19th May 2015. Sarzana to Massa
20.9km by foot & 3km by car…
Beautiful weather (not too hot!)
Short version:
After breakfast, set off on foot following the guide book even though a longer route which was more scenic and passed through villages, had an interesting cappuch, then took back roads to Massa in Carrara marble country. Finally had to get the lady from the Agritourismo to pick me up. All well & feet seeeeem to be getting better by the day.
Longer version:
After yesterday’s mammoth effort I was a little fearful for my feet. As I walked yesterday the words of my versifying friend (which I sent you in first text for 2015) kept running through my head – taxing and tricky tracks…but my feet had stood up very well and I dare to think that they are finally adapting to the Via! So I was ready to continue on.
After eating an orange & a peach, some dry bread (not bad & one gets used to it!), I went back to yesterday’s alimentari armed with a fresh panino & the woman made me a nice ham sandwich for the road! Went into a lovely bar nearby for a tea, & then set off following the directions in the guide book, even though it was a few km longer than that on the map which went 6km straight along the main road (now the Via Aurelia which was one of the famous Roman roads, this one going from Rome to the north-west of Italy), probably without a footpath. I was quickly on a rural path going uphill towards the castle on the remains of a Roman road and then walked through quiet streets of the outskirts of Sarzana with neat houses with lovely gardens. There were no great events this morning but several little encounters:
– A woman was filling bottles at a fountain on the roadside and told me it was excellent water and many people came there to fill their bottles. So I drank some also – good
– There were many thriving and beautifully tended vegetable gardens.
– A couple were pruning in their small garden which had several olive trees and I asked them if the trees provided enough oil for them but she said there was none last year (a late frost put paid to their crop) but is hopeful for this year. When I replied affirmatively to her question about walking alone she replied “well at least you’ve got no-one to argue with you”.
Then I came to a bar and I was asked whether I was a pilgrim and going to see the Pope, and I replied that for the moment I was a walker. I in turn asked if this person was a believer to which he let out a loud laugh and said he was a mechanical engineer and once one studied physics it was not possible to believe! The coffee was very cheap but it turned out this was the bar of a Circolo (association) but one man said that it was “nothing too cultural”. I decided to try to go back to a bigger road instead of walking around a big loop & asked a fellow client to show me where I was on the map. This village was in the middle of the map but he looked and said where was another bigger map, so I thanked him & said I’d manage – when will I learn that many Italians are not geographically gifted…
All around there were beautiful views to mountains.
Almost every house had electronic gates so I’m wondering if these come as a package deal with the video surveillance cameras.
Eventually I got to Via Aurelia & crossed over it and went under a dis-used railway line with much graffiti including many about tax dodgers being thieves.
I walked along quiet roads parallel to the railway line and started to see the enormous marble quarries in the mountains and asked myself how much can one take away and still have a mountain?
I arrived in the town of Avenza and was absolutely flabbergasted by the marble industry here. Everywhere were yards with many colossal blocks of marble with many markings on each block including the weight (often between 15,000kg and 20,000kg) and huge installations of cranes, etc. In one enterprise there were several buildings with no windows, more than 12 – 15 stories high & many linked together, so I asked myself what was done in there.
Marble enterprises of all types, including of course funerary monuments. My eyes were out on sticks.
I walked towards Massa and could not believe my eyes when I saw footpaths that were all edged with marble!
At one moment a man on a bike stopped and asked if I was alone and expressed concern as it could “torna male” (turn bad) as you don’t know whom you might meet…
Then I started thinking about where I should end up as (lack of good old garden common sense) from the iPad reservation I had only noted the phone number & address of the Agritourismo (which I had booked as it said it was .3km from the centre of town) and not its name. I asked many people about the address but was afraid to walk where they said as I feared it was a very long road & I didn’t know which end it would be on. Even got two Municipal police-women on the case thinking that they’d have a map but no they just got on the iPhone …Italians have absolutely no sense of geography (except my Italian friends in Geneva) and don’t even know the names of the streets they are on.
I went into a shop to ask a young woman to call a taxi, but no reply. Then I asked her to call the Agriturismo & she started to call when the father walked into the shop & took over the case. He told my hostess Giulia that I was there & that she should come & fetch me but he couldn’t tell her the name of the street we were on – only what shops we were near! Finally she came & took me to her out-of-town haven of peace & beauty, a big old-fashioned garden & orchard.
Giulia is a lawyer but couldn’t find work so the great grand-father’s house where they all live has been renovated and open for guests since last year.
Giulia’s father looks after the organic garden and people come to buy fruit, vegetables and salads, etc. I had an interesting dinner with the family (including her sister and husband), at the time which suited them, cooked by her mother Carla and it was simple but to die for!
Two anti-pasti of lightly floured and fried sliced young zucchini and flowers, broad beans and pecorino cheese salad, a primi of silver-beet with onion lightly cooked in oil and served on a piece of good toast in broth with Parmesan cheese, a secondo of squid in its broth, followed by a green salad – perfect!
Everything where possible is from the organic garden and cut that day. Carla taught French in a “scuola media” (middle school) where the principal was the younger brother of the Signora from Da Busse in Pontremoli. I suggested that she give cooking lessons (just of the evening meal) to guests who could visit local sights during the day – I think I’d come back for that. The agriturismo Is very close to a specialised heart hospital so she often has families of patients to stay. It seems that the health system is one of the things that works in Italy. I was fortunate in seeing fireflies “luccioli” in the garden before bed which was magical as the May season is drawing to a close. Slept well!