Via Romea Germanica Day 91: Ghibullo - Forlì

 

My ground-floor room at the bed and breakfast in Ghibullo was conveniently located right next to the kitchen, where I made myself some porridge and a cup of coffee. I was out the door by seven and walked a couple hundred metres along the side of the highway to the bridge, then crossed the river and reached the embankment just in time to see the sun rise over the fields.

I followed the embankment until just after Coccolia, where a sign warned of a road closure in 1600 metres. Assuming I would be able to walk through or around it as a pedestrian, an opinion reinforced by a local woman I met on a bicycle, I kept going; but the fencing of the barrier turned out to be impenetrable, with a dense thicket of canes on the side facing the river and a very muddy plowed field on the other. So I walked the road detour, adding a couple of kilometres onto today's stage. The best solution would probably have been to cross the bridge at Coccolia and walk along Via del Canale, but I didn't think of that at the time!

I rejoined the Via Romea route in Borgo Sisa, where it leaves the river, crossing over and then taking country roads, paved and unpaved, the rest of the way into Forlì. 

Pumpkin patch

Shortly after a sign indicated that I was entering Forlì city limits, I turned off the route slightly to take a lunch break in a park with a small lake, geese, swans and, more importantly, benches and a drinking fountain.

I then walked the rest of the way into the centre of Forlì. 

Aa

A bit of history: Forlì 

Forum Livii was founded by the Roman Consul Livy in 188 B.C., but the area was settled well before that: remains of Paleolithic villages have been found. Byzantine in the sixth century, Forlì was the scene of bitter battles in the Middle Ages; the Ordelaffi family dynasty held the city from the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 16th; it then became part of the Papal State until 1861, the year of the unification of Italy. 

Benito Mussolini was born in nearby Predappio, and his government invested in development of the area, which is why so much Rationalist architecture may be see in Forlì. This was the time of establishment of numerous factories and the airport.

The town's most significant religious building is the Basilica Abbey of San Mercuriale, completed in 1180, with one of Italy's tallest bell towers, 75 metres high: in the Middle Ages this was considered one of the great wonders of Italy.

The weekly market was just about to close in the square in front of the church when I arrived, making it hard to take decent pictures of the piazza!

I crossed through the market to visit the cathedral, where I stopped the kilometre counter for the day. I was also hoping to get a stamp, but there was no-one around to ask. 

I walked out of the town centre towards the park, where I had an appointment to meet Franco, a pilgrim friend of Rita, the ospitalera I met for lunch in Ravenna. The two of them had met at the airport on their way to walk the Camino de Santiago, and ended up walking the whole way together - plus some more Long Walks in the years that followed. Franco and I drove to the train station to pick up my friend and walking buddy Mariella, who will be walking with me from here on! Then he took us back to his apartment, where we met his wife and visiting daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. 

With Franco in his study and shrine to Mina ❤️

After enjoying a glass of wine and a snack together, and upsetting the family equilibrium be preventing the granddaughter from taking her afternoon nap, we accepted Franco's offer of a lift to the church in Ronco, four kilometres east of Forlì, where the parish provides a room for pilgrims. Don Giovanni - that really is the parish priest's name - showed us the room and instructed us to call him if we needed anything.  He even left us each a copy of a booklet he wrote about a local saint, Beata Benedetta Bianchi Porro.

The pilgrim room in Ronco

The pilgrims!

Ghibullo - Forlì 21.5 km