Tag Archives: Via Francigena

Day 10 – San Quirico d’Orcia to Castiglione d’Orcia – short but sharp

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Friday 23 May 2025 – Despite the short distance we had to walk today – 10km is the official distance – we still found ourselves up and ready to depart by 8am. I had looked at the profile of the walk offered by the S-cape app

and formed the opinion that it should be really quite easy, with only gentle ups and downs.

Wrongly, as it turned out. I should instead have looked at the representation offered by Garmin Connect for the same track,

which gives a far better impression of what the day will bring.

Anyhoo…

The breakfast arrangements for our B&B took the form of a voucher to be used at L’Officina del Gusto (The Office of Taste), which had interesting decor

but a limited selection of breakfasts: sweet or savoury. As we continued on our route, the weather looked a trifle ominous

and the various weather apps suggested that there was a real possibility of rain.  However, none materialised and the morning was cooler than we’d experienced before on this walk. We soon left the tarmac for a dirt road, with the usual offering of great scenery.

As we walked along, Jane and I agreed that the Via Francigena was better than the Camino Francés for scenery, but the Camino offered much better infrastructure, particularly rest stops. I guess if you want the scenery, you have to be prepared to walk up the hills.

We passed a few frog ponds,

which were all as noisy as the first one we’d seen a couple of days ago. It struck me that you don’t get that kind of racket in frog ponds in the UK, but I’m not an expert in country ways. Jane, however, has roots in the countryside and she agreed that frogs in the UK weren’t that noisy. Perhaps it’s because these are Italian frogs? We’ve noticed that Italians in groups and silence are to a large extent mutually exclusive.*

A large lump hove into view,

giving us the opportunity to disagree on exactly what it was. Jane thought it might be Radicofani, and I thought it might be Ripa d’Orcia. We were both well wrong, but we did find out eventually what it was. (That’s the bait to keep you reading, which is a bit pathetic, really, but this is the level to which I’ve sunk.)

We knew that there were a couple of interesting stops on the way, and we soon saw the first,

the roofs (rooves?) of Vignoni Alto, described as “one of the best-preserved fortified villages in Tuscany”. Our route led us through it, and it is indeed a very attractive place; we think it’s mainly holiday apartments to let.

Some of the apartments have a simply staggering view.

It was very quiet and therefore too good an opportunity for aerial photography to miss out on.

The road from there leads down

and down and down; it’s a dirt road, but one with signs for motorists warning them that it’s a dangerous slope. We were still fairly high on the road when we realised what the lump was.

It was Rocca di Tentennano (sometimes called Rocca di Castiglione); the reason we rumbled this was that it had been hiding Castiglione d’Orcia behind its bulk and we could now see that we were in for a bit of a climb to get to our destination for the day. However, before we could start the ascent, we had to complete the descent, which led past the other point of interest of the day – Bagno Vignoni, a thermal spa.

While it was always going to be interesting to see the baths, the main thing for me was the presence there of a coffee stop.

It was a popular stop and there were a many cyclists there as well as pellegrinos and a few posh-looking people in civvies – there’s an upmarket hotel attached to the spa. You can tell because the inevitable cypresses are manicured to within an inch of their lives.

It’s an attractive setting.

and we enjoyed looking around it almost as much as we enjoyed the coffee and (very good) filled croissants that were on offer.

The Via route after that continues down and has to cross a river at its lowest point. In theory, there’s a pedestrian bridge across it

but it’s closed; they really don’t want you to use it.

We therefore walked around the road and started the ascent. This is where I realised how much I had misread the profile diagram. Bits of it were really steep – 18.6° was the steepest I recorded, and that is 1 in 3. I hastily revised my decision not to use walking poles and we made our way up the slope (it wasn’t all up, but the bits that were up were quite hard going). Of course, the views improved as we ascended.

and we eventually reached Castiglione

which was very pretty

and very full of cyclists.

We found out that our visit had coincided with the Tuscany Trail; some 600 lunatics cyclists completing a 430km ride. I didn’t notice any e-bikes among them….

Castiglione d’Orcia, being a place with a long historical record (first noted in the year 714) has a street layout that doesn’t owe much to common sense, and a street numbering system to match.  Jane did a great job to actually find our B&B, Il Vecchietta, which, it being only about 1.30pm,

was, of course, closed. However, a phone call brought forth someone to let us in, and we were able to hose ourselves down before heading down to the restaurant, Il Cassero, whence the kind person with the keys had come to our aid. We had a Nice Lunch there; very Italian and very affably served. I continued the pasta experiment and will report on it in due course.

After lunch, we had some time before the local Coop opened and we could buy milk for any cups of tea we might plan, and so I took the opportunity to do some more aerial work.

Rocca del Tentennano, which is a fortress. Really, it is.

You can clearly see the castle that gives this place its name

The walk to and from the Coop gave us the chance for some more pictures of the place.

Like Horace Wimp’s girl, it’s small, but veeery pretty.

And so to tomorrow, where we are back to dealing with a long walk, towards Radicofani, which involves a fair bit of uphill work and several fords, so it’s likely to be interesting as well as testing. The arrangements are all very complicated, but All Will Be Revealed in the next post.

 

* Sorry to appear racist, but I couldn’t resist

 

Day 9 – Buonconvento to San Quirico d’Orcia – a decent walk

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Thursday 22 May 2025 – With over 20km to walk today, and the prospect of some hills to climb, we opted for a reasonably prompt start. I felt I’d slept very badly, so the six o’clock alarm was not a welcome sound. I was astounded, therefore, on consulting Garmin Connect, the app for my activity monitor, to find that it, at least, was of the opinion that my Body Battery – its assessment of my energy levels – was well charged up, in stark contrast to preceding days. I wonder if this was a result of the pasta I’d had for lunch yesterday. I feel an experiment coming on…

Anyway, well-charged or not, we were under way shortly after 8am, into a cool morning, with some mist still visible in the hills.

Soon after leaving the outskirts of Buonconvento, the route took us to a grassy track

and before long we were back once more to wading through waist-high grass, which left our feet a bit damp, but was otherwise OK.

We passed a pond and Jane saw some movement in the water. At first we thought it was an otter, but actually, the pond contained coypu,


a large rodent, which neither of us had seen since we visited friends in France many years ago. In fact there were about five coypu there, in the water or on the bank.

We pressed on past the lovely scenery that is so abundant in these parts. After yesterday’s relative lack of vineyards, it was clear that we were back in Wine Country.

The track turned on to a dirt road

which took us past some fairly swanky-looking wineries, with their lovely cypress-lined driveways.

One of them, Carpazo, seemed keen to attract passing trade from pellegrinos

and bicigrinos.

We found out here why some of the vineyards have a “patchy corduroy” pattern when viewed from a distance.

Every other row was not mown. A tractor was running up and down the mown rows, pulling a crop sprayer which sprayed both sides

hence the need only to mow alternate rows. Mind you, a bit further on, we came across a tractor being used to mow every row, so there’s obviously a variety of viticultural approaches at work here.

We’d covered some 7km by this stage, and the track started to make one of the various climbs we knew we’d be doing.

Obviously, as we climbed, the views improved, and we got a decent look at a neighbouring mountaintop town called Montalcino.

It was a lot higher than us, so I was very glad it wasn’t on our route.

The landscape, as ever, was lovely.

We encountered a real pilgrim!

Sadly, my grab shot of him doesn’t really do him justice and I felt it would be intrusive to take more pics as he approached. He had a proper pilgrim’s walking pole, proper pilgrim sandals and was leading a donkey; on the donkey was riding a chihuahua

which made a cute sight.

As we breasted the top of a rise, the scenery changed, with evidence of landslips

and a more arable appearance, rather than vineyards.

Soon, we could clearly see a small town, Torrenieri

which marked (a) two-thirds of the distance and (b) more importantly, a coffee stop, at a bar called Ticci, although it seemed a normal size to me.

It also marked the start of another series of hills we had to climb – a smaller one, a larger one and then a final pull into our destination, San Quirico. The scenery was lovely

as long as one was selective!

We passed several ponds where it was clear that whatever yesterday’s noisy frogs were up to was the in thing for frogs to be getting up to. It is astonishing how loud the frog ponds were, and it made us smile as we walked by.

At one stage, we passed a possible diversion which would reportedly have taken us to The Classic Tuscan Panorama – a view over the Val d’Orcia which is apparently used all over the place. It being approximately two kilometres out of our way to get to it, we decided we really couldn’t be arsed, as the scenery we already had was pretty pleasant and markedly classic anyway.

Dirt road gave way to tarmac for a reasonably long stretch, and we had one pleasant surprise at a road junction. It’s an almost unbroken rule that where there’s a choice between two routes, the correct one is always the one that goes uphill. This junction

was an exception, and our route led down. Jane was delighted with the profusion of wild flowers that she spotted by the roadside, including some bee orchids. There were some nice scenery shots, too.

Soon, we could see San Quirico

and the road we were on would soon join a major road, so the track led off on another dirt road which went down to go under the major road.

This left us with the final pull up into San Quirico, during which we came across a chap with a long-handled hedge trimmer and a cherry picker who was actually shaving the cypress trees beside a posh-looking building.

I hadn’t realised that they needed that kind of maintenance. We also noted that at this particular property, the cypresses were supported by frames.

It seems that while cypresses grow naturally columnar, some people might like to manicure them to make them more uniform; and young trees can benefit from the frames to support them while they’re developing. (Thank you, ChatGPT.)

San Quirico hove into view above us

and, as before, catching sight of nice Tuscan scenery

served to distract from having to work that bit harder as we toiled up towards the town. We went under a viaduct

and – up a whole load of bloody steps – into the town,

to find that our B&B, La Locanda del Sorriso,

was closed up, with no-one home. It was only about 2.30, so we guessed that guests would perhaps be welcome after about 4pm and accordingly sought out some lunch.  Just along from the B&B was a square with two establishments on it

and it was easy to choose which to try. At first I was worried that the one we chose, called Vintage, didn’t do G&T, but actually they had a fine list of gins, including some from the Portobello distillery. Lunch was basic (lasagne for my pasta experiment, crostino for Jane) but good and included one of those “small world” occasions which make life so much more pleasant. A Dutch lass approached us and said “do I know you?”, which is an interesting conversational gambit. It turned out that she did – Jane (of course) had immediately worked out who she was, while I (of course) had no idea, since she was out of context. The context was M/V Hondius, the ship on which we had visited the Antardtic last year. She and her chap had been great company for some of the meals we took on board. He was working with the Dutch government on their various Covid measures; regrettably, we can’t remember either what her role was or, indeed her name. It was remarkable (a) that she was in the same place as us at the same time and (b) that she picked us out as familiar faces. I am really impressed that she did that, and it was lovely to have a chat with her for a while.

Lunch therefore took us until just after 4pm, when we wandered back towards the B&B. Co-incidentally, the lady who looks after it was also headed that way and somehow or other picked us out as tourists – amazing, that feminine intuition – so we were able to get into our room. The B&B is run remotely – no-one in residence and breakfast is via a coupon for a local eatery – but seems comfortable enough.

Since the B&B provided a kettle but no milk, we went for a walk. Obviously. The church on the square where we took our lunch is Chiesa di San Francesco.and its bells are mad.

We took a look inside it,

and the Collegiate Church that had greeted us as we walked into the town.

One feature in this church is marquetry panelling for the choir seating dating from the late 1400s

which was originally installed in the baptistry in Siena, but started to degrade. So one of the canons here bought seven of the panels that were in the best condition and installed them here. Here’s an example of one, and very fine work it is, too.

The town also sports a Pieve (monastery)

which we took a look inside

and we ended our walk, having triumphantly bought the milk at the local Coop, by coming through the 15th-century ornamental garden.

This is very difficult to convey photographically, so once we’d got back to the B&B, I got the drone out and whizzed it up to take a photo of it

and the town itself.

I also took a video, if you have a couple of minutes to spare.

That was about it for the day. We have a very light day tomorrow – just some 10km to walk – but en route there are a couple of Things To See, so we will take a look at them and report back in the fullness, for your delectation.

Day 8 – Lucignano to Buonconvento – Short but interesting

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Wednesday 21 May 2025 – With only 13km to cover today, we could afford a leisurely start. Not too leisurely, though; our bags still have to be ready to be collected by 8am to be taken to our next destination. But at least the alarm was set for a slightly later time than heretofore.

The hotel had some interesting wall decorations: photos of places we have visited, such as Monteriggioni and San Gimignano and others, some of which we will pass through or near.  It also had a couple of items of Sienese interest: a picture of the 17 emblems of the contrade in suitably victorious poses

and a monochrome photo which gives a compelling insight into the excitement the Palio jockeys must inevitably face.

Breakfast (a typical Italian affair) over, we started out just after 9am, bidding farewell to Lucignano

as we carefully negotiated about half a kilometre of main road to get back to the Via, occasionally leaping into the undergrowth to ensure that the thundering great lorries missed us. (OK, I admit it – this was basically to avoid retracing our steps along yesterday’s lengthy diversion when a short cut – albeit not a recommended one – was available).

We rejoined the Via, which led over a railway

and then on a track beside it.

We had understood that the railway was practically disused, with traffic running only on special occasions, so I popped up to take some photos along the line (not very interesting) and to see whether walking along it was better underfoot than the path (not). So it was a bit of a shock when a train went past a few minutes later, I can tell you.

The temperature was agreeable – probably around 20°C, and the only signs of yesterday evening’s downpour were the reasonably high humidity, grass still wet on the track and some slightly slippy muddy patches. But getting our feet wet wasn’t a particular problem; we just walked on without any issues. The scenery was very agreeable and very Tuscan;

we will be going through the Val d’Orcia, which is a UNESCO World Heritage area where the extensive use of cypress trees was first adopted. As you can see, it has spread and is now a sort of pictorial shorthand for the landscapes of Tuscany.

Disused items of agricultural machinery were dotted around the area, original uses for which we wot not of (and neither, by the way, does Google Lens).

Also dotting the landscape were various artworks, some of which were definitely part of the “Museo de Arte Diffusa” (first works seen yesterday)

This one, at Ponte d’Arbia, probably represents pilgrims crossing the pilgrtim bridge

and some which probably weren’t.

At one point, astonishingly, we had the opportunity to fill in a questionnaire about our presence on the Via.

For the first time since we started out from Altopascio, we saw cattle;

and, later on, donkeys,

one of whom looked distinctly Eeyorish.

About halfway along the route was a place called Ponte d’Arbia, where, importantly, there was a coffee stop. Unsurprisingly, the place sported a bridge across the river Arbia,

but, we saw on the S-cape app, it also has a second bridge, the “Ponte del Pellegrino”. I was expecting this to be a rickety-rackety affair (minus the troll; trolls hate Italian sunshine), but I was very wrong indeed.

Located at the foot of the far side of the Ponte del Pellegrino

It was constructed in 2016, for a Jubilee Year (Giubileo della Misericordia) and renovated in 2024 in time for this year, which is also a Jubilee Year, albeit only a Giubileo Ordinario. (Both Jubilees were declared by Pope Francis.)

Ponte d’Arbia clearly has a local council who are invested in wayside art, no matter how incomprehensible.

After Ponte d’Arbia, we had to climb a couple of hills, the first quite small

but the second more substantial, and quite as steep as any of Siena’s streets, only longer.

The view from the top was nice, of course.

(I am really looking forward to doing a proper job of processing these images when I get home. What you see here is, broadly speaking, what comes out of the Sony camera, with a little tweaking via the Android Gallery app; but I will be able to benefit from a PC and my beloved DxO Photolab at home to get detail out of the RAW files.)

On our way up this final climb, we heard a very strange noise, which we first thought might have been some corvids having a row in the trees. But then we passed a pond,

and realised that the deafening racket was from frogs. I couldn’t capture them on video, but just listening to them provided a pleasing diversion for several minutes.

Going down the other side of the hill, in the distance, we saw Buonconvento

and were soon walking into the town,

which is not large, but its centro storico is very attractive.

Our hotel, the rather more modern Ghibellino,

had a room ready and our bags had arrived, so we were able to hose ourselves down and head out for lunch. Jane had booked, on the strength of proximity and Google reviews, a table for 2pm, and so we found our way to the Ristorante Bar Amici di Campriano.

It’s not a posh place and seems on the face of it a bit chaotic (it’s also a delicatessen), but we found ourselves a table and ordered ourselves a G&T (no ice – the machine was broken). We liked the look of a couple of the pasta dishes (unusual for me) and ordered them and some vegetables, but no secundi piatti. The pasta was delicious, but we were a  bit puzzled not to get the veg. It turned out that they were planning to wait and serve us the veg as our main course, which is very Italian, I suppose; but we got them to bring out the spinach and the fennel early, and very good it was, too. The service was very friendly and the whole thing was very good v. for m. We had a chat wth Il Patrone, who has his own vineyard and uses the place to serve his wine. All very engaging, if a little informal.

We pottered round the corners of Buonconvento after lunch. There aren’t many of them, as the centro storico is quite small, but it is lovely.

The church, of St. Peter and St. Paul, has some lovely stained glass.

It is clearly modern, featuring JFK, Gandhi, Pope John Paul II (we think) and Martin Luther King, as well as other faces we cannot indentify with certainty; but we feel that the common theme is that they all died for their faith or beliefs.

At first, I thought that Buonconvento would feature a good convent, but actually its name stems from the Latin bonus conventus, “happy place”. Not a bad name, I reckon – we found it very pleasant.

Today was a short and pleasant day. Tomorrow will be harder work!

The total ascent will be over 500m, so I feel the need for walking poles coming on. The weather forecast is OK – 24°C, no rain until later in the day – and there should be at least one place for a reviving coffee (and quite probably a beer) en route. We’ll be heading into the Val d’Orcia so I expect to be taking lots more photos of cypress-strewn landscapes. Come back soon to find out if that was the case, eh?