Tag Archives: Countryside

Day 16 – Viterbo to Vetralla – just this (hot) day, really

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Friday 30 May 2025 – The destination for today was Vetralla, which could be reached by one of two routes. We opted for the shorter one, around 17km, but still would have liked to make an early start; however Renato only offered breakfast starting at 8am. It was billed in our travel information as an “Italian breakfast”, and we were mildly curious to find out what this meant. Beyond yoghurt, what it meant was

a sweet breakfast (i.e. one offering no savoury options). We stocked our bodies with loads of unhealthy, sugar-based calories and set off at around 8.15 into a day that was already reasonably warm and which was forecast to get hot – around 28°C, if the local weather app is to be believed.

We started on a very appropriate road

which led us once again to the Piazza San Lorenzo, giving me a chance to take a photo of the Duomo in the morning sunshine.

We had read that Viterbo was a walled city and that much of the wall still survived, and this became clear as we walked out of the city,

though the restoration work they’re doing on the walls meant we had to find a way around one blockage.

The route led along an “excavated highway”

which was a tarmac road, but the high rock walls around it made it pleasantly shady. We passed a cave which might possibly once have been an Etruscan catacomb

but we weren’t about to scramble around to get in and have a closer look. The walls on either side became cliffs,

which made it vitally important to establish if there was oncoming traffic on some of the bends. Not that that seemed to worry a group of several dozen cyclists who passed us.

On that particular bend was a shrine, but it was so decayed that it wasn’t really possible to see what it once looked like; it was the first of three roadside shrines we passed on the day’s walk.

We were not the only pilgrims on the road. Going the same way as us, we passed an American lady, Melissa, who had started her journey in Montefiascone, and so I suppose was the first person we’d met who had the 100km target in their sights.  A couple of pilgrims passed us going in the opposite direction –

we did wonder how the first pilgrim’s cart might work out on some of the rockier surfaces – but that was it for the pilgrim presence on today’s walk. Given that pilgrim numbers are so sparse, at least at this time of year, I guess it’s no surprise that rest stops haven’t sprung up to service passing trade. Jane and I agreed that while theoretically the objective of the exercise is the walk, in practice the lack of rest stops, which as well as being refreshing can be a good catalyst for cameraderie among walkers, means that the walks had become simply a way to get from A to B, rather than the walking being a source of pleasure in itself. Once we’d left the shade of the excavated highway, much of the rest of the walk was simply trudging along various sorts of road or path, in varying amounts (sometimes including a total lack) of shade.

Still, a few things leavened the experience of the day. We passed a signpost to a thermal pool

which tempted us to go about a kilometre out of our way. In theory, this was in order to get a timbro; honesty compels me to admit that the pools’ entry on Google Maps had the magic word “bar” by them, so, full of hope, we set off to find

a car park full of cars, and a queue to get in. We would have had to buy tickets to get our timbro or our coffee, and the queue was glacial in progress, so we cut our losses and worked our way back to the trail.

The landscape is rural and agreeable, but very flat and rather unvarying.

We passed various plantations – hazel nuts, olives and grapevines; sometimes all three at once.

There was a picnic table set up in the shade just over the half-way mark

so we had a break and shared a banana (we know how to have a good time – Ed). Like rest days, rest stops are necessary, but it can be difficult to get rolling again afterwards. The track was occasionally grassy

and at one point became suddenly, unexpectedly and severely steep,

but we made it cursing internally (Jane) and audibly (me) and carried on, past more plantations

and a donkey.

Samsung Gallery’s AI search identifies this as an Amiatina donkey, which is a breed found mainly in Tuscany. This is a credible assertion on its part. But it may have been a mule for all we knew.

Amidst all the trudging there was another diversion, which showed promise.

This was only 100 metres out of our way (albeit uphill, of course), and this time it delivered on the promise.

We walked in and were welcomed by a nice lady who pointed us at a delightful shaded veranda and gave us beer, crisps and a timbro, for whatever we cared to contribute.

That was the best €10 of the day so far. Refreshed, we carried on into Vetralla, which is a funny old place. On the way in is an “open air country museum”, which featured, in three openings along the road, various typical characteristics of the area.

Hospitality

Viticulture
Vegetable cultivation

We were greeted by the town muriel as we walked in

and we worked our way up to our hotel, the Albergo da Bernadetta,

which, though open, featured an unattended reception and an American gentleman guest who said that the lady was there earlier but had said something about 3pm. It being 2pm at this point, we decided that we should try to find some lunch. I had noted that there was a Restaurant da Bernadetta just down the road, which Google asserted was open until 3pm. So we hightailed it down the road and found the place

and were welcomed in for a nice lunch, with very affable service and good food. No gin, though. Sigh. The American gentleman turned up shortly after us, with (we assume) his daughter (not that we earwigged their conversation, of course; but the tone of some of the exchanges were definitely the sort that one might expect between daughter and father). Jane and Caroline had seen them together in Monteriggioni and had speculated about them then – that is now two weeks ago; they were also spotted at breakfast in Montefiascone, so we can make a guess that they are on a similar journey to ours.

The linked names of hotel and restaurant are because they are owned by siblings; the chap running the kitchen in the restaurant told us that it was he who had delivered our bags to the hotel earlier that day. We headed back up the hill to the hotel, checked in and rested for a while, which gave me the opportunity to investigate my socks.  I walk in sandals and socks. I know, I know. But that combination saw me through 800km of the Camino Francés, so I’m sticking with what works. Quite a lot of today’s path work was along grassy paths, and I had quite a bit of agricultural material to get out of them.

Having rested and made a cup of Twining’s finest Earl Grey, we ventured out to explore Vetralla which, as I say, is a funny old place. Our hotel was over the road from the old town, and so we got a decent view of it as we headed towards it.

The old town has, relative to its small size, an extremely long main drag, which, as in the other cities in the area, is made gloomy by the use of dark stone in the buildings.

but there are some attractive corners

and some quirks, too.

It bills itself as the “città incantata“,

which I thought meant the “unsung city”, which seemed about right.  Actually, I now learn that it translates as the “enchanted city”, which, frankly, is a bit of a reach. We couldn’t even find a bar which looked like it might serve us a gin, so “enchanted” is not quite the word, for us. There is some evidence that there are a lot of empty houses along the main street

and the city appears to have embraced the Spanish definition of “Open”.

That gate was into the park by the Rocca, which is one of the substantial buildings in the old town.

Another is the Duomo

which really was open, so we went in.

In stark contrast to its dour exterior, the interior was light and airy, with some delightful trompe l’oeuil work in side chapels and on some of the walls

and on ceilings.

Sadly, there was no opportunity to light a candle for Martin. There’s another church, to San Francesco, but it was closed. Part of it appears to be a hostel for pilgrims

and Jane discovered a cloister courtyard which featured some modern fresco work.

We worked our way back along the main street, where I saw this signpost for the Via, pointing back the way we came.

I can understand why they highlight Viterbo; it’s a city of great pith and moment. But Centeno? Really? That was the place with the closed pizzeria where we helped Jane and Yvette. It has nothing whatsoever to recommend it, in my view, so to see it signposted is a mystery to me.

Having exhausted the sightseeing possibilities of Vetralla, then, we returned to the hotel to gather our strength for the morrow, when we have to get to Capranica. If we were being hard core, we should have undertaken the walk to Sutri, which is the “official” leg, but Walk The Camino, who set our itinerary up, took pity on a couple of oldies and split the leg into a thigh to Capranica, and, the following day, a shin, to Sutri. So we have about 16km to cover, in (we hope) a gentle ascent followed by a gentle descent, without, as usual, any rest stops along the way. The temperature is due to hit 30°C so we’re hoping to get out early to avoid the worst of the heat. Stay tuned to see whether we were successful or not.

Day 13 – Acquapendente to Bolsena – long walk, varied conditions

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Monday 26 May 2025 – Well-organised as our B&B was, the breakfast fare that had been left in the kitchen area was not the sort of thing that we thought we could make into a decent breakfast – I mean, cornflakes? So we hatched a plan to get going early and have breakfast at a local bar. So we were out of the B&B before 0730 without even having had tea and on our way to Bolsena, today’s destination, with just a croissant and a cappuccino by way of fuel, by 0750. We were confident that there would be sustenance at a coffee stop half way along our 24km walk; we hoped that confidence would sustain us that far.

Passing one more piece of street art,

we bade farewell to Acquapendente

and set out in cool, sunny conditions. On the road, we passed a cereal factory

with, just behind it, episode two of the same cereal.

We then headed off the road on the dreaded strada biancha

but at least there were some shady patches along it. Looking back, we could still make out the tower that sits above Radicofani.

The landscape was markedly different from what we’d seen in Tuscany – entirely arable farming with some woodland, and none of the hilliness that we’d seen north of the border with Lazio.

As well as the various cereal and vegetable crops we noted as we walked along, it was clear that in Lazio they were also farming sunlight,

and hazel nuts.

Well, that Nutella doesn’t make itself, you know. Other crops included potatoes, which at one point stretched as far as the eye could see.

We were walking in the “Altopiano Vulsini”, a geologically and historically significant volcanic plateau in northern Lazio. This encompasses several volcanic complexes, including calderas at Montefiascone (which we visit tomorrow) and Bolsena (today), and is clearly a very good basis for arable farming.

We did see a single cypress which had somehow snuck over the border from Tuscany, though.

Where fields and meadows were not actively being farmed, there were lots of wild flowers

with poppies being delightfully ubiquitous.

The landscape was also sprinkled with artworks by Lorenzo Gallo, a Rome-born sculptor (who goes by the moniker Renzogallo),

“The Departure”
“The Meeting”
“The Direction”
“The Testimony”

accompanied by info boards with descriptions of unbearable pretentiousness. The first of these was on the ourtskirts of San Lorenzo Nuovo (I wonder about the synchrony between the names of the artist and the town). The town, though, was important, as it was the one and only place we would find somewhere to stop and have coffee. We stopped at the first available bar, apart from anything else because it said it offered a Timbro stamp for our credenziali. Inside the bar were a couple with three really cute long-haired chihuahuas, of which I totally failed to get a photo; but obligingly they came outside and actually encouraged a photo by handing Jane a couple of them.

Having consumed the coffee, we came across the town square shortly afterwards

with several bars around it, all offering timbri, so clearly the pilgrim market is something the town recognises. So we stopped for a second coffee and a sandwich

and then popped into the church on the town square.

There was some lovely artwork to be seen,

and we lit a candle for our recently-departed friend Martin, the late and sadly-missed husband of Caroline, who had been with us until Siena.

The most prominent feature of the Vulsini Volcanic District is the Bolsena Caldera, a 16-kilometer-wide depression formed approximately 300,000 years ago. This caldera is now occupied by Lake Bolsena, the largest volcanic lake in Europe. It is vast;

the eruption that caused that crater must have been a helluva bang!

I had fondly imagined that we would stroll along beside the lake to get to the town of Bolsena, but, as is so often the case, I was wrong; we headed off into woodland, on what looked like a nice shady path,

and, it has to be said, much of it was. There were occasional rocky bits

and some steep bits

but by and large it was a pleasant stroll which led downwards, overall and in tortuous manner.

On one of the Renzogallo “artworks” – a lump of basalt, actually – there was a lizard basking in the sunshine, so I did a bit of a photographic wossname, and took a photo first with my Sony and then using the portrait mode on my phone. Here are the two results.

Phone, background blur courtesy of software manipulation

Sony RX100-VII, background blur courtesy of the laws of physics

We passed an oak tree

planted in 2006 to mark 500 years since Pope Julius II. The info board was in Italian but this is no match for Google.  Here’s the story behind the tree. The Papal Bull stated

“…that he had given Canon Peter von Sertenstein the task of leading 200 Swiss soldiers to Rome with their captain Kaspar von Silenen “pro custodia palatii nostri”. After crossing the Alps, through Lombardy and Tuscany, von Silenen and the 150 recruits entered Rome from Porta del Popolo Blessed by the Pope in St. Peter’s Square, the guards began their service in the Apostolic Palace that same day. Thus was born the Pontifical Swiss Guard.”

We actually saw a few more cypresses which were clearly huddled together for security in this foreign environment,

and a single, lonely, wind turbine, making a defiant statement about sustainable energy production, which The Powers That Be are clearly ignoring.

I was amused by the crest of a hill in the distance.

We passed a quarry, though we know not what was being quarried.

and the road turned back into a dreaded strada biancha.

I don’t know which I dislike more – the white ones, which reflect the heat, or the dark ones, which radiate it back to you. Today wasn’t too bad, as there were some shady patches; I’m dreading tomorrow (see later).

We caught our first sight of the town of Bolsena through the trees,

and were soon into the old town, which has a castle

the church of San Salvatore (not open, unfortunately)

and several attractive corners around the streets.

There were signs to lots of appealing-looking eateries.

What was less appealing was that, having arrived at 3pm, we’d missed the lunchtime window. The nice, attractive bars along the main street in the old town were no longer serving, but Google came to our rescue and identified one which was still open, called Romeros.

It describes itself as a “Ristopub Birreria” and has pictures of food outside it – normally red flags – but its USP for us was that it was open and would serve us lunch.  We actually had a decent meal there, including lots of pasta (against the morrow, see later) so my sniffiness is entirely unjustified. In this case, anyway.

Walking off lunch en route to our accommodation, an Agriturismo establishment called “Le Vigne“, we took the opportunity to look a little around the town. There are some nice viewpoints, over the castle area,

the town’s rooftops, old and new,

and the city gate.

There is a Basilica

with some ceramic work (by Della Robbia?) over the door,

and a lovely calm interior,

but we didn’t go in to explore, since we were still in our hiking gear, and shorts are considered disrespectful. So we carried on to our accommodation, which was not far away but still managed to be considerably uphill.  It’s a handsome place

which offers a nice viewpoint over the town

and had a good large room for us to settle into so we could finally make ourselves a Nice Cup Of Tea.

I’ve made several references to tomorrow; our destination will be Montefiascone, where we will enjoy a rest day; but we have to get there first. Doing this involves getting out of the caldera; and since our journey today was basically downhill, tomorrow’s will be fundamentally uphill.

We’re not quite sure what the weather will be, but we’re hoping it will not be too hot and sunny, as 16 uphill kilometres without the benefit of a coffee stop is somewhat daunting. We will, of course, survive, but to find out in what condition, you’ll have to return to these pages to find out.

 

 

Day 7 – Siena to Lucignano d’Arbia – more like the Camino

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Tuesday 20 May 2025 – And off we go again!  We set the alarm for 0530 in order to get a prompt breakfast at 0700, which was a bit of a shame, as the hotel breakfast service didn’t start until 0730. Never mind; we could usefully catch up with the woes of the world while we waited.

We walked through the streets of Siena, with their amusingly-modified tables on the steep bits,

to the Campo, where the swallows were feasting exuberantly.


It was clear that today was Bin Day in Siena.

We exited the city through the Roman Gate

and carried on along a tarmac road for some 6km, past scenery that was, as before, pleasant and rural but otherwise unremarkable.

Eventually, we left the tarmac for the “white road” (i.e. a dirt road) that would be the underfoot surface for much of the rest of the walk.

It took us through an industrial estate

and on to a section of sheltered path which led beside the road

to another industrial estate, though one of a different sort.

In the distance, we could see a Mystery Object

which the track would take us nearer, to give us a chance to understand what it was. We also passed evidence that a major road once passed overhead.

The second industrial estate was just outside a village called Isola d’Arbia, which offered two items of keen interest, given that we had by this stage walked over 10km – a “sosta del pellegrino” and a bar. The “sosta del pellegrino” looked uncannily like a coffee bar, so we stopped to intrude on the privacy of the barman for a swift coffee. We debated stopping at the second bar for another coffee but decided to soldier on. Generally speaking, the going was a lot less arduous than we had been used to in the first week – much less up and down. The temperature was fine – around 20°C – but it was quite humid, and indeed we had a small sprinkling of rain occasionally as we walked. The day felt more similar to those that we had experienced when we walked the Camino de Francés in Spain, only with fewer convenient bars and cafés.

We got really quite close to the Mystery Object

but close examination gave scant clues as to what it was beyond a bleedin’ great tower. We could make out the letters IDIT at the base, and the S-cape map, being on this occasion more useful than Google Maps, told us that it was a “Torre di Essicazione”, which only helped a little, but when I plugged that nugget and the letters IDIT into ChatGPT, we got not just some kind of general information, but a specific run-down of exactly what it was. I quote:

Constructed between 1959 and 1961, the tower was part of the IDIT (Industria di Disidratazione Isola Tressa) facility, designed to dehydrate fruits and vegetables—primarily tomatoes—using a German-engineered process. The method involved drying produce at 33°C within a 70-meter-high silo, aiming to transform fresh produce into shelf-stable powders. Despite the initial enthusiasm, the facility faced operational challenges and ceased production by 1966, having never reached full-scale operation.

Today, the tower stands as a prominent, albeit decaying, landmark in the Tuscan landscape. While the concrete structure remains intact, other parts of the facility have deteriorated significantly, leading to its designation as an “ecomostro” (eco-monster) by environmental and heritage organizations.

While the structure is not open to the public due to safety concerns, it remains a poignant symbol of a bygone industrial era amidst the rolling Tuscan hills.

It certainly dominated the landscape as we walked on.

The white road carried on rolling

In the distance, two Czech pellegrinos who were considerably younger and fitter than us

and we were a little worried that the few drops of rain we’d had might develop into something more sustained – the sky looked quite strange at times.

but any showers that were around didn’t affect us.

We saw a couple more Mystery Objects.

We guessed that the first one was some kind of water storage facility. From the number of man-made and natural ponds, we reckon that water supply for irrigation must be an issue at some times of the year, although right now the countryside was very green. And (I’ll be honest here) the second one wasn’t a mystery at all; it was the Grancia di Cuna, one of the best preserved medieval fortified farms in the Siena area, and clearly a construction of significant size.

The S-cape app suggested a path that deviated slightly from the official Via to take us close by it.

It’s very chunky indeed; of course, once you get really close you can no longer see it properly.

So I took the opportunity to whizz the drone up to see if an aerial shot looked good.

It was built in the 14th century as a collection centre for the grain and other agricultural production necessary for the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena. It developed into a small independent village surrounded by walls, gates and towers, with the farm-fortress at the centre. Like the tower, the Grancia dominates the landscape around it.

There was some lovely scenery, really typical of Tuscany, to be appreciated.

Our route took us up into the hills overlooking Monteroni d’Arbia

and past some curious artworks – these turn out to be part of the “Museum of Widespread Art” whose works adorn this Siena stretch of the Via Francigena.

We caught our first sight of our destination

but the app led us to it via a very winding route, through a tiny but tidy hamlet called Greppo

with what we guessed was a disused well of some sort outside it,

and then via quite a significant diversion through another industrial area, to the road leading to Lucignano d’Arbia. The Powers That Be of Monteroni (who run the commune of which Lucignano forms a part) had obviously tried to ease the path round a roundabout, to help pilgrims on their way, so we walked along it until

it rather suddenly ended.

With no escape route, we had to retrace our footsteps, which, after 22km, was a little irritating. But soon we arrived in Lucignano, which is a small fortified village;

like Monteriggioni, you can see quite easily pretty much from one end to the other. Unlike Monteriggion, though, it doesn’t have coffee or gelato bars; just the one hotel, the Borgo Antico, whose entrance we found after stumbling around a little bit.

A friendly receptionist checked us in to our room which was on the ground floor (hurrah!) and so we refreshed ourselves and, given there was a forecast for rain, went out for a look round Lucignano. This doesn’t take long. It’s pretty, and small.

Pieve (monastery) di San Giovanni Battista, from 11th or 12 century, used now just for masses

Fortifications at each end

There being just the one restaurant there (in the hotel), I was glad we were on half board. Dinner was taken in the vaulted dining room

and was very good. It was a little bit of a shame that they ran out of gin before I could have a second glass, but never mind. By the time we’d had dinner, the threatened thunderstorm had arrived, and so we retired for the night and to prepare for the morrow.

Tomorrow is a light day; we have to walk just 14km to Buonconvento and there’s a coffee stop on offer at Ponte d’Arbia, so we can both get a rest and take a look at the river which gives its name to so many places. Like today, I’m expecting the going to be relatively easy, but you’ll have to check back on these pages to see how things really went, won’t you?