Cammino verso Assisi (Cammino di San Jacopo in Toscana) Day 17: La Magione - Rocca di Montemurlo

My night in the former House of the Knights Templar did not turn out to be as restful as expected. For one thing, I hadn't realised just how close to the modern-day motorway rest stop it was (proving that nothing has really changed since the Middle Ages: a good spot for taking a break from travelling is still a good spot for taking a break for travelling!). The noise from the motorway was not the problem, however: it was the rowdy party going on in the restaurant downstairs until after midnight! I could imagine the Knights Templar turning in their graves at the thought of a pilgrim's rest being so disturbed. But in the morning I got my revenge, setting off the burglar alarm when I opened the restaurant door to leave my key on the counter at 7:24 am! Perfect!!

I didn't hang around the loudly ringing establishment long enough to take photos, but headed up the road and up the hill to Serravalle Pistoiese and the castle that controlled the valleys to the east and west, defending the Byzantine Empire against the Longobards for two whole years until giving way in AD 590. The "new castle" in the same town was constructed much more recently - in 1302!

La Magione:
Former House of the Knights Templar, now hotel/restaurant/pizzeria/party venue! 

Serravalle: Rocca Nuova, the "new" castle 

Serravalle: Santo Stefano

Serravalle: pilgrims' portico

Serravalle: view of the valley to the east 

From Serravalle I descended to the town of Masotti, where I was finally able to get some breakfast at a roadside café run by a Chinese couple. They made a fine cappuccino - but then, breakfast always tastes so much better when you've walked an hour or two to get it! 

The trail then headed into the woods and through the territory of Groppoli, an estate and winery whose owners are kind enough to allow the pilgrimage route to cross their land. It came out at the 12th-century church of San Michele a Groppoli, and from here it was only a short walk to the former convent of Giaccherino - named after the Jacquaires who used to stop there, pilgrims returning from Santiago via France (of course they used to walk back again too, not walk only one way and take Ryanair back!) The steep stone-paved pathway from the convent is where these returning pilgrims would catch their first glimpse of Pistoia, Italy's "Minor Santiago", the only city outside of Galicia to house a relic of St. James: a fragment of bone given to the Bishop of Pistoia by the Bishop of Santiago in 1139. Certified authentic by a 19th-century scientist, so there can be no doubt aboit it! 

Hence the Cammino di San Jacopo in Toscana! 

The Groppoli estate

Covered well near San Michele a Groppoli 

San Michele a Groppoli

Approaching Pistoia 

The road into Pistoia 

But Pistoia has also received another gift from Santiago de Compostela, in more modern times: an official mojone, a milestone in the same style as the ones on the Camino de Santiago in Galicia. 

2505 km from Pistoia to Santiago! 

And, come to think of it, I've walked them all! 

The milestone is in the cathedral square in Pistoia, where there was a market going on this morning, so I couldn't get a good look at the buildings around the square, and could only take pictures of the top part of the cathedral! 

In the baptistry across from the church there is an office where pilgrims are issued a certificate of completion of the Cammino di San Jacopo in Toscana, whether they come from Lucca or Florence. It's very similar to the Compostela issued at the pilgrims' office in Santiago, but 50 kilometres is enough to qualify. 

Pilgrims are also escorted free of charge to see the reliquary of St. James/Santiago/San Jacopo and the silver altar commissioned on the occasion of its arrival in the city. (Tourists have to pay for a ticket.) 

The chapel of St. James was the highlight of a trip to Pistoia for this Jacquaire, but I also took in a few more of the key sights in the vicinity of the cathedral before moving on. 

San Bartolomeo 

Ospedale del Ceppo

Assisting pilgrims

Ospedale del Ceppo was a hospital/hostel opened in 1277 to provide what are now known as social services in addition to healthcare; in 1530 the institution was embellished with a polychrome ceramic frieze illustrating its activities. Including, in the first frieze of the left, providing hospitality for pilgrims. 

The way out of Pistoia was just as straightforward as the way in: basically walking in a straight line. I came into the city via Pontelungo, and left it via Pontenuovo, where I stopped at the local workers' club (ARCI) for lunch. A tuna sandwich, ice cream and mineral water - all for less than four euros! ARCI - or the Casa del Popolo, in towns honest enough to admit their communist inclinations, whether past or present - is always a sure bet when you're looking for a cheap drink or snack in a small town in Italy! 

I spent the afternoon walking along narrow, monotonously straight roads among the nursery gardens for which Pistoia is famous, to the small town of Montale. Tired by this time, I was tempted to stop there, but the town centre was in a mess due to roadworks and in any case the local hotel was booked up, so I carried on to Montemurlo, and up to Rocca di Montemurlo above the town, where I am spending the night at B&B Borgo della Rocca, located in a 15th-century home right below the castle. 

From my balcony, I can see the dome of Florence cathedral, already visible in the distance! 

On the way out of Pistoia.
There's a turtle in the stream

Where cypresses, and palm trees, are born

Montale: San Salvatore in Agna

Rocca di Montemurlo 

Rocca di Montemurlo: Pieve di San Giovanni Decollato

My room at B&B Il Borgo della Rocca

The view from my balcony over Prato
and all the way to Florence! 

La Magione - Rocca di Montemurlo 31.5 km

Cammino verso Assisi (Cammino di San Jacopo in Toscana) Day 16: Pescia - La Magione

East of Pescia, the Cammino di San Jacopo in Toscana takes to the hills, forsaking the busy roads of the industrially developed valley below and passing through hilltop villages dating back to the middle ages, when the valley was a mosquito-infested swamp. Like all Italian towns and villages, these centres are connected by a network of mulattiere, pathways paved in stone travelled by peasant farmers with their pack mules before the days of the automobile. Many of these have been reclaimed as part of the Cammino di San Jacopo in Toscana and other trail networks. 

Follow the orange arrow for Florence and then Rome... Or the yellow arrow for Lucca and, eventually, Santiago! 

Mulattiera leading into the village of Uzzano

Uzzano 

Uzzano: loggia containing water fountain 

View of Pescia from Uzzano 

Uzzano: Church of San Jacopo & San Martino 

After exploring Uzzano I continued along the path through the olive groves and woods to Stignano and then Buggiano Castello. On the way I passed under an old aqueduct and over a medieval stone bridge. 

Stignano: church of Sant'Andrea

Stignano: book exchange 

Buggiano Castello in the distance : Do I really have to go all the way up there? 

Buggiano Castello

Coming down from Buggiano I made an unintentional detour by going the wrong way to get around an obstacle, a closed path through a park. I had to backtrack and then walk along a busy road through the oddly named town of Margine Coperta, but when I joined up with the official route again, I realised why the park was closed: it belongs to the national health service, which has now set up a drive-through Covid testing facility in the park! 

Right after this I came into Montecatini Terme, where I stopped to eat my picnic lunch in a city park before visiting the town. It looked a bit like a ghost town, its legendary splendours fading, its fancy hotels shut and its renowned spas in art deco style faded and crumbling; even the streets and sidewalks gave the impression of falling apart! Sure, it's early afternoon, on a week day, at the end of the summer... In the year of the plague. But this town looked as though it had been decaying for many decades, now that the likes of Giuseppe Verdi and Federico Fellini no longer hang out there. Once Italy's most fashionable spa town, it is now abandoned and neglected; the "jet set" has moved on, or maybe no longer exists. As a result there were plenty of cheap hotel rooms to be had in the town, but I found it rather gloomy and preferred to move on. 

Before leaving Montecatini, however, I did treat myself to a ride on the world's oldest operational cable car, inaugurated in 1898 in a ceremony attended by Giuseppe Verdi! The bright red car rumbled and ground its way up, taking me and Gregory (my new pack) up to the old town, Montecatini Alto, and back down again - and no, I didn't count those kilometres in my daily total! 

Gregory's first cable car ride

View of Montecatini Terme from Montecatini Alto

Strange things to be found in Montecatini Alto

The main square in Montecatini Alto, full of restaurants and much livelier than the new town below! 

After this adventure, the rest of the afternoon was unexciting - out of the town of Montecatini through suburbs, past more empty hotels, then along the pavement to Pieve di Nievole. From here the trail was supposed to go along the river bank, but it was overgrown with a thicket of bamboo cane and a sign recommended an alternative route along the road. For the rest of the way, the trail followed small gravel and paved roads parallel to the motorway - a familiar stretch of motorway to me, travelling frequently between Tuscany and Liguria. And I stopped for the night very close to the motorway rest stop where we often stop on our way - without a thought to what lies beyond the guard rail - at a historic building that demonstrates that this location has been a crossroads for a very long time: La Magione, former House the Knights Templar, where they hosted pilgrims at the junction of the Via Cassia and the Via Francigena, now a hotel, restaurant and pizzeria. 

Walking beside the motorway

Crossing the motorway

Pescia - La Magione 22.5 km