Saturday 31 May 2025 – Because the day was forecast to be a hot one, we were keen to get off early, despite the shortish 17km official distance of today’s walk, so an 0700 breakfast time was welcome. The breakfast was a good one, with prepared fruit to go with yoghurt and some nicely fresh bread; we were able to eat it sitting outside. Well fortified, we set off at 7.45am into a day which was already quite warm.

We skirted the edge of the old town of Vetralla as we went, and, although I was sniffy in my post yesterday about the “enchanted city” schtick, in the morning light I was better able to admire the relief work that accompanied the slogan.

We passed a building that either is or was a cinema

and exited Vetralla via a subway under the main road.

We passed a Benedictine monastery

but were unable to look in, as there was a service going on at the time.

The Via Francigena and pilgrim references and artworks are beginning to proliferate by this stage of the route, unsurprisingly, I suppose.  We passed a mural depicting rather unrealistically joyful scenes along the route,

with, beside it, a related artwork listing all the stopping places between Canterbury and Rome.

Opposite this artwork was a bench with an inscription I didn’t understand.

I amused myself by deciding that it was Italian for “Give me your fat arse”, which goes to demonstrate my state of mind at the time. Other curiosities on the route included this rather ritzily decorated house

and a lavatoio, the Italian version of what in Galician Spain would be called a lavadoiro – a public place to wash one’s clothes.  This wasn’t the first one we’d passed in Italy, but it was the first to show evidence of recent use.

By this stage we’d covered some 4km and we passed that most rare and precious thing on the Via Francigena – a bar. It bills itself, rather optimistically as “the best bar in the world”.  However, just as photographers say that the best camera is the one you have with you, the best bar is one that you’re passing, so we had a swift coffee there. And then the trail took us off the road and into woodland – lovely, shady woodland.

In the depths of the woods, the birdsong was positively deafening

and absolutely uplifting. It being a Saturday morning, there were others around, mainly chaps walking their dogs. We passed a mystery object

which I would have dismissed as a disused construction, given the extent to which Mother Nature has reasserted herself on it; but there was the sound of machinery and a TV aerial in evidence, and we have no idea what the building was for. We also came across another Sassogrosso bench,

by an info board bidding us a farewell from Vetralla.

I later looked up the Sassogrosso reference. The inscription translates as “Donated by the Big Rock”. Sasso Grosso is the name given to a particular volcanic rock formation and it has also lent its name to a local association, who, we assume, had provided the very handy resting place.  Sasso Grosso is near a place called Tre Croci, which we would have passed yesterday, had we not opted for the alternative Via. It’s surprisingly difficult to find pictures of the rock formation. This is the most credible one I could locate, via the Facebook Group Vetralla: Museo Diffuso.

Near the seat was a rather nicely executed cross on a tree – made from bicycle chain.

At this point, we were passed by a pellegrino who had passed us earlier, but who had clearly been distracted by something, as his natural pace was faster than ours. He turned out to be French, and had started his journey in Calais, so had covered over 1,000km, although he had had to take six weeks off for a foot injury. He then walked on into the distance.

We did the “pass and then get passed” a couple of times over the rest of the day.

After emerging from the (lovely, shady) woodland, we entered a section which was dominated by hazel nut orchards.

After seeing a previous orchard, Jane wondered if what was being grown was filberts. We never clearly established whether this was the case, but in her research Jane read that the hazel nut monoculture in this part of Italy (centred around Viterbo, principally) is raising some serious environmental concerns, to do with biodiversity, soil depletion, economic dependence on the monoculture and more.  And one thing struck us, as we walked through and past orchard after orchard:

the silence. There was no birdsong at all.  Later we came across a stretch of path with woodland on the left and hazel nut trees on the right.

and the birds were yelling their fool heads off on the left and there was nothing from the right – a stark contrast. Companies like Ferrero are at the root of the expansion trend (“Ambassador, you spoil the environment”?) and at least some of these extensive orchards belonged to one company.

Amidst all this hazel nuttery we came across a tower,

which is actually (at least) two towers.

The towers are thought to be Roman tombs and a medieval bell tower; they’re referred to these days on maps as “The Towers of Orlando”.  The name “Orlando” is believed to be connected to the character from the Song of Roland, suggesting a connection to the legend of Orlando resting in these lands.  

Anyhoo….we trucked on along stade bianche past some lavish properties with wonderful trees

which provided some much-needed shade along the way; but we also noted places where trees (probably walnut trees) had been brutally cut down alongside some of the hazel nut orchards.

Bastards. We would have really appreciated the shade from these trees.

After about 16km, we came to the outskirts of Capranica

but it was not until a full kilometre later that we came across the first bar and an opportunity to rest, including an encounter with yet another unfamiliar brand of tonic.

Refreshed, we walked on, entering the old town of Capranica,

which is a very handsome area.

We looked in to the Duomo

which has a beautifully-decorated ceiling

but no candles, and also the Church of St. Mary,

which was really rather kitsch inside

but which did enable us to light a candle for Martin. We then carried on through the town, which involves going down

and down, to the point where any ambitions I might have had to try a drone shot were abandoned, as I wasn’t prepared to walk all the way back up to the best vantage point.

Given our reluctance to walk back up into the town and our need for some lunch, we decided to take a chance on a restaurant, Le Fontanelle, that was on our route to our accommodation and which Google said was open. It was open, and a strange little place it was, too. It had pictures of food as its menu, but beggars, choosers, that stuff, and it did appear to offer gin – in fact, they had the last knockings of a bottle of Xoriguer, one of our house gins at home. They had a strange, albeit tasty, idea of what a pizza was and Jane had a very clearly microwaved tortellini dish; but it kept the wolf from the door and meant we didn’t have to toil all the way back into the town.

What we did have to toil up, though, was the continuation of the Via,

which led sharply uphill and took us near our accommodation, Monticelli B&B. As usual, its gates were

locked, but Jane rang the bell and the very affable Francesco opened up to let us in (and his dog, Leon, out, at least for a short while). It’s a well-organised place

and we were soon ensconced with our very own kettle so that we could relax for the rest of the day accompanied by occasional doses of Twining’s finest Earl Grey.

The day was a pleasant one, and got us really quite close to Sutri, whither we must turn our faces tomorrow – it’s a walk of only 8km or so, so we’re not quite sure how the day will turn out. We could be arriving at our accommodation even before check-out time. My, what exciting, challenging times we do live in! Sutri appears to be quite an interesting place, so it might be worth your while to check back in to get our impressions of the place.