10th May 2016 Montefiascone to Viterbo
19.6km
A little overcast but also sunny and warm with a breeze (instead of rain which was forecast!)
(I have been told by a man in Missouri (!), that the photo viewing problem probably depends on the device one is using, and that there is a plug-in which can be used but I have neither the expertise or the time to use it, so good luck!)
I left the hotel after a better breakfast than expected when the patron took the trouble to ask if I would prefer “salty” and then produced real bread and good cheese!
After getting through the rush-hour traffic outside the hotel (with cars coming out of the one-way street down from the old town, and cars from four other roads converging at all different angles, trying to cross one another and where I could just not work out who would have right of way, I just forced myself through the traffic as no one was going to wait for me), I walked through the arch and up to the piazza at the top of the old town where above an arch was the text “100km to the tomb of St Pierre” (in Italian of course). I had a cappuch as I knew there would be nowhere en route to get one and then I jokingly asked a man whether someone had verified the distance. He looked at me and said “it’s 100 km to Rome…”, so not much sense of humor there.
I thought about Sigeric and wondered if he had any idea how far it was to his destination or else his home. I suppose each religious or other hostel would give him information on the route ahead and where to pass by. When one thinks of what modern “pilgrims” have at their disposition… I suppose Gonzalo (whom I met last year in Orio Litto) who only had a piece of paper with the stage destinations where he should go written on it, and who followed the signage (but he would have done some wild detours…) and never phoned ahead, was the one I’ve met closest to the pilgrim spirit.
Then I had to continue up and through a sort of park with another church, a papal residence (12th century), the Tower of Pilgrims (with a modern day sculpture to pilgrims), and the promised view over the lake. Then down steps and cobbled street so I was a bit lost as I couldn’t see any signage when I saw young nuns getting out of two mini-buses.
Of course none of them knew which street I was on. I asked another woman which way the station was as I knew I had to end up near there and all she could say was “it’s a long way away”… Finally I saw the waysigns and was on my way again and quickly onto dirt/gravel roads through the outskirts of town (dogs still barking everywhere, so nothing changes) and into fields.
All day was off main roads and I didn’t even get lost once. Even walked on the original ‘basulato Romano’ on and off for a few kilometres which is one of the best-preserved examples of Roman road on the Via Francigena.
However there was a slight problem…the metal tips of my walking sticks kept sliding on the stones so I couldn’t push off on them correctly…such are the travails of a modern pilgrim as Sigeric would simply have had a good solid staff.
In the fields there was much hay being cut and baled.
There were fields of wheat as I walked up and down hills with lovely green views of the countryside and of course many types of road-side flowers.
I followed and zigzagged with a railway line, on all different road surfaces. It’s amazing how one’s feet keep looking for the best surface to walk on…
After 11km I came to a spot where I thought I would see a thermal spring with some sort of structure around it, but it was simply a few pools (like swimming pools) with people roaming around in swimming costumes and robes when they weren’t in one of the pools. Not really my cup of tea but there were many adepts.
It was then a hard slog into Viterbo. I came out at a cemetery (one empty hearse and then another with a casket drove by) and I walked along beside a very busy road until I got to to a very big roundabout piazza named in honour of the Air Force fallen. I think that they will have to add “pilgrim fallen” to the name as it was almost impossible to make my way around the roundabout, as it had been to cross previous roads. At one point I was on a pedestrian crossing and a car which could have seen me for 50 metres or more wasn’t slowing and as I wasn’t sure if he’d stop, I hesitated and waved my sticks and he drove right past me looking very non-plussed! Be warned, pedestrian crossings in Italy are dangerous places!
I had telephoned earlier to a B&B in my hostel list (said it had telephone and wifi and when I phoned the owner confirmed a room with private bathroom), and she had said I should ask for directions to a piazza near her when I got to the gate through the walls. Who better to ask than a taxi driver just outside the walls? Didn’t have a clue & asked another who shrugged me off but realized I had said the name wrongly “grand fountain” instead of “fountain grand” and just waved in the direction of the city. Just inside I found a wall map of the city and got myself 3/4 of the way there & then asked again.
Francesca was lovely (as was the B&B) and gave me a wonderful map of this walled city (which had previously been given by the tourist office and she’d had it reproduced for guests) and marked a complete itinerary to visit the most important sights.
Viterbo a lovely walled city of Etruscan origin and was of a considerable size during the Middle Ages -it’s walls were 5km long in the 13th century. It is well worth a visit.
I went out and walked around a wonderful medieval quarter with all buildings in grey stone and very well preserved (although as Viterbo suffered bombing in WWII many buildings had been restored since then).
I had a delicious dinner in a little restaurant just near my lodgings and then fell into bed.
