Days 26 & 27 – Capranica to Roma, Italy – 79km
Last night, my host, Juliane, told me about the sword in the stone on today’s walk. It’s a convoluted tale involving Charlemagne’s famous nephew Roland, bickering locals trying to escape responsibility for the bill, and a culminating “screw you guys, I’m going home” conclusion. Who wouldn’t want to see a sword lodged in a stone? […]
Day 25 – Montefiascone to Capranica, Italy – 52km
One of the nice things about a long walk is that there’s no wiggle room. No time to waste, no time to spare. Just get up and go. And when you’re hosted by nuns, often that urgency cuts both ways. I had anticipated needing to turn down the offered breakfast because of timing, but Suor […]
Days 23 & 24 – Proceno to Montefiascone, Italy – 78km
The victors write the history and the Romans wrote a ton. Along the way, they managed to obscure, if not outright bury, the records of their former neighbors, rivals, and predecessors. And no people were simultaneously more accomplished and obliterated than the Etruscans. The Etruscans are often dubbed the first superpower of the Western Mediterranean, […]
Day 22 – Gallina to Proceno, Italy – 41km
How does someone become the face of a town? The question has been on my mind since I stayed in Ponte d’Arbia and saw a promotional brochure for Buonconvento. I imagine it’s difficult for a place like Buonconvento to differentiate itself from scores of other pretty, compact, Italian towns. So you’ve got a charming historic […]
Day 21 – Ponte d’Arbia to Gallina, Italy – 40km
Why re-walk a familiar route? With more incredible trails to be pursued than one has any hope of walking in a lifetime, what’s the argument for burning some of our limited kilometers on already trodden paths? I asked myself that a couple times when planning this itinerary. Even with six full months at my disposal, […]
Days 19 & 20 – Colle di Val d’Elsa to Ponte d’Arbia, Italy – 62km
Lots of questions come up on pilgrimage. Where is the bathroom? Where is a fountain? What happened to the route? Why do my shoes smell like this? Is breakfast gelato appropriate? Here’s another one: how, exactly, does one find God on pilgrimage? Years ago, I found myself having this conversation with Father Brian, an American […]
Day 18 – San Miniato Alto to Colle di Val d’Elsa, Italy – 47km
The walk from San Miniato to Gambassi Terme is one of the emptier stretches of the Via Francigena through Italy. There’s a bar in Calenzano, 3km from the starting point, but I passed through too early to take advantage of it. (Years ago, in anticipation of a long, hot day, we arrived in Calenzano at […]
Day 17 – Lucca to San Miniato Alto, Italy – 47km
One of the things I’ve learned over the years that would have surprised younger me is that I’m an optimist. It’s nearly unshakeable at this point. (I mean, if the last handful of years hasn’t shaken it, what could? Don’t answer that.) It’s what keeps me going strong in the face of dire, looming issues […]
Day 16 – Pietrasanta to Lucca, Italy – 33km
At the end of a day, at the end of a life, what is remembered–and how much of that is actually real? I often find myself going back to Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. That happens for a lot of reasons–it has probably happened in at least one of these daily trip write-ups at […]
Day 15 – After Sarzana to Pietrasanta, Italy – 44km
I’m well used to seeing mountain peaks around me by this point. Throughout the walk, the Swiss Alps, the Ligurian Alps, and the Apuan Alps have consistently framed one side of the horizon, typically blocking out sunrise for an extra hour or so. Today, though, those mountains suddenly looked very different. They appeared to be […]