Via Romea Germanica Day 79: Monselice - Anguillara Veneta

Cos’è, dunque, un cammino? E’ ciò che inizia ad un passo dal buio. E’ una speranza di vita nuova, una speranza che non cessa di sperare, una roulette russa, una guerra, un finimondo. E’ davvero difficilissimo spiegarlo a chi ancora non l’ha provato. Ed è semplicissimo da spiegare, anzi, inutile da spiegare, a chi lo ha vissuto. Non è una camminata, non è una fuga: è esattamente tutto ciò che occupa lo spazio che inizia a un passo dal buio.

(So, what is a 'camino', exactly? It's something that begins one step away from the darkness. It's a hope of new life, a hope that never ceases to hope, it's game of Russian roulette, it's a war, it's the end of the world. It's really hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it for themselves. And it's really easy to explain - in fact, there's no need to explain it - to someone who has done it themselves. It's not a matter of going for a walk, or of escaping; it is precisely that which fills the space that begins one step away from the darkness.)

- Luigi Nacci, Non mancherò la strada: Che cosa può insegnarci il cammino (2022)

The stage that begins in Monselice is by no means the most interesting on the pilgrimage path of the Via Romea Germanica. You share a hard, paved surface with cars and the occasional truck or tractor, on narrow, winding country roads amid a flat landscape, through fields of corn and unidentifiable crops. You pass nondescript  low concrete houses with large gardens, surrounded by tall fences and defended by big dogs. Occasionally you may cross a canal, briefly adding a note of variety. Or cross a motorway, on a viaduct where no stopping is allowed - even for pedestrians!

Why do you do it? Because it's there. It's part of the road to Rome. 

The hiker, or excursionist, seeks out the scenic places, rare islands of pristine natural landscape in the remote mountain heights, for the enjoyment of a day spent exercising in nature; but the pilgrim walks through it all, crossing not only scenic mountain ranges but low-lying farmlands, avoiding only the highways and industrial zones of modern 'civilisation'. 

The need to avoid such areas is, presumably, the reason why the Via Romea Germanica walking route counts 35 kilometres between Monselice and Rovigo, when the road signs say only 22. Motorway A13 and national highway SS16 travel dead straight and due south aross the plains to Rovigo; but highways attract industrial zones, and vice versa, so today's reconstructed Via Romea Germanica follows a winding route passing through Anguillara Veneta. And this is where I decided to end my day and break up this long stage. 

There was only one town on the route: Pozzonovo, less than halfway through the day. I made several stops here: first at a Via Romea Germanica rest stop, then in a café for a sandwich and freshly squeezed orange juice, and at a supermarket to buy something to take to the campground for dinner. I popped into the church, but there was no-one to ask for a pilgrim stamp, so I went into the town hall next door and stood in a short queue of people getting bureaucratic procedures done at the ufficio dell'anagrafe.

Relaxing & recharging at Via Romea Germanica rest stop

Supermarket selfie

Pozzonovo town hall

Pilgrim passport stamped, I walked through the town, past the fancy well that presumably gives it its name (pozzo novo = 'new well'), and out the other end along Via Roma. 

All roads may lead to Rome, but it's always reassuring when you leave town on Via Roma! 

Another rest, hydrate & recharge stop

I came upon a huge church, shut, in the middle of the cornfields, with a single motorcycle parked incongruously in front. Beside the church were a few scattered houses, including a set of newly constructed, brightly coloured row houses with yappy little dogs in their yards, also looking somewhat out of place in such a rural setting! (Both the dogs and the row houses.) Though there were also some older farmhouses: soon after, I passed by a historic estate undergoing renovation and conversion to a winery.

Several fields later, I reached the point where I had to turn off the Via Romea Germanica to reach my accommodation: the Gorgo della Novizza.

What may look like an ordinary pond is actually associated with an ancient legend: once upon a time, where the pond now stands, there was a church, where one morning a wedding was to be celebrated. Guests began to arrive: friends, relatives, and finally the newlyweds. But the bride really didn't like the man her father had chosen for her. She said that rather than marry that scoundrel, she would prefer to sink into the earth; surely enough, the earth opened and swallowed up the church, the bride aand groom, and all the wedding guests! A pit then formed at the spot, which filled with water, and from which, every now and then, the ringing of church bells may be heard in the middle of the night.

Beside the pond is another Via Romea Germanica rest stop. These booths, set up at intervals of just the right length along this part of the Way, offer a bench, partially shaded, with a map of the next stretch of trail, QR codes connecting to web sites providing more information, a couple of sockets for recharging phones, a drinking water fountain and a wastebasket. Everything you need - except a toilet! This one was secluded enough that the bushes beside the pond would do.

Leaving the rest stop, I walked the final kilometre and a half of the day along the top of the grassy embankment beside the Gorzone canal - the only part of the day's walk not on a paved road! I left the embankment at a cluster of houses, and walked up the drive to the "agri-campground" and fully operational farm called Pane e Bellezza.

Pane e Bellezza is not on the list of recommended accommodations for the Via Romea Germanica, but it should be! The friendly owner, Giovanna, registered me, collected my twenty euros and showed me to a wooden cabin with a barrel-shaped roof, set up specifically for walkers and cyclists - there's even a Via Romea Germanica guidebook, in English, inside. Scattered about the large grassy campground are a tent belonging to two Dutch girls and a couple of German camper vans. Beside my little cabin is another camper van, which however belongs to Giovanna and is not currently in use - except as the end pole for tying up my washing line! 😄

Here I have everything I need: hot showers, bathrooms and a clothes- and dish-washing area, wifi (which occasionally actually works) and a fridge and microwave to store and heat the ricotta and spinach lasagne I have carried all the way from Pozzonovo!

Toilet with a view
(No worries, there are indoor ones too 😄)

One of the neighbours 

Monselice - Anguillara Veneta 20 km