Road to Home 2023 Day 84: Cassio - Passo della Cisa

Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was.

- Dag Hammerskjold, Markings (1963)

I was looking forward to a hike through the woods on the way up to the Cisa Pass today, as peaceful and pleasant as the last part of yesterday's walk. But the bar in Cassio, where we returned for our morning cappuccino and croissant, was teeming with hunters in camouflage gear and bright orange reflective vests (paradoxically), and in Cavazzola, a couple of kilometres beyond Cassio, a woman out walking her dog advised us it would be safer to walk on the road rather than through the forest. There was very little traffic, consisting primarily of aforesaid hunters in jeeps, on their way to the best places to kill animals. But it's not nice to walk on the road, a hard, unforgiving surface created to suit the machine rather than the human foot. And machines are not only noisy and polluting but unable to climb steep slopes, and so the road makes several bends as it climbs toward the pass, making it quite a bit longer, in this section!

At least the views were rewarding! 

At a rest stop with benches by the road in  Castellonchio I waited for the others to catch up. Peter and Michelle had been told, by the same lady as warned me about the hunters, that from here on we could safely take the trail, so that is what we did!

The footpath played hide-and-seek with the road, touching upon it here and there, veering off into the fields or the woods and back, all the way to Berceto. 

In Castellonchio 

Climbing higher

At the sign shown above, just before Berceto,  I would suggest ignoring the arrow and continuing straight ahead; the new route signposted to the left takes you high above the town to enjoy the view, but then you come down again, to a picnic area by small shrine. My gpx track suggested ypu could get to the same place by going straight ahead, and that is definitely the best thing to do, ignoring the arrow! 😄

From the picnic area at the shrine there is an amazing view over Berceto!

After our picnic we followed an old cobblestone road past the castle and into the centre of Berceto, where went into the 9th-century cathedral of San Moderanno and had our pilgrim credentials stamped. 

QR codes posted along the Via Francigena through Berceto link to a series of informative videos on the history of the town. One of these directed us up a small alley to the remains of one of the towers of the city's medieval walls, lovingly restored and protected with a roof by the owner of the land on which it stands, local antiquarian Aldo Torricelli.

Scouts at the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie coming out of Berceto 

We left the town of Berceto behind and followed the Via Francigena trail markings into the woods. For the next few kilometres we climbed gradually on a rocky road through the woods, the silence interrupted only by the sound of the occasional chestnut falling. Chestnut trees were traditionally a very important resource for the people of the Appennines, yielding wood for making houses and furniture as well as fruit that can be eaten fresh, either roasted or boiled, or dried and ground into a protein-rich flour that lasts all winter and into the next summer, providing a reliable food source even in the event of famine, crop failure, or war. And the best thing about chestnuts is that they are free for the taking! 

We came to the junction between the Via Francigena path leading up to the peak of Monte Valoria and then down to the Cisa Pass, and a grass/dirt track leading down to the hostel, which is located beside the road. I imagine this road would be muddy after rain, but it was perfectly dry today. Back down at the highway, we backtracked for 200 metres to the Ostello della Cisa, which, like last night's hostel in Cassio, is located in a former casa cantoniera or home for road maintenance workers, characteristically bright pink in colour with green shutters. 

Cassio - Ostello della Cisa 21 km 

1100 metres elevation gain