13th May 2015. Sivizzano (248m) to Cassio (813m in the Apennines)
13km
Beautiful weather!!
The walk from Sivizzano to Berceto is supposed to be the most difficult and tiring in the Italian section of the Via so the guide book advises to allow more time to do it.
Short version:
Everything fine. Beautiful uphill (on road) walk to Badone then Terzano (no bars anywhere) then steep climb up through a bush track then up again to the tarmac road to Cassio (from 200m up to 800m) in gorgeous weather and the views everywhere are splendid. Finally landscape is a mixture of Switzerland and Tuscany (but without the cypresses). No cafe anywhere. Arrived at 11h00, the end of the day for me so am now on holiday today. All goes well with feet.
Longer version:
Put the alarm on for 6h00 and just got up when the church bells started to chime (which Charles managed to record so I’ll send you the first audio recording from the Via!). Was surprised to see that Charles was still sitting outside eating his breakfast as he could not get himself moving. So he suggested we walk together which I declined as he had so far to go but he insisted so I said I could be ready for 7am. We had breakfast outside (he had ridden Enrica’s bike to a store yesterday to get bread, bananas, pizza, chocolate, which he shared with me) & I used the last tea-bag I had and it was a gorgeous morning. He advised me on taping my good heels (or part thereof) as the expert, and we then set off uphill along the road to Bardone where the church bells in the beautiful little stone Romanesque church played Ave Maria as we arrived there (8h00).
No bar, but there were women in the piazza as a shop-truck selling fruit, vegetables and other products was there and when I asked if the church was open they said No and anyway we’d have to pay to see inside!
So further on to the next village, still no bar, but a lady let me use her outside toilet. Then the fun began in earnest on a steep mountain path. I was laughing as I remember reading in “Like a Tramp, Like a Pilgrim”, retired British Army Major Harry Bucknall’s account of his walk along the Via from London to Rome a couple of years ago, that he got lost in the Apennines and it must have been on one of these tracks. When I told Charles this he said that he was a Captain in the Belgian Army Reserve (since disbanded) and he would not get me lost! He was also surprised at how fast I could navigate the tracks.
As we walked up we saw more and more views in the distance and finally we came out on a road at the top with simply beautiful vistas everywhere but no bar, closed on Wednesdays! Via walking is obviously not for faint-hearted coffee-addicts…
From then on we had to climb up via the road for another couple of hundred metres (to an altitude of over 800m) and we met a woman who had just driven up to see her mother whose home was in the most magnificent spot, south-facing and dominating the valley below. While speaking to us she picked up the mother’s bread which had been left on the shrine outside for her (I almost thought it was an offering!).
Incredible vistas everywhere as we had such wonderful weather.
We had to continue a few more km uphill, past the infamous Kilometre 80 which is the steepest part of the road and causes many problems for vehicles, especially trucks, in winter. Today there is only local traffic as all other vehicles use the tunnel under the Pass.
We arrived in Cassio at 11h00 and finally got our cappuch at Michele’s bar/trattoria which is only closed for lunch once a week, but thankfully not on Wednesdays.
We sat out on the terrace with the most glorious vistas as we were really on top of the ridge and, before Charles left me and continued on towards the Pass, he gave me a couple more tips about my iPhone. You perhaps don’t realize that the real objective of my walk is to learn about the iPhone as each pilgrim I meet has taught me useful things. (**see below if interested, perhaps for you with new phone Margaret K?)
I then went to the hostel just further on from the cafe which is in a “casa cantoniera”, the house of the person who used to be responsible for maintaining a section of the road. There are many along this road and they are all exactly the same – solid dark red square buildings of 2 or 3 floors.
Andrea, a former barman, runs this hostel and it was like a doll’s house inside stuffed full of everything (including clothes on the walls up and down the staircases) and all the tables in two dining rooms were fully set up for guests, quite kitsch, but he put each guest in a different room with private bathroom (although there were four bunk beds and a single bed in my room) which was really thoughtful of him. He stamped my pilgrim passport & I paid him. He said he’s been there 4 years and when he goes to Parma, only 30km away, he goes mad! The sign on the door says that if he does not reply, he’s in the bar up the road!
I returned to the trattoria terrace for a salad lunch and the wifi!! I was finally the only person left except for the locals who came in and out of the bar. This was really the social hub of the village as several men were there (consuming very little) to watch the Giro cycling race in the afternoon and were there again in the evening to watch the European Championship semi-final soccer match between Real Madrid and Juventus.
I walked up the road to see a strange rock formation called “The Jumps of the Devil” (as if the devil is jumping from one rock to another)
I noticed a plaque on a building for 10 WWII victims, 2 fathers and their 4 sons, all in their early 20s, and 4 other students of the same age who were shot by a firing squad in 1944 – such an event must have had an enormous effect on such a small village… Coming back I came across the same shop-truck as I’d seen in Bardone earlier in the morning and bought some fruit. The woman explained that she went to many villages, even on Sunday mornings.
In the evening I went back to the trattoria for a drink sitting on the terrace with the views all around but, as it was getting cool, went inside for a light meal of a super mixed salad and mushroom risotto (very delicious) and then fell into bed with cosy flannelette sheets which were most appreciated as it was cool at an altitude of 813m..
Day’s highlights:
– the bells chiming at 6h00
– the incredible beauty of the Apennines and the vistas we had of them, with many ranges and valleys as far as the eye can see
– flowers everywhere, even honeysuckle growing in the woods
– the kindness of ordinary Italians whom I have met
– free afternoon in Cassio, almost like having a day off in a little part of Heaven (& with my feet holding up well)
Words which were said to Charles when he turned up at an ostello unannounced which really show the spirit of pilgrimage :
“A pilgrim is a message from God so thanks for coming!”
** I now know (which you all probably already are aware of so skip to end of paragraph if iPhone expert) about the Health application which turned up with a recent OS update, how to use the compass in case I get lost in the woods, how to take a photo without having to log on to the IPhone, how to do a screen shot which will then be shown under Photos, how to turn off options which consume charge and also cause longer charging time, how to make sound waves which are saved in voice memos, etc.