Joanne's long walks: Via Francigena nel Sud: The Road to Home

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Via Francigena nel Sud: The Road to Home

The Road to Home part I: local bus to Lecce

Over the past 18 days I have walked the entire length of the region of Puglia, from the hills of the Daunia area at the foot of the Appenines, across the flat Tavoliere delle Puglie, along the coast and through the olive groves of the Salento peninsula to Santa Maria di Leuca, where the Ionian Sea meets the Adriatic and one can walk no farther.

I can still hear the rhythms of pizzica music echoing in my ears, see the dancers' swirling red scarves and skirts, taste the pureed fava beans with greens, the deep-fried panzerotti, the cream-filled pasticciotti and caffè leccese, espresso served ice-cold with almond syrup. I can still smell the fig trees and the olive groves, healthy ones at first, bearing gigantic Cerignola olives, then the dead and dying olive trees struck by the Xylella plague further down the peninsula. I can still feel on my skin the strong winds that whip the Salento peninsula, the torrential rain that trapped us in the castle in Mola di Bari, the strong sun that finally warmed our weary bones as we rested on the beach yesterday in Santa Maria di Leuca.

But now I am on a bus for a slow and bumpy ride back to Lecce, where I will spend one more day before catching the train back home. I'm glad the bus is a slow one, travelling small local roads from village to village, as I get to see more of this enchanted region along the way, to hear the accents of the local people chatting at the back of the bus, and have time to think and write about my time in the third and last region walked across on my Long Long Walk from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca, the tip of the heel of Italy.

From the bus

The Road to Home, part II: A day in Lecce

After our bus ride we settled into our comfortable holiday flat in the centre of Lecce, Casa Storta 34, rented out by fellow Ragazza in Gamba Daniela: the perfect base for exploring the old town of Lecce. The city is a triumph of Baroque architecture, and we started our tour of Baroque churches at the cathedral, continuing with Santa Croce, Sant'Irene, San Matteo and Santa Chiara. I'm not normally a fan of Baroque architecture, but here, the ornately carved columns and altars in warm hues of locally quarried pietra leccese stone create a sublime harmony akin to the complexities of counterpoint in Baroque music.

Between churches, we stopped at pastry shops to stock up on goodies to take home and to sit down for a break and a snack in the sunshine - which has finally arrived now that our Long Walk is over!

The rustico: a giant vol-au-vont, puff pastry with a tomato, mozzarella and béchamel sauce filling

Pasticciotto pastries with a variety of cream and ricotta fillings

But Lecce is much, much older than the Baroque style with which it is associated: underneath the town lies a Roman city, parts of which have been uncovered in recent years. A Roman theatre is squeezed between houses, while an amphitheatre with enough seats for 16,000 spectators has been partially excavated in the city's main square, Piazza Sant'Oronzo.

Roman theatre

Roman amphitheatre

We also found time to visit the monumental library, with its annexed museum of print, and the Museo Castromediano archaeological museum, which is currently doubling as a vaccination centre!

The Road to Home part III: night train from Lecce

After saying goodbye to my new friends Sylvie of Paris, Rosalba of the Aosta Valley, and Daniela, our hostess in Lecce, and a quick hello and goodbye to an old friend in the area, Ilaria, I boarded the night train to Turin. I booked my ticket early for a good deal on a "deluxe" single cabin, so I was able to get a good night's sleep while the train conveyed me up the peninsula to the foggy flatlands of northern Italy - luckily not ny final destination, but just a place to change trains and head back to sunny Liguria on the coast!

I stop here for now!!