10th May 2015 Fidenza in Emilia-Romagna
Short version:
Attended mass in the cathedral & studied routes for next few days.
Longer version:
After another good breakfast (sooooo important as my dear mother used to impress on us) I Skyped my sister who is now joining all the doubters about the safety of my walking alone. Apart from the risk of an accident which can happen anywhere, I don’t think potential robbers or murderers would take to the paths of the Via (they’d have to ford the streams)…so I won’t have to worry like an old family friend did that she’d be “raped, robbed and murdered” when she stayed in anything less than a 5 star hotel!
I arrived at the cathedral for the mid-morning mass just as it was about to start and one of the museum volunteers came and asked me to sit next to her. There were about 150-200 people in the cathedral as there was the baptism of little Martino (9 months or so and beautifully dressed for the occasion) so perhaps, along with it being Mother’s Day, this accounted for the turn out, although my new friend insisted they always had a similar turn-out. There were at least 25 children in the church and they were active in parts of the ceremony, as were the 8 or so choir-girls and boys, which was very warm and relaxed. The cathedral is a beautifully proportioned building, very simple high pink/red brick interior with two levels of clerestories, and with all the lights on and the organ accompanying the singing it was a very moving and warm mass. It’s the first religious ceremony I’ve been to on the Via this year so it was fitting for it to be here in such an important staging point. At the end of the mass my new friend ensured that I had my passport signed & also introduced me to her sister (who also feared for my being alone!), and then I took leave of them & walked once again around this beautiful building. Back to modern day reality I stopped in a nice bar for my morning cappuccino and wandered around before heading back to the main piazza for a drink, all in warm sunshine.
This afternoon I have been studying my guide book and maps to see how I’ll affront the next few days which, all being well, will take me up and over the Apennines and down into northern Tuscany. I have reserved in a pilgrim hostel for tomorrow night. I’ll try to be on my way early as it promises to be a hot day. Forgot to say, unfortunately no signs of fresh asparagus…but what I perhaps forgot to mention about Fidenza is the remarkable gelati! Not only because they are truly delicious but there are served as a real work of art…each one is served in a flower shape, with each different flavour like another layer of outer petals. The one I had the first day was the best, served by the smiling gelati maker himself, but I forgot to take a photo before eating it and those I have had the last two days (yes, I have been making sacrifices to get the right photo for you!) have not been as well done as other people have been serving them. Imagine a white centre of lemon petals, then petals of raspberries around it and another layer of outer petals of the bitter dark chocolate from Modica in Sicily (which I have eaten in Modica but the gelato is better than the hard chocolate…). Anyhow you’ll have to imagine it from the less than perfect photo I’m showing you.
In the late afternoon there was a concert in the piazza which finished with a rousing rendition of “Nessun dorma”
In the evening the restaurant I wanted to go to was closed so I ended up going into a pizzeria (not the best and I won’t be eating another for a while…)
Highlights of the weekend
– Time off to let my feet rest & heal (& me also!) as I’ve been wearing my open Crocs sandals all weekend
– The wonderful dottore in the pharmacy
– Participating in the mass in this beautiful and magnificent cathedral
– Soaking up the “savoir vivre” of the wonderful and resilient Italian people.
– Gelati, gelati, gelati (fortunately I’m walking enough to not put on weight, or at least I hope I am…)
