Wednesday 28 May 2025 – Having expended over 3,000 calories and tramped over 30,000 steps a day for the last eight days, we were due a rest today; and anyway a suitcase full of sweaty hiking clothes was making a siren call. So the main task for the day was the laundry (these things are important, you know), but we also wanted to follow up on a couple of things we saw yesterday and wanted to look at again. Delightfully, as we were about to go for our breakfast, we bumped into Jane and Yvette on their way to resume the Via and so were able to bid them a fond farewell and Buon Camino.
For the first of our targets, timing was important, as we knew that it would be seen to its best advantage in the morning light. That meant going back up above the old town, to the castle where various popes have taken residence over the centuries; hence it’s called the Rocca dei Papi – I shared a photo yesterday. Part of the castle is the Torre del Pellegrino, the Pilgrim’s Tower,
which has a commanding view over the surrounding countryside.
I was already kackered from having to walk up to the Rocca, so wouldn’t countenance actually climbing the thing. Anyway, I knew a place where the view would be just as good – the Belvedere next to the tower. When you first see it, the view is breathtaking,
and, if you look carefully, it’s possible to see that Lazio is making some strides in sustainable energy production – the first wind farm we’d seen in our time in Italy.
One wonders if Tuscany is being sniffy about having windmills spoil its iconic countryside.
At the Belvedere is a monument to the pilgrim,
and one is quite close to the cathedral, which has a crypt that the nice lady in the tourist office was keen to make sure we knew about. I’m not normally one for visiting crypts because I associate them with dark and dead bodies, but Jane was interested, so I tagged along; and I’m glad I did. It’s difficult to do it justice photographically, but here’s my attempt.
It’s vast and circular. Around the walls are terracotta statues of the Stations of the Cross
and, in a side chamber are (we assume) relics of Santa Lucia dei Filippini, to whom the crypt is dedicated.
Here’s another attempt to convey the interior.
We put a Euro in the slot to turn the lights on. It made photographs a little clearer
but it was more atmospheric without the lights.
The huge size of the crypt is made clear by an infographic on a board outside.
The church is the top half, and the crypt the bottom half. Since you’ll have seen the astonishing interior in yesterday’s post (you did, didn’t you? Promise?) you can understand the overall structure a bit better.
Walking back to the hotel, the square just up from the hotel looked a lot more cheerful in the morning sunshine
and, under the arch to the right above, there’s further evidence of the push to establish the city as the 100km point on the Via Francigena.
They have a bit of a way to go, though. The lady in the tourist office was proud to tell us that no fewer than 500 pilgrims had been through in the last year. So we nodded and put on our impressed faces; but compared with the tens of thousands who go through Sarría every year on the Camino de Santiago, it’s small beer. I wish them well; the Camino is very crowded these days, and perhaps people looking for equally (or even more) challenging walks will come to the Via Francigena – perhaps even to the point of increasing traffic to provide economic justification for entrepreneurial spirits to open more coffee and rest stops?
To get to the laundry, we had to go down and outside the walls. While I went to start the washing, Jane went to explore the other major lump of religious masonry that we’d passed on our way into town the day before;
the Basilica di San Flaviano. I was in two minds as to whether to visit, as it meant slogging back up into town afterwards; but Jane told me it was worth a look and so I staggered down the hill. And…
my goodness me! It was a delight. The crypt in Siena had turned me on to frescoes, and there was some lovely work to be seen here.
It was possible to spend a Euro to turn the lights on here, as well, and
it rather spoiled the effect, I think; perhaps the yellow light preserves frescoes better, but it’s at its best without the artificial aid.
By this stage it was lunch time, and so we went to a place recommended by the lass on the desk in the hotel; Miralago da Paolo. They don’t have gin there, which is a shame, but we had beer to accompany an excellent meal of Herculean proportions; enough pasta to load me up for tomorrow’s walking, I hope. It has a great setting.
And so to tomorrow, when we will be Back On It. We have to get to Viterbo, which is only 17km and largely downhill, so, despite the forecast for 25°C and unbroken sunshine, I’m hoping for a pleasant walk. I will report back.
