Eva on the Via Francigena (and beyond)

Song of the Day: There She Goes – The La’s

”There she goes, there she goes again / Racing through my rain / And I just can’t contain / This feeling that remains”

While this song will always be associated with The Parent Trap, it’s also a great travel song — and a great walking song.

I was sharing a room with Sergio and Domenico in the Bolsena abbey, and my alarm — as agreed — sounded at 6:30. With no one else seeming to stir, I ended up snoozing it for 10 minutes before painfully rolling out of bed. I’ve not been very good at doing my stretches, which I think has hindered my recovery from the long day a few days back.

But, like normal I went about my routine of prepping and packing, and with a quick “a dopo” was out the door to the nearest bar. I had a chocolate croissant and a cappuccino and sized up the other food options, which all looked pretty grim. I decided against it and continued out into the grey morning, hoping that I would make it to Montefiascone before my hunger kicked back in.

It was a short walking today today, with not so much to report. The trail started out rolling up and down hills with views out towards the lake, where a cloud hung threateningly low. It never fully committed to raining, though it did drizzle a few times. After an hour so of fields, I was plunged into another forest. This started out pretty normal: scrubby and reddish-brown from the dying leaves. Then, suddenly, I returned a corner and was struck by the change in scenery. The trees here were tall and serene, still green at the tops. underbrush was limited, giving a real sense of grandeur to the forest.

I admired it for awhile before continuing on, eventually emerging in an olive grove, where I had a short chat with a man out harvesting. He explained that the oil gets made from the olives as soon as possible, so he sometimes is going to get his olives pressed multiple times a week. After bidding him well I walked along the Via Cassia for a bit before cutting through more fields and emerging at a viewpoint with a view out over the lake and to Montefiascone ahead of me.

On the way into town I stopped into one church which offered a stamp signifying the last 100kms of the Via Francigena. In fact, Montefiascone leans into this pretty heavily — however, it’s actually 100kms away on the road. Walking, its still like 130kms. But that didn’t stop me from getting two separate stamps advertising this.

I arrived at the Monastero San Pietro just after 11 where a very kind nun greeted me and showed me to my room. It’s a nice place (the nuns are lovely), and will probably work fine as it won’t be too many people. I will say, though, if all beds were full — at least 10 people — it might be tough with just one bathroom. Anyway, given more rain was forecast for the afternoon, I decided to immediately head out to sightsee. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out how to get out of the centuries-old outer door, even more so knowing that one of the nuns responsible for buzzing people in could watch me struggle on CCTV.

I made my way uphill to the top of the old town, to the park and museum called Rocca dei Papi. This is the remains of a centuries-old fort, which is now a museum. But most interesting (to me) was the Tower del Pellegrino, which offers spectacular views over Lake Bolsena and the town below. Afterwards I visited the cathedral, which has one of the largest domes in Italy — it is quite impressive — and its crypt which houses the remains of Saint Lucia. Having seen most of the small town by this point I headed to one of the only restaurants open for lunch, where I had a carbonara that, while not amazing, was good enough to redeem this area of Lazio for me.

It was starting to rain again so I headed back to the Monastery to nap and shower, and work on the blog. After a few hours of this I headed down to Vespers — my first time going to a service since the St Bernard Hospice. It was a nice callback to my many monastery / abbey stays in France, and a good chance to reflect. After vespers, I ate dinner in the Monastery with Sergio and with Giovanni, an Italian guy about my age walking from Rome to Verona. We had a nice conversation over pasta, meatballs, and then a persimmon for dessert — my first time trying it! Heading back to my room, I said goodnight to the guys and headed to bed to read.

Final mileage: 10.72 mi
Walking time: 3h 40m
Elevation gain: 1,925 ft

Accommodation: Monastero San Pietro. Was very glad to be here, as unlike the other options it is right in the city center. Just note that they close the gates at 9pm — so best to plan to eat in the monastery!