Via Romea Germanica Day 111: Vetralla - Sutri

Aiutami, Signore, a mettermi in cammino... Anche se l'orizzonte mi sembra oscuro.

Anche se la ricompensa, agli occhi del mondo, non vale l'impegno. 

Anche se la gente pensa che il mio apporto per un mondo nuovo non è granché.

(Help me, Lord, to set out walking,

Even when there is darkness on the horizon.

Even when they say it's not worth the effort.

Even if people think I'm not doing a lot

to make this a better world.)

 

- Pilgrims' prayer, posted in the hostel in Vetralla 

We breakfasted in the café across the street from our hostel and then walked through the centre of Vetralla, where everything was shut at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, and plenty of houses were empty and up for sale. A real pity that this town seems to be in decline, because Vetralla has a beautiful old town centre with medieval walls and cobblestone streets.

A bit of history: Vetralla

The territory of Vetralla has been inhabited since the Paleolithic; in Etruscan times, the most flourishing settlements were Norchia, Grotta Porcina and Macchia delle Valli, where a temple dedicated to Demeter has been found. In Roman times, the centre of urban development in the area was Forum Cassii, a hub along the Via Cassia: the road to Rome that would become known as Via Francigena or Via Romea.

The first written record of Vetralla dates back to 1145: is a document in which Pope Eugene Ill invites the King of France, Louis VI, to join in the crusade. In the mid-twelfth century Vetralla was raised to the status of county: but in 1170 the count of Vetralla, Guitto di Uffreduccio, ceded half of his properties to the Magistrate of the city of Viterbo, Count Ildebrandino, so that he would control the rebellious people of Vetralla, who demanded independence. The city remained dependent on Viterbo until 4 April 1783, when Vetralla was granted the status of "city" by Pope Pius VI. 

Vetralla is a much underrated town which has excellent potential for tourism, as a base from which to explore a vast area: the many Etruscan sites in the vicinity and, Viterbo, Montefiascone, Orvieto, Sutri, Rome, Lake Vico and the seaside. In addition, Vetralla is surrounded by woods perfect for hiking and mountain-biking, and we encountered plenty of hikers, bikers and picnickers on this sunny Sunday. 

In the woods outside Vetralla we ran into Serafino: the perfect name for a "trail angel"! Serafino is a member of CAI, Club Alpino Italiano, the organisation in charge of trail maintenance and signage all over Italy. His local group cleans, marks and maintains the Via Francigena/Via Romea trails all the way from Acquapendente to Sutri, he told me. I asked Serafino to help me fix a strap that had come off my backpack and needed to be pressed on with a strong hand. We walked together for a couple of kilometres, discussing long-distance walks and travel in general - Serafino is leaving tomorrow for a trip to Istanbul and Cappadocia.

Serafino turned back toward home, and Mariella and I continued on, taking a break on a bench in the forest where we were joined by Antonella and Walter, with whom we have been walking since Città della Pieve. As usual, we set off separately in the morning but ended up running into each other before lunchtime and walked together for the rest of the day. 

We walked through hazelnut groves and past the ruined towers traditionally known as the Torri di Orlando, two of which are actually Roman mausoleums, built around the first century AD by noble Roman families. The most prominent and best-preserved stands about 16 meters high, cylindrical in shape, on a sturdy square base. Opposite the Roman mausoleum stands the ruined bell tower of a church dedicated to Sancta Maria in Campis; the beautiful white marble portal that originally belonged to the church is now in the centre of Capranica, the next town we walked through, at the ancient Hospital of San Sebastiano. 

Capranica's historic centre is very impressive, perched up on the top of a butte of tuff, like a miniature Orvieto, a maze of narrow lanes and staircases. I had originally planned on stopping here for the night, at the "Road to Rome" hostel run by pilgrims Travis and Juliane in their own home, part of the POP (pilgrims hosting pilgrims) network. But then I realised that our next stage would be too long, and so I booked a place to stay in Sutri instead. This meant we had another seven kilometres to walk - with groceries in our backpacks, as the grocery stores in Sutri are closed on Sundays. We knew we would have the use of a shared kitchen in our accommodation at Casa Vacanza Salza and wanted to take advantage of it! So we carried not only groceries but chestnuts that we collected along the way, to boil and eat with hot milk and sugar for dessert. 

Between Capranica and Sutri the Via Francigena/Via Romea route passes through enchanting woods of chestnut, willow and hazelnut trees, beside a stream which we repeatedly crossed on wooden footbridges. A local association has recently cleaned up this section of trail, removing fallen trees and using the wood to build footbridges, picnic tables and benches constructed on-site. 

Though we were coming to the end of a long stage, we felt less tired than before. Walking through the woods, the trees recharge your batteries as you go. It's a completely different feeling from walking alomg a road, or even through the fields! So we arrived in Sutri with enough energy left to explore the town, cook dinner - and boil, peel and eat all those chestnuts! 😄

Sutri cathedral

In the cathedral crypt

The cathedral floor

String quartet rehearsing for a concert in the church of San Francesco 

Vetralla - Sutri 26 km

Via Romea Germanica Day 110: Viterbo - Vetralla

Il pellegrinaggio, pratica antica e profondamente radicata nella storia umana, rappresenta da sempre un viaggio tanto geografico quanti interiore, un cammino in cui la dimensione del corpo si intreccia indissolubilmente con quella dello spirito. 

(Pilgrimage, an ancient practice with deep roots in human history, has always represented not only a geographical voyage but an inner one, a walk in which the physical dimension is indissolubly linked with the spiritual one).

- Vicenzo Mirto, ed., "Pellegrini, pellegrinaggi, mete e simboli"

Leaving Viterbo via a sort of secret passageway underneath the Papal Palace beside the cathedral, we soon found ourselves walking a spectacular sunken road, said to date back to Etruscan times. In the Middle Ages, such roads were useful for defensive purposes, ideal places to ambush an enemy army. Today, they are travelled by cars, bicycles - and pilgrims on the road to Rome! 

The sunken road is about two kilometres long, after which the road becomes a normal one and then a gravel road beside the Via Cassia (the modern highway, not the ancient Roman road), with the highway on one side and vast fields planted with cabbages on the other.

Our route then left the highway to proceed along a dirt track through vast olive groves, where the harvest was in progress. We climbed a hill to a pilgrim rest area with a picnic table, where we caught up with Walter and Antonella. After our lunch break we continued walking with them, coming to the Fossato Callo, a natural oasis and spring.  The spring water feeds a drinking trough, an ancient washhouse, and a series of vegetable gardens, and was until the mid-twentieth century also used for the cultivation and maceration of hemp. Following maceration, the hemp fibres were separated from the woody part of the plant, spun and woven. The cloth thus obtained was, however, dark in colour; the fabric had to be bleached by repeatedly soaking the cloth and exposing it to the sun for several days, so the process required a lot of water! Hemp was also needed to make ropes and cords, very important for agriculture and livestock raising; hemp and terracotta production were Vetralla's traditional industries, according to the information board beside the spring.

Just 250 metres farther along the path, we came to the tenth-century church of Santa Maria di Foro Cassia.

A bit of history: Foro Cassio and the church of Santa Maria

Forum Cassii was a Roman post station built around the middle of the second century B.C. at a strategic location connecting the Via Cassia with the Via Clodia. Initially it was a Statio, a sort of barracks for the Roman army, and a resting and post station, the most important settlement in the Vetralla area; it even had its own thermal baths with mosaics, waterworks, luxurious buildings and a small amphitheatre, as documented by Stefonia Quilli Gigli in an article in Archeologia Classica in 1977.

The settlement of Forum Cassi is mentioned in three of the "itineraries" of Late Antiquity: the Tabula Peutingeriana, the Itinerarium Antonini and the Cosmographia of an anonymous writer from Ravenna. 

In 852, the conglomerate of Forum Cossitis was recorded in a bull of Pope Leo IV as an agricultural estates with farmhouses, land, vineyards and woods. The original structure of the church may date back to this time.

In 990 the English archbishop Sigeric returned from Rome to Canterbury after receiving the Pallium from the Pope. The archbishop recorded the 79 stages of his itinerary in a diary, which specifies that he was hosted in the church of Foro Cassio, which since then represented the fifth stage of the Via Francigena (heading northwards from Rome).

Between 1130 and 1145 the conglomerate of Foro Cassio was donated to the Hierosolymiton Order, and it is known that by 1276 there was a hospice for pilgrims and the sick. Early in the 16th century the area became the property of the Knights of the Order of Malta, but in the early 19th century it was sold to a private citizen who left the church to decay and collapse. The City of Vetralla purchased the church in the year 2000, by which time everything removable had been removed and sold or reused elsewhere, and the roof had collapsed so that the 11th- and 12th-century frescoes were exposed to the rain and largely washed away. 

The church is now open to visitors between ten and four, with a volunteer from a local association who will explain the history of the place, stamp your pilgrim credential, and make you a cup of coffee, if you want one!

From here it is only a short walk to the centre of Vetralla, and to the pilgrim hostel beside the church of San Francesco. 

Viterbo - Vetralla 20 km