Via Romea Germanica Day 94: Santa Sofia - Bagno di Romagna

PROMEMORIA
Ci sono cose da fare ogni giorno:
lavarsi, studiare, giocare,
preparare la tavola a mezzogiorno.
Ci sono cose da fare di notte:
chiudere gli occhi, dormire,
avere sogni da sognare,
Ci sono cose da non fare mai:
né di giorno né di notte,
né per mare né per terra,
per esempio, la guerra.

(There are things to be done every day,

things like washing, study, and play,

or setting the table at midday.

There are things to be done at night:

closing your eyes, sleeping, and dreaming.

Then there are things you should never do:

Not by day, nor at night,

Not at sea, nor ashore,

And one of these is war.)

- children's poem by Gianni Rodari, quoted at Passo Carnaio

July 25, 1944 was a hot, sunny day at the Carnaio Pass. At around 8:00 AM, German and Italian soldiers began searching for 30 men to kill in retaliation for the taking of hostages by Resistance fighters.

At about 5:30 AM, the soldiers set the first house on fire: the Carnaio. 

Between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM, 13 more houses were burned, and all their inhabitants brought together under an old oak tree: a total of 62 prisoners, including men, women and children. 

At 11:00 AM, the last three houses in the Tramonte area were set on fire. About half an hour later, the parish priest, Don Ilario Lazzaroni, brought the last sacraments to the prisoners. At approximately 2:00 PM, the priest attempted to reach the German command to plead for the prisoners' lives, but was shot dead in the middle of the field. 

Around 5:00 PM, a number of prisoners locked up in the San Piero nursery school were released; but the soldiers continued to round up more men. 

At 8:00 PM, news arrived that the hostages had been found. At approximately 8:30 PM, the men rounded up in the morning were killed, all except for one very elderly man, pardoned at the last minute.) The children and women were released. 

At approximately 9:00 PM, the Germans transported 21 prisoners to the Carnaio Pass. A young man from San Piero in Bagno who jumped from the truck in an attempt to escape was brutally hanged from a telephone pole. 

At approximately 9:30 PM, all the remaining prisoners were shot. In the dusk, two prisoners managed to dive into the thick woods and save themselves at the very last minute. The night mercifully received the blood of all the others: 27 innocent victims.

(As told by M.B., a survivor of the incident)

The victims of the massacre are recalled with a monument in a memorial park at the top of the Carnaio Pass, the highest point we reached today: 800 metres above sea level. 

We started out at an elevation of only 250 metres, in Santa Sofia. It was market day - it seems to have been market day in every town I've been through this week! - and I bought some cheese and fruit before leaving the town and beginning the long climb up to the pass. 

Santa Sofia in the morning

Today we largely disregarded the official Via Romea Germanica route and walked on quiet mountain roads. The official route left Santa Sofia on one such road, SP77, and we felt so comfortable walking on it that we decided to stay on the road instead of turning off onto the path. There were very few cars, so we continued following mountain roads, some gravel but mostly paved, sometimes coinciding with the official Via Romea route and sometimes not. Walking on a road meant we could proceed at a steady pace, without worrying about mud, wet grass, brambles, stinging nettles, dogs or cows: though we saw plenty of all of these along the way, they did not interfere with our progress. There was very little traffic, and the views were amazing; on the way down, after the pass, we were able to cut two or three kilometres off the official route by walking down the road passing through the hamlet of San Paolo. 

Down in the valley, we stopped in San Piero di Bagno to pick up some snacks and then walked four kilometres along the cycling path beside the road to Bagno di Romagna. 

Oppidum Balnei to the ancient Romans, Balneum Sanctae Mariae to Abbott Albert in 1236, Bagno di Romagna is a spa town founded by the Romans on a site already inhabited by the Umbri. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the town was destroyed by the Ostrogoths in A.D. 540. A Benedictine monastery was founded in the area in the 9th century, and the town began to grow and flourish again. The city was surrounded with walls in the late 14th century, when a market area was established in what is now San Piero dei Bagni. Historically a place of passage between the Po Valley plains to the north and Tuscany and Umbria to the south, the two towns have grown considerably since the beginning of the industrial age, as the population abandonded rural and mountainous areas in favour of the industrialised valleys. Bagno di Romagna is now an important centre of tourism for its spas and its vicinity to the natural beauty of the mountains. 

Tourism means hotels, and there are plenty of places to eat and sleep in Bagno. We chose Ca' Serafina, an inexpensive B&B in the main square which you can book online and check into by an automated process. And you have an oversized garden gnome right outside your door! We considered going to a spa, but it would have cost the same price as our room to spend only two hours... and anyway, we were so tired after spending a chilly, windy day walking up and down hills that we probably would have fallen asleep sitting in warm water 😅

We did, however, find the energy to move as far as the pub next door for a beer before the evening was out! 

Santa Sofia - Bagno di Romagna 22.5 km

Via Romea Germanica Day 93: Cusercoli - Santa Sofia

Camminare è aprire frontiere, uscire, aprire porte, cercare nuove strade. Camminare, non stare seduti.

(Walking is opening up frontiers, going out, opening doors, seeking new roads. Walking, not sitting!)

- Pope Francis

Rain was forecast for the morning, so we took our time leaving the castle. A cup of tea, a leisurely breakfast, and then I switched into ospitalera mode, found some cleaning products and gave the kitchen and bathroom a bit of a scrub: the pilgrim hostel in the castle is run by ageing volunteers, and it looked like they could use a hand in the cleaning department! 

View from our window in the castle, during the rain

By the time I had wiped down the cupboards and fixtures, swept the floors and eliminated a few cobwebs, the rain had stopped. At 11 o'clock we packed our bags, put on our raingear and set off - feeling all the weight of the responsibility of locking up the castle!

The path out of Cusercoli took us up and down slopes of crumbly sandstone and soil; it was easy to see why there are so many landslides in this part of Italy! Including one that brought one of the ramparts of "our" castle crashing down onto the houses below at 3 a.m. on December 22, 1937, killing 20 people. 

We were worried about the three spots on the trail where, according to the guidebook,  we had to "ford a stream" - but there was no water in the streams in question, despite the morning's rain; only some rather thick undergrowth!

Following a steep descent that would have been slippery if it had really rained, we came down to a narrow paved road on the valley floor, and then onto the highway. But we only had to walk about a hundred metres beside the highway, a problem easily solved by walking in the grass of the vineyard beside it. Then we turned a corner and found just what we needed: Ivana's roadside piadina kiosk!

Ivana rolls out the dough and cooks her delicious piadine on the griddle on demand, filling them with any of a vast selection of fillings.  I ordered one rolled up, with cheese and grilled vegetables, and it was delicious!

Another kilometre brought us into the pretty town of Civitella di Romagna. 

We passed through the town centre, then wound our way down to the river and crossed it on an old road bridge, no longer used except by those living in the vicinity. Then a narrow, winding paved road took us up high, above the level of Civitella, on the opposite side of the river. 

Coming back down to the bottom of the valley, we walked beside the river through a horse breeding establishment. A little further on we came into the town of Galeata, located on the site of the ancient Roman town of Mevaniola, mentioned by Pliny the Elder. The fifth and sixth centuries A.D. saw the construction of a bathing complex and the building known as Theodoric's Palace, currently being excavated. Unfortunately the site is open to visitors only on weekends, but we walked by it on the way into the town.

After Galeata we followed the road as far as Piannetto, after which the Via Romea Germanica took us up to the ruins of the castle. The path was blocked with an electric fence at one point, overgrown with brambles and nettles at others, and had a herd of cattle grazing on it - challenges that added difficulty to a day that was already tough enough, with all the ups and downs! So the next time our route touched on the highway, we opted to stay on the highway for the last couple of kilometres into Santa Sofia rather than face whatever surprises the last section of path might have in store. Not that walking on the highway is free of danger, but sometimes, "better the devil you know"! Besides, the sun was low in the sky, and having started out so late, even with this shortcut we arrived in Santa Sofia in the twilight.

View from the castle of Piannetto

Pilgrims vs. cows

Santa Sofia is the largest town in the Apennines of the Forlì area and a major centre of poultry production, home to the Amadori poultry processing plant, which we walked past on our way into town along the highway - and thanks to which several large trucks rumbled past, full of birds taking their final road trip. Other than that, it is the home of the headquarters of the Foreste Casentinesi national park - and, in the same building, of the Italian association of the Via Romea Germanica!

Our hostel, the Antica Filanda, was located in a big old thread mill by the river Bidente in the town square. On a weeknight in October, we had the whole place to ourselves!

Cusercoli - Santa Sofia 22 km

Via Romea Germanica Day 92: Forlì - Cusercoli

Basterebbe una passeggiata in mezzo alla natura, fermarsi un momento ad ascoltare, spogliarsi del superfluo e comprendere che non occorre poi molto per vivere bene  

(All you need to do is take a walk in nature, stop a moment and listen, get rid of everything superfluous, and realise that you don't really need much to enjoy life)

- Mario Rigoni Stern 

Up before dawn, we went straight back to the bar where we had our end-of-stage beer last night, but this time for cappuccino and croissants. The bar had been open since 5, and was already hopping: it was surprising to see how many people were out and about so early in the morning! We had to watch out for traffic while crossing the road, and for bicycle commuters while crossing the cycle path beside it!

We eventually made it to the other side of the road and headed down Via Lido, following the directions in the guidebook - only to come up against a fenced-off construction site, right away! But it was easy to see where people had climbed up the embankment to the path at the top. So we scrambled up there too, and found ourselves on a gravel trail beside the river Ronco. 

There are two Via Romea Germanica routes from Forlì to Cusercoli: one starts in the city centre and follows roads, passing through San Martino in Strada; the other starts right by the pilgrim hostel in Ronco, follows the river and is, according to the guidebook, more of a nature trail. That sounded great!

But, we discovered, you can have a trail with too much nature! 😅

Here's the thing: the guidebook was written in 2022, before the disastrous floods of May 2023. The fenced-off construction site turned out to be a former park and football field, damaged in the flood and since abandoned, awaiting repair. I guess the authorities had more important things to fix first; the park and the trail along the embankment did not seem to be their top priorities! Both were abandoned and overgrown. 

The trail was, however, practicable; you just have to duck here and there to pass under the arch of bamboo canes! They were wet with dew, and so was the grass; my boots ended up getting soaked through. 

After walking along the embankment path for several kilometres, we left it just before the ford over the river, where hiking guide Lorenzo had warned us we might run into problems. No problem: mapy.cz devised another route for me, which not only avoided the river crossing but saved a couple of kilometres. Just after circling a small lake, we walked a grassy track across a field to reach a minor road, where I stopped to take off my wet socks and put on waterproof socks under my wet boots! Then we followed a minor road for various twists and turns, eventually joining a cycling track and then a considerably busier road into the town of Meldola. 

A town of almost 10,000 inhabitants, Meldola was historically a centre of silk production. Nowadays, it is renowned for its hospital, specialising in the treatment of cancer. Because of the hospital it is practically impossible to find a room in a bed and breakfast in Meldola, I learned - I had originally thought of stopping here. In any case, it was still early in the day - the Tuesday morning market was still open, and was in fact sprawled all over the town centre, making it difficult to take pictures! It is a very pretty town, if you can ignore the market stalls blocking the view of it, with arcades over the sidewalks and unusual stone-paved sidewalks. 

We went into the first church we passed and were lucky enough to find a sacrestan (or perhaps a priest in plain dress) who had a stamp handy for our pilgrim credentials. On the way out of the town centre, we stopped in at the pretty little Oratory of the Stigmata of St. Francis. Then we were back out in the countryside for the next section of the Via Romea Germanica, featuring something new after two weeks of walking in the plains (three weeks, including the last week of walking in June): hills!!

We didn't actually go up many hills today, but they were there, all around, and getting closer! 

After a brief rest on a park bench by a drinking fountain in Gualdo, we had to walk for almost a kilometre and a half on the side of the highway; it wasn't too bad, as the highway was wide and had a decent amount of shoulder. Several buses drove past us, going exactly where we needed to go, but we resisted the temptation - even when one pulled up at a bus stop right in front of us and opened its doors! 😅

We were only on the highway for about twenty minutes, after which we turned off onto a small road, passing between houses, gardens and vineyards - and met the first loose, barking, territorial dog I've met so far on the Via Romea Germanica. Welcome to central Italy.... 😬

Right after the house with the dog, we crossed a bridge over the river Bidente and then followed a riverside path/dirt road the rest of the way to Cusercoli. We missed a turn-off and ended up in a vineyard, but managed to walk around the end of the vines and get out of the property and onto the road, finding ourselves among the first houses in the village of Cusercoli (population 1200), where we met Alberto, the man with the keys to the castle. 

That's right: we are spending the night in a castle! The pro loco tourist office of the village has set up a pilgrim hostel in the castle at the top of the town.

Walk the Via Romea Germanica, and you can be lord or lady of the castle for a day - for only twenty euros!

A bit of history - and a lot of legend: the castle of Cusercoli 

Built in the 9th century to guard a strategic narrow curve in the river valley, Cusercoli comes from Clausum Ercolis: the narrow point in the river was created when Hercules, whose twelve labours included cleaning the Augean stables in a single day, got fed up and threw a big rock down from the mountain into the river, so that the resulting tide of water would do all the cleaning for him. At least this is what Alberto told us, as we laboured our way up the hill to the castle together! 

Mythology aside, Cusercoli castle was built in the 12th century over the foundations of an older, late Roman construction. In 1269 Beatrice, daughter of Count Uberto, lord of the castle, was given in marriage to Paolo Malatesta, who was however in love with his brother's wife, Francesca: Paolo and Francesca, the famous lovers of Dante's Inferno. 

Paolo and Francesca, as depicted by another Dante: Dante Gabriele Rossetti

So here we are spending a night in Paolo's castle - where he fell in love with Francesca, and (possibly) where her husband discovered the lovers and murdered them both.

Hmm, not sure I'll sleep so well tonight, now that I know that....

Mariella in the castle gardens

Views from the castle

Forlì - Cusercoli 27 km