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!
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| 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.
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.
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| View from the castle of Piannetto |
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| 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
