Via di San Francesco Day 11: Città di Castello - Pieve a Saddi

Il pellegrinaggio ha senso se fatto a piedi; è un avvicinamento lento, è un tempo: non solo il raggiungimento della metà. Il pellegrinaggio ha a che fare con la solitudine, è perdersi per ritrovarsi.

- Erri De Luca 

A pilgrimage has meaning if done on foot; it means drawing ever nearer slowly, it is a time space, not just reaching your goal. Pilgrimage is about solitude, it is about losing oneself to find oneself again. 

- Erri De Luca

Today's walk was tough on the feet: almost all on the asphalt, and under the sun. We left Città di Castello behind, walking along the shoulder of a provincial highway which luckily had little traffic. At Bar Sasso, the last bar on the day's stage, we ran into three more pilgrims we had seen around town the previous evening, and we set off again together, soon leaving the highway to walk on a minor country road. The sun was shining but a refreshing breeze made for better walking conditions than yesterday 's humidity. After a break at the fountain by the turn-off to Candeggio, we kept together as a group because we had heard there were sheep with sheepdogs in the area, but we did not see them. 

Having kept up a good pace all morning, before noon we had reached our destination, Pieve a Saddi, a paleo-Christian basilica dating back to the fourth century, most likely built over a Roman temple of Jupiter. The church is dedicated to Saint Crescentinus, a Roman centurion who converted to Christianity and was martyred on the spot where the church now stands.  Before being decapitated on June 1, 303, Crescentinus is said to have saved the region from infestation by serpents, represented by a dragon in the fresco in the church but more likely to have been common-or-garden snakes like the one that shared our swimming pool a few days ago. In any case, Saint Crescentinus is supposedly the saint to call upon when you have a headache - perhaps because having your head chopped off is a sure cure! 

Next door to the church is a hostel staffed by volunteers who offer passing pilgrims refreshing drinks, breakfast, lunch or snacks depending on the time of day, as well as overnight accommodations for those wishing to stop. The two young ladies on duty cooked us a plate of spaghetti for lunch and then showed us around the church and adjoining tower before checking us into our room. The other pilgrims then continued on to Pietralunga, but Flavia and I are stopping here tonight as Flavia will be volunteering in the hostel in August and wanted to get a preview of how everything works! 

Città di Castello - Pieve a Saddi 22 km