Tag Archives: Vetralla

Day 17 – Vetralla to Capranica – a hot walk, but a good one

3 Replies

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.

The sign says “The wood doesn’t need man – man needs the wood”

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.

Photo via Andrea Natali on Facebook – 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.

“Chim Cimina, chim Cimina chim chim cheroo. We’re harming the woods if we buy stuff from you”?

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.

 

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

Leave a Reply

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.