Joanne's long walks: Slow Travel Fest 2015

Wow! What a weekend. Slow Travel Fest rocks Monteriggioni!

Organised by Il Movimento Lento in partnership with a bunch of other associations concerned with the promotion of travel on foot and by bicycle, this three-day festival set in the beautiful castle of Monteriggioni and the medieval abbey complex at nearby Abbadia a Isola included guided walking and cycling expeditions, presentations by travellers of heroic proportions and representatives of various organisations that help organise, maintain and promote walking trails such as the Via Francigena, which was the core topic and subject of a series of round table discussions lasting practically all day Saturday, concerts and entertainment for the whole family, and of course plenty of food and wine (like any festival worthy of the name in Italy).

Slow travellers trying to stay dry travellers

The irony of the Slow Travel Fest for me was that, though I am a person who very rarely drives, and always gets around by public transport, on foot, or - if all else fails - by bumming a ride off somebody, I had to dust off my driver's license and drive there. And back to Siena at night - and back to Monteriggioni the next morning. There's no public transport linking Monteriggioni with Siena at night, and hardly any on Sundays, and all the beds in all the hostels were (naturally) taken.

Nordic Walking lesson in the rain

I didn't attend the inauguration of the festival on Friday afternoon but joined in on Saturday morning, when the Slow Travel Fest got off to an even slower start due to steady and unrelenting rain.

Luckily I had not signed up for any of the walks on Saturday. Well, it wasn't only a matter of luck - I've been keeping on top of the weather forecast more religiously than usual since beginning my Long Walk!

Those who had signed up for guided walks set off undaunted, such as this Nordic Walking group guided by Caterina Frey.

I wanted to stay dry, so I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the inauguration of the new pilgrims' hostel at Abbadia a Isola. I was curious to see what the new hostel was like, and even more curious about the inaugural buffet!

Monteriggioni mayor Raffaella Senesi cuts the ribbon

Well? Isn't anybody going to tuck in?

Don Domenico and other speakers on receiving pilgrims

Then I spent the rest of the morning at the "Stati Generali della Via Francigena", a series of round-table discussions with the involvement of walkers, hostel operators, and representatives of various associations, tour operators and government bodies about what might be done to improve the Via Francigena and prepare for the masses of pilgrims who are expected to arrive for the Extraordinary Jubilee which Pope Francis has announced for the year 2016. Speakers included my own parish priest, Don Domenico, representing Ad Limina Petri, Italy's ecclesiastical association concerned with the Via Francigena and other traditional pilgrimage routes.

Over the course of the day a number of people who have undertaken slow travel on an epic scale discussed their experiences, including Pietro Scidurlo, who has travelled the pilgrimage route to Santiago by handbike and by wheelchair and co-authored an exhaustive guidebook including accessibility information for pilgrims with disabilities of all kinds; long-distance cyclist Claude Marthaler, who started travelling in 1988 and only rarely stops; and Darinka Montico, who left everything and started walking around Italy without any money in her pocket, simply relying on the hospitality of the local people wherever she went. After 2910 km she started all over again - but with a bicycle. And she's still on the road, but this time to present her book about her experiences.

The legendary Alberto

Plus a completely unplanned appearance by the mythical Alberto, a Spanish pilgrim who started walking in June 2013 to look for a job, has covered more than 7000 kilometres, stopping for a while wherever he finds work. I had heard of this legendary figure along the Via Francigena, and here he was, dripping wet despite his rather medieval head-to-foot black raincoat, simply looking for shelter from the rain, a bowl of soup and a place to spend the night, with no idea that there was a convention going on here about people like himself. He became one of the most celebrated heroes of the day and was invited to join in some of the discussions, in a perfectly understandable blend of Italian and Spanish!

I took some time out from the programme to meet up with new friends from Terre di Mezzo, the publishing house that publishes a series of guidebooks to pilgrimage routes both ancient and new and slow travel adventures of all kinds, and to attend mass at the Abbazia dei Santi Salvatore e Cirino, founded in 1001.

The day ended with dinner under the arches of the abbey cloister, where I joined a table of young people and made some new friends including Daniela, Celeste and the director of the soon-to-be-released documentary film I Volti della Via Francigena (see previous post). After dinner, a performance by the amazing Camillocromo Circus Swing Orchestra rounded off the day's programme with music and hilarity. Go see them if they ever come your way!

The antics of Camillocromo Circus Swing Orchestra

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear, and the Slow Travel Fest events moved out of the abbey to the location originally planned for them within the walls of the Castle of Monteriggioni. I spent the morning putting theory into practice, actually walking instead of sitting around talking about it! The session I joined was led by Nordic Walking instructor Caterina Frey, who took us on a ring walk through the woods of the Montagnola. I borrowed a couple of Nordic Walking poles as I was curious to try walking with poles, having heard a lot of recommendations from fellow walkers along the Via Francigena. At the end of the day, I can say - my arms hurt! When walking with poles, you redistribute the effort, so your upper body does some of the work and your legs can do less. You tend to walk faster as pushing the poles off the ground gives you some extra thrust. I think I'll try it again! Maybe on the rest of my Long Walk?