Via Romea Germanica Day 95: Bagno di Romagna - Vallesanta (Casa Santicchio)

Passarono di qui, passarono in tanti
Poveri pellegrini e santi
Venivano da lontano, andavano da Pietro
Lasciavonsi il mondo dietro

O Alpe di Serra, i lor passi tu hai ascoltato
E le lodi che a Dio hanno innalzato
Serra, nido nascosto tra i monti
Queste sono le tue radici e le tue fonti

(So many travellers came this way,
Poor pilgrims and saints were they
Come from afar, to Saint Peter they'd wind
Leaving their whole world behind

O Serra, you heard their feet on the ground,
Their voices raised in prayerful sound,
O Serra, nesting among the mountains
These are your roots and your fountains)

- plaque on a monument between the Serra Pass and Corezzo, erected for the Jubilee of the year 2000

We're in Tuscany! Today we crossed over the historic Serra Pass: the only way to cross the Apennines between Romagna and Tuscany before 1880. The paving stones of this old road, still visible at several points, are the very stones that Albert of Stade walked over on his journey home from Rome in 1236.

Steps cut into the stone

It was only seven kilometres from Bagno di Romagna to the pass - but with an elevation gain of 700 metres. As soon as we left the road, the path began to climb steadily, heading up into the clouds on this overcast day. It was beginning to rain gently when we reached the shelter at Nasseto, on a plateau where there was until recently a farm and an osteria, or inn, the presence of which is documented since the 16th century, demonstrating that the road was commonly travelled. 

Today, the only living being we met on the road was a giant caterpillar!

We stayed in the shelter, eating the snacks we had brought for lunch even though it was only 11, waiting until the rain stopped. We were already at an elevation of 900 metres, and wearing all the clothes we had with us to keep warm!

Just after Nasseto is a fork in the path: the classic Via Romea Germanica route goes straight ahead, across the crumbly rock face of the mountain, signposted as path 177; whereas to the left is an alternative route through the forest, path 177A, slightly longer and with more ups and downs, but without the crumbly rock face above a steep drop. We opted for the alternative route, seeing as the rock was not only crumbly but wet and slippery, after the rain shower! The views were less dramatic, but the forest was lovely, traversed by pretty streams (hence the extra ups and downs). After 1.3 kilometres this slightly longer route rejoins the main route; I would recommend it in wet weather, or if you suffer from vertigo!

The alternative route in orange

Where the two routes merged again, the steepest part of the climb began. What with the early lunch break in the shelter waiting for the rain to stop, and the extra few hundred metres with additional ups and downs, it was one o'clock by the time we reached the pass.

We didn't linger at the top as it was very cold and windy there; we began a long descent through the forest, muddy in patches. We stopped for a break on a bench in the tiny hamlet of Serra.

In Corezzo, the first proper village on the Tuscan side of the path, we found a café run by a local cooperative, where we sampled the local specialty: tortelli di zucca, which are squares made of a thin flatbread similar to a piadina, stuffed with a pumpkin and potato filling. Delicious!

We had hoped to stop in Corezzo for the evening, as our guidebook and the Via Romea Germanica website indicated that the local parish hosted pilgrims; but when I contacted them a couple of days ago, I was told they only hosted large groups. So we had to go on to the next place: Casa Santicchio, an isolated house in the woods which has historically been a pilgrim hostel. The current owners continue to host pilgrims, providing an evening meal as well as bed and breakfast. I had assumed we would be the only ones staying there, as I/we have always been, all the way from Stade, and so I was surprised to arrive and find six other people about to sit down to dinner: four Germans and two Australians. They were all clean and well-dressed - compared to us - and at first I thought they were tourists, and wondered how they had got here. But it turned out they were all pilgrims, walking from Florence to La Verna and then to Assisi on the Way of Saint Francis. I hadn't realised we would be intersecting the Way of Saint Francis here, seeing as I walked a different route myself between Florence and La Verna, the Via Ghibellina.

They tell me it's not far from here to La Verna, so perhaps we will take a detour tomorrow and go there too - after all, tomorrow is October fourth, the anniversary of Francis' death and the day on which the saint is celebrated!

A few practical notes about crossing the pass, for other pilgrims walking the Via Romea Germanica:

- this stage is not 17.5 kilometres, as stated in the guidebook; in fact, the guidebook itself goes on to specify 7 kilometres from Bagno di Romagna to Passo di Serra, and then to specify 16 kilometres from Passo di Serra to Casa Santicchio. 7 plus 16 is definitely not 17 and a half! With all the elevation difference, it's best to set out early in the day if you don't want to arrive at dusk, as we did!

- do not expect to be able to stay at Corezzo, unless you are "a large group"

- telephone, internet and GPS signals all work all the way up to the pass on the Emilia-Romagna side; there is no telephone or internet reception for much of the time on the way down the other side, and the GPS signal may be slightly inaccurate in the forest. But the route is well signposted!

Bagno di Romagna - Vallesanta (Casa Santicchio) 22.5 km