Joanne's long walks: Via Romea Germanica Day 75: Bassano del Grappa

Montagne addio,
addio vallate,
io parto, addio,
non so se tornero’,
qui lascio il cuor,
qui lascio la mia vita,
montagne addio,
non vi scordero’.

(Farewell mountains,

Farewell valleys!

I'm leaving now, farewell!

I don't know if I'll be back

Here I leave my heart,

I leave my life

Goodbye mountains -

I won't forget you!)

- Giancarlo Bregani, Montagne addio (1965), sung by Coro GAM choir in Carmignano di Brenta this evening

It has taken me three weeks to walk through the Alps, from the northern foothills around Oberammergau to the southern foothills opening onto the flatlands of the Po Valley at Bassano del Grappa, but today, I finally said goodbye to the mountains.

Once out of the suburbs of Bassano del Grappa, the Via Romea Germanica followed the river all day. Most of the time it ran along the top of a grassy embankment, as in the photo above; at other times it was among the trees, shaded from the sun; in some spots the trail left the river and passed along roads in residential and semi-industrial areas, deserted on a Sunday morning. The only people around were cyclists and dog walkers. After eleven kilometres, I stopped in a picnic area for a second breakfast; if I had walked just a few hundred metres farther, I could have had it in the only open café I encountered on today's walk. The café is right by the start of a very long bridge, crossing the river Brenta at a spot where it is particularly wide, known as the Basse del Brenta.

The Basse del Brenta

The natural area of the Basse del Brenta represents the last remnant, saved from the advance of concrete roads and industrial areas, of a unique environmental system located in a lower position than the rest of the land, in an area that was originally part of the flood plain of the river. In this stretch, the Brenta has always reached its maximum width (about 1 km), making this the easiest fording point since ancient times. For this reason, during the era of the barbarian invasions, it became a battlefield in the 899 AD clash between the army of future Holy Roman Emperor Berengario I and the semi-nomadic Hungarian people.

The riverbed was later partly converted into cultivable fields, which periodically flooded: this threat was averted by the construction, in the 1920s and 30s, of a new embankment aimed at definitively removing the lands of the Basse from the alluvial cycles of the Brenta.

These lands are now of extraordinary ecological-naturalistic value, due to the widespread presence of meadows alternating with hedges and irrigation ditches: a typical environment that has now disappeared from the Veneto plain. In the past this type of territory allowed the population to provide fodder for animals and wood for the winter, while preserving a high degree of biodiversity. This naturalistic and cultural heritage is of special value today, given its uniqueness in an increasingly degraded territory.

Walking through this area was cool and shady, with a breeze blowing and the sound of water trickling in the river and the various streams and channels into which it is divided here; but after the bridge, my route unfortunately continued along a narrow paved road atop the embankment, in full sunshine.

There are few options for food or accommodation along the route, and so I left the Via Romea route at Camazzole, where it would have headed back to the river and to a lake, and followed the cycling lane beside the main road to my hotel in Carmignano. The cycling lane was on the sunny side of the street - not that there was much shade on the other side, either, at midday! The last few kilometres in the sun seemed interminable, but at last I found myself in the centre of Carmignano and flopped down in a café for a beer. I had hoped to get a sandwich as well, but the café turned out to sell only sweets, so I asked for some crisps instead. I then moved on to the gelateria next door to complete my Sunday lunch with the largest ice cream on the menu, complete with fresh fruit and whipped cream.

Hotel Zenit has a restaurant, but it is closed on Sundays. My dinner choices appeared to be either kebab or take-out pizza. But as I rounded the corner I came across a vast expanse of empty wooden tables, punctuated here and there by boarded-up food kiosks. I asked a man watering the flowers if there was an event coming up in the evening. "Choir concert," he replied. "But there's food, too?" I enquired hopefully. "They open at seven o'clock," the man replied. "See you at seven then!" I responded as I went on my way, much cheered, to figure out the automatic check-in mechanism at my hotel.

I spent the rest of the afternoon showering, napping and researching accommodations for the last two stages of the Via Romea Germanica - for the time being. I will stop walking in Padova, spend an extra day seeing the city, and then head home for the summer, with plans to resume my walk when cooler weather returns in the autumn.

Carmignano sul Brenta

Upon venturing out of my insulated, isolated and air-conditioned hotel room, I found myself in the midst of the festivities. In the square between my hotel and the town hall, restaurants from all around the area set up kiosks which are open every night in summer (except Mondays), serving a great variety of food. An excellent idea: it means more business for the restaurants, and gives local people of all ages and backgrounds a chance to eat outdoors while enjoying the cool evening air, as well as a place to hang out and meet their friends. In the middle of the square, the Pro Loco (association for the promotion of tourism) has its own bar, where a glass of various different wines from a local winemaker can be had for two euros. And in a proper wineglass, too! I purchased a glass of Manzoni bianco to drink while waiting for my turn to order at the kiosk selling local specialties, which had the longest line-up of all. Snapping photos to pass the time while waiting, I got talking to three boys behind me, who wanted me to take their photo too 😄. They asked where I was from and what I was doing here, surprised that someone from Genova (I didn't even mention Canada) should end up in Carmignano, and even more surprised when I told them I walked here from Germany 😄. That led to a conversation with the man in front of me in the line, who had walked a small section of the Via Francigena in Tuscany.... and so the time passed quickly until I reached the front of the line and ordered my plate of Baccalà alla vicentina. In exchange for my money I was given an electronic device which would begin beeping urgently when my dish was ready, so I could go and pick it up at the counter. Everyone had one, so there was a constant beeping all over the square 😅

I finished eating just in time to move over to the seats in front of the town hall, where the choir concert was about to begin. Coro GAM "Amici della montagna" has been singing traditional Alpine folk songs in Carmignano since 1959 (and judging by the average age of the members, they might have first joined up at that time 😄).

So although we are definitely now in the plains, the mountains are still in sight, and still in people's hearts!