“Bless the curious, for they shall have adventures.” Lovelle Drachman
Radicofani to Acquapendente
Guidebook mileage: 24km (14.91 miles)
Garmin watch mileage: 24km (14.8 miles) This is almost on the money except that I skipped 4km due to meeting one interesting dude. I’ll tell you about him and our experience in a minute.
First…regular business.
The volunteers at the donativo where I stayed last night were lovely. They were up at 5 am to make me breakfast and see me off. It wasn’t much, just some toast and coffee but it was the perfect amount and I appreciated the effort. It was really kind. They wanted to chat a little before I left so I walked out the door again at 5:55 am (not on purpose) which at first, I thought was too late but the weather had cooled and there was a fog over the entire valley. It was perfect. Just little mountain peaks were sticking up above the clouds. It was gorgeous.
Sometimes my days on the Cammino start to form a theme. I don’t think it’s necessarily intentional but I’ll start to notice a pattern. Today’s theme was creatures. I saw sheep, spiders, dogs, snails, lizards, birds taking flight, and A FOX CUB(!!!). I even had a cat come to me and rub its face all over my legs and then try to climb up on me. I love animals so I enjoyed all the interactions even if at a distance. Animals really have a joyful effect, don’t they? It’s wonderful.
We even found porcupine quills!
Photo of one of the fox cubs, there were two, courtesy of Cindy.
Today’s walk started off down hill (thank goodness) and it felt like a breeze. I was alone for the big descent out of the mountains but Cindy and Joel quickly caught up to me at a rest stop. They started a little later than me but again, the Camminos are like a game of leap frog so we run into each other from time to time.
I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning of the walk. It was cool and I even walked through some fog which felt like a refreshing facial. Plus, seeing all the little critters was fun.
I have officially crossed the border from the region of Toscana into Lazio.
The second half of the walk entailed walking along the road that had ZERO, and I mean zero shoulder. It’s actually quite dangerous and something the Via Francigena council should address.
Just before the road walking, I passed through a tiny village or neighborhood, I’m not sure what you’d call it. It consisted of four or five houses and on the map it said there was a bar (cafe). I didn’t see it and there were, what appeared to be local guys standing in the street. I asked one of them where the bar was and in perfect English, he said it was closed. Go figure.
Then, he started telling me how the road walking up ahead was extremely dangerous and that I needed to be very careful. “There is no shoulder and the grass is very, very high.”
I assured him I would pay attention. We said, “Ciao,” and I took off.
I walked a couple of kilometers down the road and noticed that my feet were feeling hot. A couple of days ago (that really hot miserable Day 3) I noticed I’m getting “hiker’s rash” on my lower legs from the heat so I need to stop and change socks every couple of hours. I reached a point where there was a pull off on the side of the road…it had a beautiful shade tree so I decided to sit on my poncho, take my shoes off, and cool of my feet for a bit. In the meantime, I practiced my Italian on Duolingo…I’m up to 150 days in a row!
About five minutes later a car pulls up, I look up and it’s the guy from the street who I just spoke with. I was a little surprised. He rolled down the window and said (I’m paraphrasing because I was shocked he showed up and I wasn’t 100% listening), “Are you okay with skipping four kilometers? I’m very worried about you walking alone on the road. I’d like to drive you to the next bar.”
I must have had a confused look on my face because he said, “it’s me, the guy from in front of Galileo’s house.”
“Yes, yes, I know. I’m just shocked you are here. Sure, I’ll take a ride, let me put my shoes on and pack up my bag.”
While I was organizing everything he told me a story. Don’t shoot the messenger if I mess up these details. My brain was still trying to compute this entire scenario that was unfolding.
He said he is the owner of the Galileo house that we met in front of. I took a photo of the plaque as I walked by.
In short, Galileo, who is from Florence, was on his way to Rome in 1633. On his journey, he contracted the Bubonic Plague.
Wow, can’t we relate to this poor chap?
Anyway, he had the plague and the required quartine was 40 days. So he was supposed to stay in this random house for 40 days before he was allowed to enter the city of Rome.
Well, he apparently wrote to the Pope and the higher-ups in the government pleading his case about the important business he needed to do so they let him leave after 25 days.
Good thing there was no social media back then. Can you imagine the backlash?
No, he did not die from the Bubonic Plague but he did have a lot of other bad stuff happen to him for his beliefs in astronomy and astrology…but I’ll let you do your own research and form your own opinions.
Anyway, Costanzo, I did finally learn his name, tells me this story and about how he bought the house and he knew the backstory but some historical council recently put up the sign. Kinda cool if you ask me.
But then the weird coincidences start showing up.
I asked him where he learned to speak such perfect English. He said he was married to an American. They had met in Rome years ago.
Before I could get another question out of my mouth, he asked me where I was from. I said “Kansas City but most recently I had worked in NYC and that was the last place I had housing.” blah blah…
The….then…then he says, I kid you not folks, with a straight face like it was no big deal, “oh really, I got married in New York City and our reception was at Tavern On The Green.”
Ummm excuse me? How in the hell does a farmer from the middle of nowhere Italy have his wedding reception at Tavern On The Green?
For those of you who don’t know, Tavern On The Green is a fancy-smanichi restaurant in Central Park. Google Map it.
Well, I did not want to miss this moment so we snapped a photo together and I immediately got in the car.
Tell. Me. More. Costanzo!
This man has had a life full of twists and turns you can’t imagine. I promised only to write about a few things because he is a private person but I had the best adventure with him.
He drove me to the bar, I bought the cokes and he spilled the beans. I LOVE a good life story and Costanzo has an interesting one. I told him he should write a book or a movie about it.
Sadly, Constanzo’s marriage didn’t last long to the American but they are still good friends. He’s gone on to marry again and have three children, his farms, cows, and now Galileo’s quarantine home. Storybook.
He did say one funny thing to me before we parted ways. He said, “what were you doing while sitting on the roadside?”
“Actually, I was practicing my Italian on the Duolingo app.”
Deadpan face he says, “Don’t tell any of the Italians you are doing that.” Hahaha!
We said our goodbyes and hugged. Then he said if I had any trouble finding a place to stay tonight in the next town to call him and he and his wife and kids would host me. What a nice guy!
I was really happy he came to pick me up and share his life story with me. It was a wonderful Cammino moment.
He also gave me a fresh picked cucumber. Anyone who followed my Camino del Norte posts will remember the avocado a guy gave to me and I carried it for 15 days until it was ripe. That ain’t happening this time. Bon appétito!
As I was sitting there trying to comprehend what had just happened, Cindy and Joel showed up. Apparently, they had stopped at another place and I’d now leap frogged them. We rested for a bit before making the final climb into Acquapendente.
They had made reservations at a hotel that also had a restaurant. I hadn’t booked anything yet so I went to eat with them and planned on finding the pilgrim hostel a little later. Well the hostess said she had a single room with a private bathroom for €35. The pilgrim hostel was €31 for a bunkbed and shared showers. So I stayed put. The meal was amazing as was the company and the room.
Cindy has done “WWOOFing” before at a vineyard not far from where we are staying. WWOOFing is basically volunteering on a farm in exchange for room and board. So she had actually picked grapes for the wine they were serving! It was delicious…definitely try it if you are in this region. EST! EST!! EST!!! (Means East, East, East).
It’s been another fantastic day on the Via Francigena.
Kari made another lovely video of my day of hiking. She is the best! Check it out here.
Goodnight and much love & gratitude from Italy! 🇮🇹
To see more photos and videos from my adventures, follow me on social media. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
Here are some resources if anyone is interested in hiking the Via Francigena.
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https://www.viefrancigene.org
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http://www.viafrancigena.com
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https://www.gronze.com
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www.booking.com
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App: Via Francigena
An agriturismo home along the way had some wonderful amenities for the pilgrims, both on bikes and walking. Trail Angels definitely live there.
We walked by a house that had an entire building dedicated to a pizza oven. I don’t know of anything more Italian.
What the heck are these? Silos, hay barns, bird watching perches? Someone tell me!
My buddy Bob has taken the Traffic Mirror Selfie to new heights. I present to you, the backwards TMS. Bravo, Bobert.
