Walking Across Italy

Today began with a lot of excitement. We met in the hotel lobby at 8:30 and set out looking for a cab to take us to the edge of the Roman suburbs. But first, we needed a group picture at the base of the Spanish Steps. To be clear, this was Juan Pablo’s idea, even though my son-in-law calls me “Social Media Pete”.

Unfortunately, Monday mornings are a tough day to hail a cab in Rome, so we had to wait for over 30 minutes. As a result, we were behind schedule when we left the departure point in Montesacro. The first 4 miles of this leg are on city streets, so we stopped to get some prosciutto, cheese, and bread for lunch. The last stop on the main road was a little food shop where I found the most delicious cornetto filled with whipped cream. Add a glass of peach iced tea and I’m in heaven.

Then we made our way down the last paved road and into the countryside.

As we walked, Stephen pointed out that we needed to look for these signs. (No, its not the Ukrainian flag)

Via di Franceso is the route of St. Francis from Rome to Assisi. Basically, we are retracing the steps of this great saint. As a result, we are “i tre pellegrini” ( the 3 pilgrams). As you can see from the sign below, there are many destinations along this route.

To be quite honest, this route is not very well marked. Sometimes there is a big sticker. Sometimes someone has painted a yellow and blue stripe on a tree or a wooden post. Our main navigation is a book, written in italian, which describes the path like this: “Take a right at the steel barn, pass a small fountain, head down the hill and cross a small bridge. Don’t take the paved road. Take the dirt one up the hill.” In other words, our map of the route is primitive. Luckily Juan Pablo has a Garmin device which calculates distances from key points. So he has kept us on track.

At the 10 km mark, JP took this picture to mark my first 10 km. Only 230 km to go!

We stopped to eat our lunch in a field at the 12 km point. It felt good to sit down for a few minutes in the shade.

The most grueling part of this leg were the two steep hills we had to climb at Mile 11 and 12. Each one rose 850-1100 feet in the air at a very steep angle. Although it wasn’t pretty, I did make it to the top. We then found our way to our hotel in the little town of Monterotondo, arriving around 2:45 in the afternoon. After a cold shower and some rest, I started to feel better again.

After a brief rest, we headed out to see the Convento di Francesco. We rang the doorbell and an 80-yr old Franciscan Friar (Alberto) greeted us at the door and invited us in. He told us the Convent was built in 1609 and was visited by Pope Pius IX in 1853. There used to be hundreds of Franciscans , but now there were 3 only friars living there.

It was a magical visit into an ancient fraternity that is slowly dying out. We left a donation and thanked Friar Alberto for his tome and kindness.

Dinner tonight was at Il Tinello restaurant near our hotel. We started with bruschetta, then I had cacio e pepe pasta, followed by a half portion of steak and salad. A hearty meal for a hearty day on the trail.

Tomorrow will be one of our longest hikes -18 miles.