than a handful of miles beyond their birthplace seemed inconceivable. Even without cars and roads, it seemed like innate curiosity and wanderlust would drive more out on […]
Days 50 & 51 – Cerviolo to Verzino, Italy – 70km
In the spring, when I spoke with Italians about my plans for the six months of walking, up and down across the peninsula, the responses were nearly all encouraging, enthusiastic, and constructive. But there was one message that slipped through that was more concerning. Watch out for the people in Calabria, several said. All of […]
Day 49 – Rossano to Cerviolo, Italy – 58km
There were two big pieces. Two of them. I had confidently turned into the bakery, pleased with my pace, and assured that a plan was indeed coming together. I hadn’t just left Rossano in darkness; it was one of my earliest departures of the trip, straight into the maws of a persistent rain that just […]