Tag Archives: History

Day 3 – Gambassi Terme to San Gimignano – shorter, but still non-trivial

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Wednesday 14 May 2025 – The very basic nature of our hostel accommodation was heavily borne in on us as we went down to breakfast. The tables had been set out with places allocated by name – and those before us had clearly completely ignored all this and there were basically no untouched places left for us to sit at; also, all the bread had been taken and not replaced, the kettle was nearly empty and the kitchen was locked. This was a very poor show, we thought. We’d arranged an 8am start between us and the many people who had exited earlier had swept through the buffet like a plague of locusts. It would have been a good idea to have someone on duty in the kitchen to help with replacement fodder. We organised tea and I had some cereal, but there was little there for Caroline or Jane to eat.

It’s an attractive enough setting

round the back of a 12th-Century church just outside Gambassi Terme,

but one feels it could be better run.

Off we went, then, at about 0830, into a morning in which the fog was just clearing. The Via Francigena signs pointed us towards Gambassie Terme, but the S-cape app’s red line bypassed the place.  We followed the line, and so I’m afraid I can’t tell you what the town was like. “Terme”, by the way, means it was a spa town.

The profile for the day (let me remined you here)

showed us going down from Gambassi Terme, then up about 300m overall (ugh!) before descending once more before a gentle rise up to San Gimignano. We started on tarmac before heading off on a dirt road

which led past an intriguing sign.

The scenery was, as before, lovely.

and I was particularly taken with the “stripy corduroy” effect achieved in some patches of vines.

The Chianti sign enigma was explained a little further on, as we passed an attractive winery.

It offered stamps for our “credenziali” (passports for the route) and the sign outside said it was open. But I think it was kind of Spanish open, i.e. closed. So we moved on, but in researching the name later, I learned a little to supplement my non-existent understanding of Italian wine. The Chianti region is in central Tuscany, with Chianti Classico being the area between Florence and Siena. This winery might produce Classico, or possibly Chianti Colli Senesi, which is regional to San Gimignano. Classico must be at least 80% Sangiovese grape variety, other variants of Chianti must be at least 70%.

We were on the down stretch of the walk, but soon reached the bottom, by another fine-looking establishment

which turned out to be a newly-opened agriturismo outfit called La Torre. At this point, the uphill work starts.

It was a long uphill pull, at times quite steep – but at least a lot of it was in the shade, which made it a lot less unpleasant than yesterday’s toil.

We passed a horse-riding centre (calling itself “Via Francigena”, so presumably offering people the chance to ride part of the route)

one of whose dogs accompanied us quite a way carrying a ball

but it didn’t want to part with it, so clearly wasn’t a retriever.

The steep uphill work continued for a while

but at least offered us great views of where we had earlier been descending.

We passed some handsome buildings

many of which seemed to be some kind of agriturismo setup, but none of which could actually be arsed to set up a coffee stop for thirsty passing pilgrims (of which it had to be said, there was a steady trickle).

We passed through a village, Pancole, which also had no coffee stops, but it did have a sanctuary.

We couldn’t, sadly, explore it because it was in use; a mass was about to start for a congregation seemingly made up of the local elderly and infirm – lots of ambulances and taxis outside – they didn’t invite us in, though.

We followed the road a little further until we could see San Gimignano in the distance; it didn’t seem to be much higher than we were, so I thought that perhaps the worst of the climb was over.

Wrongly, as it turned out. The Via signposts took us on to a track which carried on steeply uphill. In the spirit of proper completion, we grimly ploughed on and up, past more handsome buildings (but no coffee stops)

until we (a) got a good glimpse of our destination, San Gimignano

and (b) reached the highest point of the walk, marked by the Monasterio de Cellole.

In the inevitable way of these things, our route then led us down to a very poorly-designed road which led further down before going up into San Gimignano. One would have hoped the designers would have worked out some way of keeping it level for us poor pilgrims, but no. However, there was a consolation and a distraction because the views were, as before, stupendous. It was occasionally possible to catch a nice vignette of the countryside

but by and large it’s too big to fit into a single photo.


Eventually, we toiled up into San Gimignano, which is, you guessed it, very steep in places, mainly up

as we had to get to our hotel, Hotel La Cisterna, which is in the town’s main square, i.e. the highest point. Before you boys at the back start any schoolboy giggles, the name is nothing lavatorial. “Cisterna” in Italian means “Well”, which is more than one can say for the current US President, and you can see the well right in front of our hotel.

Our run of luck, of hotels being ready for us, continued, and our baggage had arrived, so, it being only about 1pm by this stage, we could swiftly get hosed down and changed and head out for a decent lunch, which we took just round the corner at a bar/cafe called Torre Guelfa.

After lunch, we were all feeling a siesta coming on, so had a quick look at the Duomo

and found out its opening hours for a later expedition for some sightseeing and gelato. We were intrigued by one gelato shop

which had the most extraordinary queue. It’s not as if it was the only one in town, so we decided it would clearly bear research later, when the crowds had dissipated. We also decided to visit one very interesting museum that Jane had found, to make sure we got to it before it closed.

It’s a beautiful recreation of how San Gimignano – “The City of Towers” – would have looked in medieval times. At one stage there were over a hundred towers in the town, mainly built by people to show off. 14 remain, and you can see some of them in the photos on this page.

Siesta over, we ventured out once more with our main objective being ice-cream a visit to the cathedral.  It is a well-recommended activity, and costs only €5 to get in. I wasn’t sure what to expect from such a highly-touted place, but there was a tiny clue as we headed for the entrance.

What you see, on walking in, is remarkably impactful. The interior of the church is liberally covered with frescoes and it made a huge impression on me.

It’s not an intimate space for communing with God, but it has a certain majesty about it.

Here’s a gallery of some of the photos I took to try to convey what the interior looks like.

After that, ice-cream seemed to be a good thing, so we went back to that popular shop

where the queue had died down a bit, and we could see the staggering variety of ice-cream they offered.

We consumed ours whilst sitting on the Duomo steps, and after that a drink seemed a necessity. We were heading for the Terraza outside our hotel when Jane suggested we walk down a side alley to a punto panoramico that (as it happens) our hotel bedroom looks out on. This was a good move.

There is a little enoteca in the Cisterna square called Divinorum, and it has a back door that offers a fantastic view in the afternoon sunshine.

A drink there in the last of the sunshine set us up nicely for a reasonably early night in preparation for the morrow.

Tomorrow’s walk is about the same length as today’s was, but should be a little less arduous. We have to get to Colle Val d’Elsa and the S-cape app describes the walk as “one of the most beautiful routes on the Via Francigena”. So we can look forward to something much nicer than the humdrum views we’ve been subjected to so far, eh?

Another Lucca round

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Sunday 11 May 2025 – Our last day of “freedom” before the serious walking starts, and the local variant of Mother’s Day here, which meant we (the two ladies, that is… some assumptions being made here!) benefited from some extra chocolate at breakfast.

The breakfast available was, otherwise, rather woeful; particularly absent was any hint of fresh fruit. Still, we fuelled up on what we could find and made our way out into a delightfully sunny day.

We had some formal objectives for our wandering – a couple of towers, a couple of churches and, particularly, a lunch in the Piazza del Amfiteatro which we hoped would be a Nice one.

Selecting our activities based on when the light might be best for photography, we started with the Torre Guignigi, which is unique in having holm oak trees growing out of the top of it.

It is one of only two medieval towers surviving in Lucca where once there were more than one hundred.

There are over 200 steps to the top, but despite this it is a popular tourist site

and it offers some fine views over the city.

We felt we’d earned a coffee break before we walked along to our next place of interest. This was the Church of San Michele in Foro, which boasts a very impressive facade

but which is a little unusual in that it’s clearly more a place for meditation and prayer than a place to listen to the word of God – there are no pews, and the space is entirely open.

By this stage, we knew that the cathedral would be open for visitors, and so headed that way, passing, as we did, the 12th century church of of San Giusto, which, like several churches in these parts, has a very striking facade.

The cathedral, the Church of St. Martin, is, as one would expect, an imposing building, again with a wonderful facade (the picture below was taken later in the day when the sun illuminated it better).

Inside is the sort of space one would expect in a significant cathedral

lavishly embellished

with some impressive marble work

and some lovely stained glass

some of which was throwing wonderful colours from the sunshine.

There’s a sort of “temple within a temple”

which, under normal circumstances, would house the Volto Santo, the “Holy Face of Lucca”, an 8-foot tall carving of Christ on the Cross

 

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

but at the moment contains just scaffolding, as the figure has been removed for restoration work, and can be seen displayed in a workshop setting in the church.

Inside the cathedral is a statue of the eponymous “St. Martin and the Beggar”

showing the saint using his sword to cut his cloak in two in order to give half to the beggar. This is the original and there’s a copy now on the facade of the cathedral,

looking, it has to be said, in need of the ministrations of someone with a power washer and a long ladder.

With over an hour left until our lunch appointment, there was clearly time for those of us with courage, fortitude and good quads to climb the other tower of note in Lucca, the Torre del Ore, the suitably-named Tower of the Clock.

It turned out that I was the only one of the three of us prepared to make the journey, and it turned out to be rather a lovely experience; in striking contrast to the Torre Guignigi, I was the only person in the tower, apart from the gatekeeper, who charged me €8 to climb the steps. At the top I had the entire platform all to myself

and could enjoy the lovely views over the city

including a great view of the Torre Guignigi.

Whilst I was climbing the tower, Jane and Caroline relaxed at the near(ish)by Gorilla Craft Beer and Cafe, where I eventually joined them so that we could sample some Italian gins as an agreeable prelude to lunch. That was taken back in the Piazza del Amfiteatro, at a very good restaurant called Sotto Sotto. We were well looked after by Eugene and eventually tottered back to our hotel so that we could get some rest and prepare for the forthcoming rigours.

Tomorrow is Day 1 of The Walk; we will walk to Rome, and Caroline will join us for the first week, as far as Siena. The significant datum is that we have nearly 30km to cover tomorrow, after a short  train journey to where we will start, in Altopascio. We’re all feeling a little bit daunted by the thought of the distance we have to cover, and you’ll have to keep in touch with these pages to see how we get on, won’t you?

 

A Lucca Round

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Saturday 10 May 2025 – On paper, the day’s schedule was quite relaxed, starting with a 10am transfer to Lucca. However, I wasn’t done with Pisa; I wanted to take a photo of the tower and baptistry in the morning sunshine. I thought that if I got there early enough, I might be the only one there and so could get a photo of the tower with no crowds. I was very nearly right.

I woke up shortly after 6am and decided that I would walk up to the Piazza del Duomo, so I arrived there well before 7am. The site was, indeed, very quiet. But, right bang in the middle of the shot I wanted to take, was a couple who had obviously got up really early so they could get their own shot at a classic view of the site,

except, of course, they were doing fucking selfies! And they were taking their time about it, too, so, rather than wait for them to finish, I walked around the site to get a photo of the baptistry in the morning light.

On the way back to see if my shot was clear, I passed another, clearly serious, photographer setting up with his big camera on a tripod, only to realise that he was doing fucking selfies, too!

Anyway, I got the shot I wanted in the end.

I really wanted an aerial version, too, and I had the drone with me. There was a sign on the site saying “no drones”, but I thought that maybe if I launched from just off the site, I could sneak a quick shot with no-one to notice.  Sadly, DJI’s software had already thought of this, and declared the area an “Authorisation Zone” – I would have to get a special code even to launch. Not only did I not know how to get this, but I realised that if I did, They would know that I’d taken an illicit shot. So, with a sigh, I packed up and walked back to the hotel.

Pisa looked very fine in the early morning light,

which made me feel extra glad that I had made the effort to get up early.

Our 10am transfer went very smoothly, with an entertaining driver who got us to Lucca in about half an hour, and deposited us at the Hotel Rex

whose staff seemed somewhat disenchanted to see us so early and bade us come back at 2pm to check in. They did allow us to leave our bags there, so we did that and wandered off into a lovely sunny day.

Embarrassingly, I had never even heard of Lucca before we planned this trip, but when I mentioned it in various conversations, people cooed about how lovely the place was; I’d seen a photo of the cathedral and heard about the walls, but that was about it. According to Wikipedia, “Lucca is known as an Italian “Città d’arte” (City of Art) from its intact Renaissance-era city walls and its very well preserved historic centre.” The hotel lies just outside these walls, and so we went with a plan to walk around them, as Jane had confirmed that this was A Thing. We first had to find a way through them

and soon found a path that led through a tunnel

and up into a delightful area. There’s a well-developed and wide path that completely circumnavigates the walls, allowing for walking, running, cycling and

the cycling equivalent of pedalos, which are for hire at many spots round the walls. The route is tree-lined and very pleasant to walk along.  It offers many a great view of the city and its buildings,

all the nicer for it being a beautful sunny day.  The round trip is around 4km, and we covered about half it before diverting off in search of a coffee, which we found in the Piazza del Amfiteatro. Jane had mentioned that there were maybe a couple of restaurants there, and actually the whole amphitheatre area is rammed with restaurants

and featuring a market in the centre.

We chose a place at random (OK, the first one we got to) and passed a pleasant hour over coffee and drinks before completing our circuit round the walls, a process which took us to just after check-in time.

En route, we passed the very pleasant Piazza San Frediano

which gets its name from the Basilica which stands on one edge, a building with a very striking facade

which features a fabulous mosaic image at its head.

It was open, so we went in, and found that the interior was every bit as striking as the outside.

It’s “Chapels’R’Us” down the sides of the nave

and there are many interesting details – lush decor and frescoes.

An extra side chapel has, among all the other splendours, a wonderful ceiling,

and, all in all, it was a very worthwhile detour. We carried on round the walls, past more splendid edifices

and, for reasons not entirely clear to us, a giant panther.

I mean, obviously it’s something to do with the Giro D’Italia cycling race, but exactly what we don’t know.

The hotel was more welcoming when we arrived at 2.15pm, and checked us in smoothly. Behind the reception is a neat floral display;

the shape of the walls, made out in hydrangeas – as can be seen in the track of our walk.

Having checked and settled in, we then mounted an expedition to find lunch, which is where we struck the first (minor) obstacle; all the serious restaurants had clearly shut their kitchens. We stumbled about until we found somewhere that could provide us something better than a packet of crisps, and had a relaxed time over focaccias and salads. There seemed to be a few hen parties in town, and one passed us whilst we were at lunch.

They were clearly having a good time, as were we.

We repaired to the hotel for a restorative cup of tea and, as the sun was going down, ventured out again, this time in search of gelato. It amazes me that we’ve been in Italy almost a week and this is the first time that ice cream has featured as part of the plan. So we headed back towards the old town, taking the opportunity to pass the cathedral, which has a very impressive facade.

We then blundered about a bit, ending up by the Piazza Napoleone. We had wondered, earlier, whether there might be restaurants here.

Yup.

It’s-a nice-a place; we may well end up having lunch here tomorrow. Jane also found a highly-recommended gelateria for us to sample – Caffè Casali, on Piazza San Michele. This is a civilised ice cream parlour

which also serves cocktails and pastries. It made for a pleasant coda to the day.

Tomorrow is the last chance we get for a leisurely schedule; after that the hard walk starts. There are a couple of towers to climb and maybe a couple of churches to visit (no shit, Sherlock – Ed). So stick with us and you’ll find out how we spent our last non-walking day.