Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
- John Ruskin (1883)
The weather forecast for today kept changing, but there was one constant: rain. What changed was the amount of rain, and the time of day. When we were having dinner with Antonella and Walter last night, the forecast was for clouds in the morning, rain in the afternoon. So we agreed to set our alarm clocks for 6:30 and start walking at 7:30 in the morning. But when we got up, the forecast had changed: rain in the morning, stopping in the afternoon! We set off anyway, passing through the historic town centre of Campagnano.
A bit of history: Campagnano di Roma
Perched atop an outcrop of tuff stone above the Baccano valley, formed by a now-dry volcanic lake, Campagnano has been inhabited since at least 1500 B.C. The area was the scene of battles between the Etruscans and the Romans, and was repopulated by Romans in the third century B.C. Below the town was a post station on the ancestor of the Via Francigena, the ancient Roman Via Cassia, complete with a spa where travellers could bathe and rest, stables for their horses, shops and a market, as well as barracks for Roman soldiers, all in a complex known as Mansio ad Vacanas.
The crisis of the third century led to the gradual abandonment of the countryside around Rome, which was brought under cultivation again when the Pope began to govern the area in the eighth and ninth centuries. The town of Campagnano is first mentioned in a document dated 1076, around the time that construction of the fortified village began.
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Campagnano di Roma in 1547 |
When we were just outside Campagnano it began to rain, only gently, but we stopped to put our ponchoes on nonetheless. In a few kilometres we would be at the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sorbo, where we could take sanctuary ourselves if the rain became too intense. I arrived there first, went into the church, stamped my pilgrim credential, and then sat down for a break sheltered by the loggia.
The others didn't take the short but steep detour up to the Sanctuary, and the rain was still only a light patter, so I set off again, walking through a beautiful meadow with grazing horses which I remembered from
walking this section of the Via Francigena ten years ago - also in the rain! 😅
Ten years ago, I stopped at a wonderful newly opened pilgrim hostel in Palazzo Chigi, right in the centre of Formello, which the town's current administration has unfortunately closed. The building, formerly a noble palace, is however still home to the town's museum, and to a library where you can get your pilgrim credential stamped.
A bit of history: Formello
In Etruscan times Formello was part of the town of Veio, a major political and cultural centre which historian Livy described as pulcherrima urbs. But Rome came to see Veio as a competitor for control of the surrounding territory and the important salt flats at the mouth of the Tiber River, and beseiged and conquered the city in the fourth century B.C.
In 780 Pope Hadrian IV founded the Domusculta Capracorum, a vast agricultural holding in the area, which became the feud of the Orsini family, who later sold it to the Chigi family.
On this visit as on my last one, I didn't see as much of Formello as I would have liked to,because of the rain! The four of us took refuge in a café, where we were joined by Ilaria, a friend and fellow walker who lives in Formello. It was great to see her again, four years after our adventures writing the collective pilgrim diary on the Via Francigena during Road to Rome 2021!

Walter and Antonella ate their sandwiches and then put their ponchoes on and headed back onto the trail, but Mariella and I stayed in the café chatting with Ilaria. And we were glad we did, because the rain soon started to come down harder. Two French pilgrims, mother and daughter, came into the café as well. Eventually it was time for Ilaria to go, and as she had an appointment a few kilometres further down our route, she offered to give us a lift part of the way. We had a long way to walk today - in the rain - and so we accepted a lift for a few kilometres; it seemed a better alternative than taking a shortcut walking on a busy road.
The archaeological sites at Veio are unfortunately closed to the public - at least on a Tuesday in October - but we did see the
"Osteria del Gambero Rosso" from the classic 1972 mini-series of Pinocchio directed by Luigi Comencini :)
We took a minor detour into the old hamlet that is the historic fortified village of Isola Farnese, named Isola (island) for its position on a rocky outcrop above the valleys around it, and Farnese after the family that used to own the land and the castle.
After this came the worst part of the Via Francigena: walking along the sidewalk of the modern Via Cassia highway, zigzagging around overflowing garbage bins (the city of Rome is infamously unable to deal with its people's garbage), litter, discarded appliances, and even a dead deer, hoisted up onto the sidewalk and guarded by a couple of police officers until it could be collected 😫
We stopped by the Eurospin supermarket to pick up some snacks to tide us over until dinner time, then turned off the highway and crossed the railway tracks via an underpass to get to B&B I Luminari. Beside the railway tracks and close to the highway, it's not a place I would come to for a vacation, but it's ideally located for our last night on the road before we walk into Rome!
Campagnano di Roma - La Giustiniana
18.5 km walked + approximately 8 km by car