Via di Francesco – Badia Prataglia to Sansepolcro

Day 6 – Badia Prataglia to La Verna

It was another day of high elevation, bringing to mind a repeated question, “Why don’t Italian trails have switchbacks?” The people who built these trails had to have found difficulty sliding backwards in the steep earth. My shin muscles are sore as a result of constant dorsiflexion of my feet! Thank you, arnica gel, for the nightly relief.

We have been following the maps from 2 different sources: a 10+ year old book by Sandy Brown, and gpx map files from viadifrancesco.it. There are many routes to Assisi and Roma and, so far, they have been well marked. But during this section, the gpx and book did not match trail markers. On one section, we followed our gpx (loaded into AllTrails) and another we gambled on signs.

This leap of trust took us through someone’s property, with Brian muttering, “this can’t be right”. It turns out that we did reconnect to the trail map on our phones, and passed a tennis ball sized snail along the way.

We stopped in the one street village, Rimbocchi, to refill water and get a snack. Brian had a pastry. I drank an orange soda (what????) with my granola bar since I have been craving sweet and bubbly beverages. I don’t think that I am getting enough calories. Granola bars are getting tiresome and my dinners are only salads, grilled veggies and roasted potatoes.

Road walking led to a magical forest of many shades of green. Bright lime-colored moss, shiny kelly green leaves, stately dark forest shrubs. There were steep climbs, with steps aligned for an 8’ tall hiker.

The forest became more dense as we approached the end of the hike. Massive rocks, some with caves, towered over the path. The trees seemed to be filled with wisdom, having lived for centuries in the wilderness where Christian pilgrims have wandered since the 14th century.

I don’t have a single photo of this breathtaking area. About 1.5 miles from the Sanctuary of La Verna, a hailstorm pelted us. It quickly turned to rain that was so thick, we couldn’t see. We covered in rain gear, coats and backpack covers, but we got wet anyway. The trail became a river and the mud served to suck our feet into the ground.

Our arrival to the sanctuary gate was not as I had envisioned. We were sheltered by a small roof and struggled to dry our hands, so as to open the phone map to our overnight accommodations. Our German friends, M&M greeted us from the other side of the gate and together we walked down the slippery stone path to town.

Luckily, I rented an apartment with a washing machine. We washed our wet and dirty clothes, unpacked every item from our bags and used a hairdryer to dry our saturated boots. Water had seeped into every nook and cranny. We were cold to the core, but a hot meal, plus a dry red wine with our friends, helped to warm us.

Day 7 – La Verna to Pieve San Stefano

Neither of us slept well, both concerned about dry gear and the continued incorrect weather forecasts. We got up quite early, taking turns with the hairdryer.

Our friends took a route from town, whereas we returned to the Sanctuary, a .7 mile climb from our apartment. We toured the monastery grounds and buildings and attended mass. This emboldened me and I felt ready to proceed.

We walked through the forest and eventually returned to open ridge views of mountains and valleys. Nothing but blue skies!

Pieve San Stefano is a small residential city. We stayed in the hotel, that reminds me of some of the rural motels in the Shenandoah Valley. The place needs a bit of love and attention.

We were informed that the restaurant was closed. Well, that turned out to be a bigger bummer than we originally thought.

In Italy, there are bars, pizzerias and restaurants. Bars are open all day until 7 or so, depending upon the size of town/city. Restaurants open around 7 or 7:30 Pizzerias open at various times.

There were no open restaurants or pizzerias because it as one of the “closed days” during the week. We found an open bar that we describe as “sketchy”. Wait, let’s italianize that. It was sketcho (add a hand gesture here).

Typically a bar includes coffee, juice, wine, beer and spirits at one counter. It also offers fresh pastry, gelato, pizza, sandwiches. To enter the bar, we had to walk through the wall of cigarette smoke created by clusters of men. Inside, we saw prepackaged ice cream bars, gelato that looked a bit crusty, a piece of pizza sadly drying out under the heat lamp, candy bars and soda cans.

Our dinner purchases included an orange, 2 small bags of potato chips, a beer and a lemon soda. We added pumpkin seeds, protein bars and a second orange from our backpack stash.

We fell asleep and awoke hungry.

Day 8 – Pieve San Stefano to Sansepolcro

Dread. Sadness. Despair.

It was the day that Brian left for home. It wasn’t a surprise but rather the plan. Our route was a 17 mile walk and then Brian needed to hop a bus and train to Roma.

The day prior, I cried often. Deep, heart wrenching sobs caused me to even stumble at times. The original plan was for us to walk together and then him board the bus. But as we walked from La Verna, Brian had this brilliant (sarcasm) suggestion that he would just gradually walk faster. In essence, I would suffer, watching him walk away.

I was ready to quit and return to the US with him. Then I had an idea that Brian did not readily accept. What if we sleep in and take the bus to Sansepolcro? We could spend quality time together, rather than getting up extra early and hustling on the trail.

“No. I know that you want to walk every mile”, was his reply.

“Yes, but,” I muttered through tears, “you are exponentially more important than steps!”

It took an hour for him to agree and my heart was instantly lighter. We packed our things and walked into the old town for food. Brian even had vino rosso with his pastry. “See,” I said, “it’s better this way. Otherwise, no wine for you until late tonight!”

We held hands on the bus ride, bought his next bus ticket and ate a phenomenal lunch in Sansepolcro. He left the restaurant alone and my kind server delivered a limoncello to “settle me”

I busied myself with city exploration, spending most of my time in churches. I returned to the same restaurant for dinner, pretending that he had just stepped away for a moment.

My B&B was cozy, exactly what I needed for the night.

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