Se non ci si sente sperduti non si può trovare la via
(If you don't feel lost, you'll never find the way)
- Licia Troisi, Cronache del mondo emerso. Quoted on the wall in the pilgrim office in Viterbo
The convent of Divino Amore, where we spent the night in Montefiascone, is a maze of doors and staircases; you feel like you're in an etching by M.C. Escher as you attempt to find your way from your bedroom to the bathroom and the breakfast room! Luckily one of the sisters came to meet us halfway and lead us to breakfast, along with Dutch pilgrims Aneke and Wim, whom we had met the night before. We actually saved them from spending a night on the street, when they stayed out until after nine celebrating Wim's birthday, and got locked out of the convent! Fortunately I had given them my visiting card, so they were able to call me; at first I didn't answer, as "International Number" is usually spam; then I got a desperate message on WhatsApp and realised what had happened. I braved the maze of staircases and unlatched at least four heavy wooden convent doors to let the wayward pilgrims in. 😅
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| Breakfast with Anneke and Wim |
After breakfasting with the nuns, on our way out of Montefiascone we climbed up the hill to the Rocca dei Papi, the fortress of the popes, which demands some time for a photo shoot: first, of the amazing view over Lake Bolsena, and then of the monument to the pilgrim.
During this photo shoot Mariella lost her hat when the string broke. Luckily she soon realised it was missing, and had to go back only a short way up the hill to fetch it. In the meantime, I popped into a supermarket for lunch supplies: a smoked salmon sandwich accompanied by crunchy raw fennel and mandarin oranges: a gourmet lunch, for three euros and twelve cents! 😅
The next stretch of the walk was super-panoramic: first the views of Montefiascone up on the hilltop behind us, then the paving stones of the original Roman road under our feet.
It was while walking this kilometre-long stretch of Roman road that I met Warren, a Canadian pilgrim who started walking the Via Francigena in San Miniato. He was with another Canadian, and we also met a group of six Italian women, and a young couple of unknown nationality; a family of five cycled past, the three children on their own bicycles, complete with luggage. The Via Francigena is a lot busier now than it was ten years ago, when I first walked this section!
We made good progress, walking easily on a broad gravel road through the fields. Warren stopped to "take the waters" at Bagnaccio, the hot springs right on the route of the Via Francigena; I stopped there ten years ago, but wasn't tempted today: the idea of putting on a bathing suit didn't appeal, in the cool autumn breeze! We carried on towards Viterbo, stopping only for a brief lunch break on the grass.
After Bagnaccio we walked a little further on the dirt road among the fields and then came into the outskirts of Viterbo, following a paved road past big-box stores and a Burger King, then proceeding up a gentle slope toward the town centre.
By two p.m. we were at our holiday rental apartment in the historic town centre, where we let ourselves in, stripped and threw everything into the washing machine - daily hand-washing aside, this is the first time I've done a load of laundry since Ferrara! 😂
While waiting for the washing machine to go through its lengthy cycle, we went to the pilgrim information point of Viterbo, which is only a few hundred metres away from our perfectly appointed holiday flat, L'alloggio in centro. The young lady at the information point had four different pilgrim stamps, and we got one of each. Later on we stopped by the pilgrim hostel and headquarters of the association of Amici della Via Francigena Viterbo and collected more - so now I have a whole page of stamps from Viterbo!
We bought groceries and returned to our flat to hang up our laundry to dry, then set off to explore Viterbo. Which is not a relaxing city: it's a bit of a maze, so it's hard to stay orientated, plus there is a lot of traffic even in the historic city centre, so you have to be constantly alert to stay out of the way of moving vehicles while at the same time avoiding bumping into other pedestrians in the narrow space alloted to them - while at the same time consulting the map issued by the pilgrim office and/or Google Maps to figure out where you are going 😵
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| Piazza del Plebiscito |
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| The cathedral, and a giant chocolate bar |
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| Inside the cathedral |
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| Santa Maria Nuova |
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| Via delle Fabbriche |
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| In the medieval quarter of San Pellegrino |
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