Via Francigena del Sud Day 3: Velletri - Cori

Road to from Rome Day 3:  Velletri - Cori

20 km 

The group assembled outside Velletri cathedral to receive the blessing of the bishop before setting off along the road out of town. We walked along the road among estates of olive groves, vineyards and (somewhat incongruously) kiwi vines until our path left the pavement to follow a gravel track through the fields, on private land whose owner has collaborated in the preparation of a new stretch of trail with two new footbridges which we had the honour of inaugurating in a small ceremony with the local authorities. 

After a brief rest by the beautiful Lake Giulianello, another short stretch on the shoulder of a paved road took us to the village of Giulianello, where we stopped for refreshments at Il caffé del cardinale, whose owner Lucia has been walking with us these past few days. Here a super surprise was in store for us: a choir of four village women sang traditional choruses, originally sung while working out in the fields. One of the women in the choir was a hundred years old, but still had an amazingly strong, hearty voice! 

"Siamo di Giulianello, siamo donne... 
Siamo più forti noi che le colonne!" 

The amazing women of Giulianello have also covered the town with their guerilla knitting. 

From Giulianello it was a long slog uphill under the sun on the edge of the road. But the town provided us with a police escort to slow down the traffic, and part of our route was on a quiet secondary road among ancient olive trees and fig trees that provided a tasty if sticky afternoon snack, so the afternoon passed quickly and we arrived in Cori as honoured guests, treated to a rare exhibition of the town's famous flag-throwers! They performed for us in the square at the top of the hill - for Cori is built in two sections, partly at the foot of the hill and partly at the top - as we watched while enjoying the cool breeze from the square in front of the Temple of Hercules. 

This temple was the object of much study by Giambattista Piranesi, who came to Cori between 1761 and 1764 to draw it and produced a series of etchings, on view in the town museum along with the etched copper plates, which Piranesi engraved with an amazing degree of detail - all backwards, as a mirror image! We were treated to a tour of the museum located in a former monastery cloister and then went to dinner at a restaurant in the centre of town. 

Never walked into town with a police escort before! 

Piranesi 's etching of the temple of Hercules

Velletri - Cori 20 km