Siena to Rome- The Last Steps

11/10-11/20


2134.31 km from Canterbury




We left the Siena ready for our final week and a half trek into Rome. The views of the medieval brick walls of Siena were stunning from the rolling Tuscan hills we traversed that morning.

Saying goodbye to Siena

Leaving through one of the medieval gates

La Grancia di Cuna

We planned to walk to Ponte d'Arbia that day. As we descended into some low valleys, we started walking on a flat gravel path beside the main road with painted marble signs for pilgrims! We would see these marble signs up until Acquapendente four days later, and they were always a delight to behold. Sometimes they would draw a pilgrim with a mule or staff!

Crossing through low valleys, we walked by a rare example of a fortified farmhouse, the Grancia di Cuna! This complex was massive, I was not expecting it to be so large! During the 12th century, the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena oversaw a hospice for pilgrims at Grancia di Cuna. The complex grew from a hospice into a grain farm which was then fortified during the 14th century because of political instability in the area.

Entrance gate

Chiesa di San Jacopo e Cristoforo

Grancia di Cuna was under construction (as you can see by the huge crane!) but as we walked by, we saw a tiny 13th-century church, the Chiesa di San Jacobo e Cristoforo. It was closed so we couldn't go in, but inside the small church there is a 15th-century cycle of frescoes depicting the "hanged unhanged." This is a story that especially pertains to the pilgrim. It is about a young pilgrim on his way to Santiago de Compostela. Accused of a crime he was innocent of, the young man was condemned to the gallows. Because of his piety and innocence, he was found still hanging but alive by his parents on their return journey from Spain and released!

We met this adorably sweet three-legged farm cat!

Turn right!!

After passing Cuna, we continued on to Ponte d'Arbia. The path meandered along the Tuscan hillside often following along hilltop ridges. It was a lovely walk, though a bit muddy and hilly, and we made it to the town by early afternoon.

Lovely welcome sign into Ponte d'Arbia

The old bridge after which Ponte d'Arbia was named

Pilgrim registry and stamp

Traditionally, pilgrims walked over the old bridge that the town is named after, but we were guided to a new bridge that must have been built in the last two years or so, but from it, we had a gorgeous view of the original bridge.

The pilgrim accommodation was a large house on the outskirts of town (though the village was small enough I hesitate to attach such a weighty name to it :). It was actually a charming place to stay the night. A man drove down from his home to meet us and give us a key to the house since we were the only pilgrims there.

Marie's note was from 3 days before. I found it quite amusing!

The next day we continued through rolling hills underneath a roiling sky. There was a castle or large farmhouse on every open hilltop.

As we entered one town, the clouds finally opened up, and it started pouring rain! We quickly hopped into the only bar and shed our soaking ponchos and shoes. This bar was an absolute gem of a find as the old lady behind the counter offered us some freshly made pici pasta with homemade ragu sauce. This was the best-tasting pasta ever (though I may have said that before... and probably again)! After Chad and I sated ourselves on a bowl of warm pasta... he ordered another, and I got a pastry! Twenty euros poorer and not regretting a bit of it we left the bar after the storm ended and continued our walk to San-Quirico-d'Orcia.

As we left the little town where we ate lunch we came across this sculpture to honor pilgrims. Fitting that it should be feet!

The church across from our window

San-Quirico-d'Orcia was originally an Etruscan town (as most Italian hilltop towns seem to be). The medieval section was perched on a hilltop surrounded by the modern town. Our accommodation faced a beautiful church, and we walked around the quaint town for a while before dinner. The setting sun created the most beautiful lighting for pictures, and I took advantage of it. I love these pictures from San-Quirico, they have such a magical coloring to them!

Mocking gargoyle

Little Romanesque church on the way out of town

The next morning dawned sunny and cold. It was a lovely walk during the morning with gorgeous views around us. 

Castiglione d'Orcia

Beautiful views

Piazza d'Acqua

So many minerals!

After an hour or so we climbed to the top of a hill where we could see the gorgeous medieval town and castle of Castiglione d'Orcia perched on a hill top in front of us. Behind the castle were the shadows of tall hills and mountains. It was a beautiful view! Our path was supposed to take us straight down the hillside across a small river and up the next hill around Castiglione d'Orcia, but since we had a thirty plus kilometer walk ahead of us, we decided to skip that portion of the walk and instead follow the river. It ended up cutting four or so kilometers off our walk, but I was definitely a little bit sad we couldn't explore the magical looking city!

We walked through Vignoni which was a minuscule hamlet entirely built in rough sandy stone. Passing out of the gate on the far side of the town we stopped again and enjoyed the view.

We continued downhill and into the thermal spa town of Bagno Vignoni. These thermal springs were well known as far back as Etruscan times. During the Medieval period, the springs gained popularity due to their proximity to the Via Francigena. Bagno Vignoni grew up around the thermal springs and became a very popular resting place for world-weary pilgrims. The thermal springs then were turned into a resort town for both illness as well as relaxation. The 50-degree sulfurous water is reputed to have rejuvenatory qualities. Unfortunately for Chad and I, the Piazza d'Aqua in the town center was off limits and visitors have to pay to use an indoor spring! Alas, we were not able to rejuvenate ourselves in its sulfurous heat!

The remainder of the walk to Radicofani was up and down sparsely populated and barren hills. It was funny, all morning Chad and I noted a tall tower on a giant hill far ahead of us. We kept wondering how big the castle was as we could see it from almost forty kilometers away, rising above all the hills in front of us. It was soon clear as we continued on that it was the town and castle of Radicofani and we would need to climb all the way up to it at the end of our already very long walk that day!

Beautiful villa with cypress trees

Another gorgeous medieval hilltop hamlet

Gorgeous but so far up there!

Welcome, just climb up this giant hill first...

We reached the base of the small mountain on which Radicofani rested towards the end of the afternoon and realized just how long and steep the hill was! It would be eight kilometers of walking uphill until we reached the town!

I found this dancing pilgrim pointing the way to the castle on the backside of a guard-rail!

View from our bedroom window

As we reached the top of the hill, the sun was just beginning to set behind the hills, creating the most beautiful golden glow as we reached Radicofani.

Our accommodation was in the main square facing on one side the Romanesque church of San Pietro and on the other side of the castle! Radicofani is located at almost 900 meters, soaring high above all the hills around it. The castle of Radicofani looks exactly like a chess-piece and dates from the Carolingian period. The town's importance stemmed from its proximity to the Via Francigena, and it was a hotly contested territory throughout history, passing from the hands of Benedictine monks to the Aldobrandeschi family, then to the Counts of Chiusi, next to Siena and lastly to the Papacy!

Chiesa di San Pietro

The main piazza

The next morning Chad and I decided to walk up the hill to the castle so we could get some pictures. It was very cold that morning and our feet crunched in the frosted grass on the climb up to the castle.

Dubious intentions...

Frost in the grass!

The views from the castle were stunning!

Leaving Radicofani

On our walk back down into the town, we passed by this statue of a famous medieval inhabitant. I forget the name of the man now, but I thought it was a rather badass statue!

Such a gorgeous place!

Walking along the ridge line

Roadside cafe!

We left Radicofani having only had coffee and one croissant as we had believed there would be a small alimentari on the way out of town or at least at the foot of the hill about ten kilometers away. We walked out of town with no luck but thought to try our luck two hours later at another town. After a gorgeously winding route along a ridge down the hill we reach the tiny town but alas the restaurant was closed!! Chad was super grumpy and hungry by this point, and I walked a little ways behind to try and become a smaller target for his hangry rage. We followed a quiet road for another three kilometers before passing another closed restaurant! Tightening our waist-straps, we doggedly continued on, and another two kilometers on we stumbled upon an open restaurant! We were so happy and hungry and fell on the food like typical big hungry Americans! It was one in the afternoon by the time we arrived having not eaten since six that morning! We ordered a delicious pilgrim menu with pici al ragu with the most delicious homemade pasta.

After lunch, the walk seemed so much easier, and we walked in sated bliss until we reached a cute little roadside cafe with tons of Via Francigena signs!

We walked up the last hill to the town of Acquapendente. This was another small stone town atop a hillside. We stayed in a pilgrim house and explored the steep and narrow winding streets for a while before heading to bed early. We were planning a very long walk for the next day around Lake Bolsena and up to Montefiascone.

I loved that these houses were built into the medieval walls of Acquapendente

Lake Bolsena

Brigand's Path

Walking through olive groves

Bolsena

The shop

Hercules!

The next morning we woke up before dawn, grabbed some breakfast and headed out. The Duomo di Santo Selpolcro stood guard on the outskirts of town, and when we passed it we agreed it was very ugly!

That day was decidedly chilly as we walked towards Lake Bolsena. We got our first glimpse of the lake when we stopped in San Lorenzo Nuovo for a snack. San Lorenzo Nuovo was actually the second location of the medieval town of San Lorenzo alle Grotte. The original town was located right on the banks of the lake near caves used by the Etruscans. In the 18th century, due to malaria and declining health in the population of the town because of its proximity to the swamps around the lake, the Pope had the entire town moved uphill, people, houses, everything!

Lake Bolsena was definitely bigger then I was expecting. A caldera in the Vulsini volcanic complex collapsed creating the lake. The area was volcanically active as recently as Roman times! During our chilly trek around the lake, we walked along a path known as the Brigand's Path. This is a historical hiking trail covering 120 kilometers and follows in the footsteps of some of Italy's most infamous brigands. This area has many isolated caves where brigands used to live and "work"!

We continued along Brigand's Path into the town of Bolsena. The first thing one sees upon entering the town is the fantastic castle Monaldeschi della Cervara towering over the buildings below. Bolsena seemed like a typical small Italian resort town with small shops lining the narrow medieval streets all of it overlooking the lake.

My favorite thing I saw in Bolsena were these beautiful pots in the form of traditional Roman and mythological faces. I had seen them before when I stayed with Brigitte and François in Chalons-en-Champagne ages ago. During my stay in their home, the couple had shown me pictures of the Italian portion of their trip. They were especially impressed with these pots and actually returned to Bolsena on their route home to buy several! They had them displayed in their home in France!

After eating several slices of pizza at a local pizzeria, Chad and I exited Bolsena and continued along the Brigand's Path to Montefiascone. After about an hour we entered a small forest which was very pleasant, cool and dim. When we crossed a river, I thought I saw a place I recognized! Turns out it looked a lot like a site where The Dutch Adventurist camped during his pilgrimage to Rome in 2014. While planning for my pilgrimage, I religiously watched his documentaries of his journey. He mostly wild camped as well, and this river looked like one of his campsites. It was situated right across the river from an old abandoned stone building which I thought might have been some sort of farmhouse. If any of you reading this is interested, I'd highly suggest going over to http://henkvanderklok.com/via-francigena-walking-to-rome/ and watching Henk's videos about their trip!

After crossing the river and walking uphill through the dense woods for a while, we finally came across the unearthed remains of the Via Cassia!! This put all the other sections of the original Roman road I had seen to shame (except perhaps the deeply rutted section I crossed over in Switzerland)! Some signs described the history of the road as well as provided an awesome description of how the Romans built their hardy roads.

The Via Cassia

Building Roman roads

Such excitement!!

Vineyards overlooking Lake Bolsena

The Via Cassia linked Rome and Florence through the town of Bolsena and was constructed between the late 4th and early 3rd centuries B.C. The Via Cassia continued to be used during the Lombard period and was the main thoroughfare for Northern Europeans to travel to Rome. It is believed that in 1222 St. Francis walked this road barefoot!

Unlike the poorly made Medieval roads which were built with small and uneven cobbles, Roman roads were considered the best as they were much smoother and hardier. The most important roads would have three lanes!

Pilgrim rest area- these were becoming more common the further south we walked

100 kilometers to the tomb of St Peter!

We finally made it to Montefiascone at dusk! It took us a while to get in touch with the abbey where we planned to stay that night but as soon as we were able to enter we were treated so well! The nuns were incredibly lovely! None of them could speak English, but they treated us with such care, and they were so sweet that our night in Montefiascone was one of our favorites! For dinner, the nuns prepared us a large and delicious meal which they served us in our own private dining room. When they came in to bring each course, they would stop and chat for a while. One of them had visited Universal Studios in California a few years earlier and told us of her joy at seeing the walk of stars and getting her picture taken with Sylvester Stallone. When she found out that Chad was from California, she got really excited!!

We spent a lovely night in the abbey and woke up very early for our walk to Viterbo the next day. As we left the abbey, we walked through the main square in Montefiascone and spotted a sign over an arch that told us we were only 100 kilometers from St. Peter's Square in Rome!!

The Duomo

The Rocca dei Papi was an Etruscan castle that was heavily renovated before becoming a residence for cardinals and Popes

For the excessive EST! here lies my lord Johannes Defuk

Radicofani!

We walked uphill from the square and into the old part of the city where we passed the Duomo. The Duomo in Montefiascone is topped with the second largest dome in Italy, just smaller than St Peter's in Rome! Walking behind the Duomo, we were surprised with a beautiful view for miles around us!

We continued walking through the medieval streets of Montefiascone until we reached the castle overlooking Lake Bolsena below.

Next to the castle sits a copy of the tomb of the German bishop Johannes Defuk, which originally resided in the Church of San Flaviano in Montefiascone. This interesting legend tells of the bishop who, in 1113, had his valet mark the doors of the taverns with good wine with "est." The valet marked several taverns in Montefiascone, and when the bishop was on his way home from Rome he drank so much wine he died! Apparently, the bishop left 24,000 silver coins to Montefiascone on the condition they would pour a casket of their fine wine over his tomb each year!!

Lake Bolsena looked beautiful from the castle. The weather was perfect with not a cloud in the sky, and we could even see Radicofani in the far distance!!

Swift!

As we left town, we passed by this beautiful ruined Romanesque church. The church had been destroyed by Allied bombing on 25 May 1944!

Chiesa della Madonna del Riposo

Finally, we descended the hill from Montefiascone and continued on our way to Viterbo.

Montefiascone- you can see the ruins of the castle and the Duomo above everything else

In the afternoon we passed by some thermal hot springs. Pilgrims were allowed to enter for free, so we entered and ate our lunch in the shade while watching the locals bask in the curling wisps of heat drifting off the water. We decided against getting into the water since it was quite chilly outside and it would've been awful getting dry again, though we did dip our feet in the water for a bit.

Italians enjoying the springs

Chad and I stayed in an abbey just a short walk uphill from the medieval quarter of the city. We were exhausted from the long days preceding and ready for a day off before we finished our route into Rome. After settling in, we set out to explore all the medieval delights Viterbo has to offer! We passed by this little tiny Romanesque church which was so tight on space that they had to build the apse crooked to fit it!

Chiesa di San Marco

We started our walk along the smooth paving stones of the Roman Via Cassia again. I was still enamored with the road and continued to take pictures and be excessively excited, much to Chad's annoyance...

That afternoon we made it to Viterbo! Viterbo is a bustling Italian city with a beautiful walled medieval town. We first hear of the city when in 773 the conquering Lombards fortified the city to use it as the base to attack and conquer Rome. Rome thwarted this attack, and Viterbo soon became a free commune and continued to prosper throughout the medieval period. From the 11th century, it became one of the favorite residences for Popes as they struggled to retain their power over Rome. Viterbo still has a gorgeous papal palace in its cathedral quarter.

They had to build it slanted to fit between the buildings already there

Santa Maria Rosa's house

I loved this church with its supportive gables connected to a stone house across the street!

We walked through the medieval walls just in front of the Sanctuary of Santa Maria Rosa. Santa Maria Rosa is the patron saint of Viterbo and was piously performing miracles at the ripe old age of three! We passed by the house where she had lived as we walked further into town.

The smallest Italian car we have seen thus far-- it looks like a Dr. Seuss car!

The 14th century Casa Poscia

Viterbo is known for some of its beautiful medieval palaces. The profferlo construction is the best known and is where a palazzo has an exterior staircase with an arcade that allows access to the building only from the second floor. Though Viterbo was heavily damaged by bombings during WWII, several gorgeous palazzi survive. The best example is the 14th century Casa Poscia. This palazzo has an interesting history. It was once the home of the most beautiful girl in Viterbo and constantly surrounded by young men hoping to catch a glimpse of her!

13th century Palazzo Gatti

The austere Romanesque church of Santa Maria Nuova was constructed in 1080 and is one of the oldest churches in Viterbo. Santa Maria Nuova was the only church that wasn't destroyed in the WWII bombings of 1944!

Gorgeous frescoes!

The 14th century Palazzo Farnese

After leaving Santa Maria Nuova, Chad and I walked past the Piazza de Gesu, named after the Jesuit church on one side. This piazza actually had quite an interesting story, in 1271 Eleanor of Aquitaine's grandson, Guy de Montfort and his brother Simon murdered Henry of Cornwall as he prayed inside the Jesuit church. They killed Henry to avenge the deaths of de Montfort's father and brother at the battle of Evesham. The two brothers were then excommunicated, and Guy de Montfort even received a mention in Dante's Inferno, where in the XII canto, Guy de Montfort resided in the river of boiling blood in the seventh circle of Hell!

From the Piazza de Gesu, we continued on to the Cathedral quarter passing the gorgeous 14th century Palazzo Farnese.

The large blocks of stone are recycled from the original Etruscan wall!

Papal palace

Courtyard of the papal palace

The Duomo di San Lorenzo and the papal palace occupy a huge complex on the southern side of Viterbo. Though the papal palace is considered the historical and architectural jewel of Viterbo, when taken together with he Duomo, the whole complex is spectacular! Work began in 1255 on the papal palace, and Clement IV was the first pope to live in residence.

Spectacular view from the papal palace courtyard

Tower in the pilgrim section of town strung up with Christmas lights!

Gorgeous square in the pilgrim section of town!

Across the courtyard is the Duomo. This is a Romanesque building with a renaissance facade. The 14th-century black and white bell tower attached is in beautiful Tuscan-Gothic style. The Duomo was actually built over a Roman temple that worshiped Hercules!

Viterbo, like many Italian cities, sports a plethora of medieval towers. Many were built in the second half of the 11th century. They were originally used as strongholds though soon became symbols of power for affluent families. In Viterbo's heyday, there were as many as 197 towers in the city!! In the pilgrim district, the oldest section of Viterbo still perfectly intact, there are still many towers.

Kitty asks for attention

Chad gets up and walks away. Devon sits down and gives attention.

Kitty looks at Chad imploringly

Chad looks at kitty in barely disguised revulsion

Early the next day we continued on our route, heart, and minds set on Rome! We intended to walk a very long way into Sutri that night. After leaving Viterbo, we quickly entered a forest and enjoyed a little bit of rugged walking until we entered the small town of San Martino al Cimino.

Trekking under downed trees

After a restful day of sight seeing Chad and I had our first taste of Italian sushi! We were craving some Asian food after a month, and a half of pasta and pizza and so walked down the hill to a sushi restaurant that was quite reasonably priced and feasted on rice and fish!

Around mid morning we made it to San Martino al Cimino, so named after the huge Gothic abbey of San Martino. In the 13th century the village built up around the Cistercian abbey of San Martino and in the 17th century, the grand Palazzo Doria Pamphili was built just next to the abbey. Today these two grand stone structures are the focal points of the little town. The shape of the town is incredible! You can see in an aerial photograph that the entire town is built within a tight oval shaped wall with entrances into the town only at a few breaks in the wall.

San Martino al Cimino- the abbey and palazzo are the two big buildings on the right

Entering the town behind the abbey

Grand facade of the abbey

The inside reminded me of all the Gothic churches in France

Lake Vico

Water fountain in the picnic area

After leaving San Martino refreshed with provisions and with caffeine coursing through our systems, we continued up a hill back into the forest. We reached the edge of a caldera that had a small lake within and decided to walk around the outskirts of that. It was a beautiful wooded area with green leafy trees and a lovely path along the slope of the caldera. There were lots of signs of the wild pigs and apparently Chad saw a few run across our path in front of us, but I don't know if I believe him as I didn't see anything...

Late in the afternoon, we reached a lovely picnic area where there were tons of people on tour together eating. We sat down and started eating lunch but unfortunately the rain started and all the people left. We ended up making a small fire in one of the grates to warm ourselves up before continuing on our way.

With the clouds and winter setting in the sun was setting close to five at night so we realized we wouldn't be making it to Sutri and instead started looking for a camp site to set up for the night. We finally found one in an orchard, and after setting up, we walked to a café in a town close by and ate a hot meal before retiring for the night. It rained hard all that night and was very cold!

Our post for the night- we rested and enjoyed pasta, hot chocolate, and beer!

We woke early to cloudy but dry skies and walked the rest of the way to Sutri where we sat and enjoyed some coffee and croissants. Sutri is a cute and quaint medieval walled town, and I wish we had had more time to explore there!

Sutri was a much sought after location by the Etruscans and Romans being easily defendable perched on top of a tufa hill. Sutri retained its importance during the Medieval period as it was located right on the Via Cassia and one of the Via Francigena routes to Rome. Today it is a popular tourist destination due to its Etruscan necropolis, Roman amphitheater and numerous remains in the tufa rocks.

The medieval town of Sutri grew up during the 12th century. The town soon spread due to the traffic of the Via Francigena. It was fortified to provide protection and became important enough to require six hospitals, twelve hospices and fifteen churches to accommodate pilgrims and immigrants! Sutri started declining in the 15th century after siege, fire and flooding effectively destroyed the lower medieval town.

Sutri atop a tufa hill

Porta Vecchia

Remnants of roofs and chimneys from the medieval town at the base of the hill

The remains of roofs, windows, doorways, floors and chimneys!!

Inside the mithraeum, there are medieval frescoes depicting the Madonna with the saints Christopher and Michael of Gargano. Unfortunately, the mithraeum was closed and we didn't have any extra time to wait for it to open so I couldn't go in and explore :(

Frescoes inside the church

Finally, we made it over to the far end where the remains of a Roman amphitheater could be seen. This amphitheater was a rather small one but still beautiful and can be dated from sometime between the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD. It was only open for tours and the next one wasn't for a few hours so, alas, we couldn't go inside and explore the amphitheater either!

Entrance to the Roman amphitheater

Leaving the amphitheater, we continued on our way walking past another long wall of Etruscan tombs dug into the tufa rock walls! These were beautiful and some entrances were gorgeously ornate!
The necropolis of Sutri is one of the best examples of Roman-Etruscan era rock tombs of and stretch for 180 meters along the high tufa rock wall. Today about 64 tombs are visible. These were already looted of their treasures in the early Middle Ages and since then they have been used for stables and storehouses, even up until the beginning of this century!! This necropolis was in use for a long period of time as the tombs hold a variety of niches for cremated remains, bodily remains and a mix of the two within the same tomb!

A study of faces: when a history nerd drags her partner through an Etruscan necropolis for an hour

A little 15th century church on the outskirts of Monterosi

The 3rd century A.D. Via Amerina crossed our path!

Stiff climb into Campagnano di Roma

After walking down from the old town we crossing the main road to the archeological area. This was amazing! Much of this tufa had been carved for use as Etruscan tombs, and later used as medieval churches, dwellings and shops! There is even a mithraeum-- an underground church that was built inside a crypt originally for the worship of Mithras. The crypt was eventually converted into a cave church dedicated to the Madonna.

Chad and I walked around the large tufa hill exploring all the remnants of past occupants. It was such a fascinating place! While exploring the tufa hill, I'd picture where things would have been, whether it had once been a home or business. What would have occupied these empty walls of tufa with only scratches and chunks of the wall missing to tell us??

From Sutri we walked for the rest of the day up and down hills, through fields and small forests and along a river. Just after dusk, we climbed up a very steep hill and into the town of Campagnano di Roma.

Caves in the tufa of Campagnano di Roma

The head of the pig

After an hour the fog dissipated and we marched through rainstorms all day. The scenery was quite lush and beautiful in this area.

Yup, it's raining...

Via Francigena paving stone

An Etruscan quarry

The route through the archeological area had many signs with information on the sites which I found very interesting. Digs within the Campetti ("villa") have found that this area outside of Rome has had almost uninterrupted occupation since the Iron Age! During Prehistoric times the site was occupied by a group of huts which were replaced during the Etruscan period by buildings made from tuff blocks. The site then changed its function to a sacred one. From the late 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD it remained a sacred area and was renovated into a complex of civil and sacred thermal bath.

Villa Campetti

So many signs!

We spent the night in a community center and woke up early for our second to last day of walking! It ended up being a very wet and rainy day during our walk into La Storta. As we left Campagnano, we walked through a market and stopped to get porchetta sandwiches from a cart. These were the most hearty and delicious sandwiches! Definitely what we needed during a wet and soggy march all day!

The beginning of our walk was through very thick fog as we climbed up a hill.

Finally, towards the end of our day, we entered a huge archeological zone. This area was so interesting! The path was fenced so that we couldn't disturb anything, and though we couldn't see too much in the way of the archeological finds we still saw an Etruscan quarry and more tombs! There were temples and a villa just out of sight!

After leaving the archeological area, we had a quick walk through the outskirts of La Storta before we reached the abbey were we would be staying for our last night on the pilgrimage!

Chad with his tiny poncho

Walking to dinner

That night it poured down rain as we walked to dinner! We celebrated our last evening on the road with a Magnum ice cream for me and a beer for Chad!

MMMMMMM sparkly silver ice cream!

Waking Chad up for our last day of walking!!

In a truly auspicious turn of events, we set out on our last morning to sunny skies! There was no rain nor even a hint of mist! Our walk was pretty short that day, only about twenty kilometers but unluckily, the first ten of those kilometers were along a very busy highway leading into Rome.

Ready to walk into Rome!

Our first glimpse of Rome from the nature reserve of Monte Mario

We woke up bright and early for our last day of walking into Rome! The days were getting so short by this time! The sun would rise would at 7 and set at 4:45! It's especially crazy to think that five months ago when I began this pilgrimage, the sun rose at 6 in the morning and didn't set until 9!

About two hours in we turned off the main road and into the Monte Mario nature reserve. This beautiful park was the perfect segue into the city. From the southernmost edge of the hill, we caught our first glimpse of the city of Rome and the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica!

St Peter's Basilica

Our final steps

Though I have been to Rome several times before, never has the sight of this ancient city been as beautiful and meaningful as it did to me in that moment. The five month walk leading up to this moment would forever change my perception of the city. I was so ecstatic and incredulous I couldn't fathom that the end of my journey was only a few short kilometers from my feet!

We left the park and descended into the city itself. The fastest route to St Peter's actually cut into the Vatican City sideways so I opted to enter by a more circuitous route crossing and recrossing the Tiber River so that I could enter the Vatican from the front and between it's two arms!

As we walked through the city, it felt like an out of body experience. I just couldn't fathom that I had finally made it!

St Peter's square was actually very busy as we had timed our walk so that we finished in Rome on the last day of the Jubilee year. There were hundreds of people in the square from all different nations, taking pictures and waving flags!

Pure joy!

Our official testimoniums!

The convent garden with an orange tree!

Our feet washing ceremony

Pilgrim sticks left for another pilgrim to use!

We decided to get our testimoniums and find our accommodation and then visit St Peter's the next day since it was so crowded.

We stayed at a beautiful convent in Trastevere and chatted with the two volunteers who were working there. That evening we had a feet washing ceremony to celebrate our pilgrim journey.

While we were there, I saw many relics from pilgrims I had met along my route. Marie, the sweet German girl, made it to Rome about a week before us. I found her walking staff and conch shell in the convent. Also on the pilgrim board, I saw a postcard from Brigitte and Francois Cuvellette from Chalons-en-Champagne!

Marie- Canterbury to Rome 2016

Marie's conch shell!

Brigitte and Francois Cuvellete

Pilgrim board

We made the most of our two rest days in Rome before jetting back to America for Thanksgiving. We visited the Vatican Museum, St Peter's Basilica, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain the Parthenon as well as the seven pilgrim churches of Rome... but that's for another post ;)

St Peter's Basilica

Shoutout to "The Butcher" of Piacenza- Chad's favorite memory of our trip!

The Colosseum

Gelato from Giolittis!

Trevi Fountain

I couldn't really fathom that my journey was over. Walking each day had become my reality and I couldn't picture going home and returning to daily life in the States. The whole experience was as incredible as I imagined it would be. I walked in the footsteps of all those precocious medieval people whom I've studied for years. While the times are different, I think I grew to understand a little of the mindset of a pilgrim. Naturally, a pilgrimage is an incredibly personal experience and each person finds different aspects meaningful to them.

When I began this pilgrimage, I wanted to do it as closely to the "medieval experience" as possible in order to understand what their experience would have felt like. Who's to say what that experience meant for them? I certainly can't but at the beginning, I thought it meant walking each day and trying to live as frugally as possible. I found this strategy only served to tire me out and frustrate me--- my shoes certainly didn't help. But as the days grew shorter and the temperatures cooler, I found myself reveling in each day's walk. Yes my backpack was heavy and my knee hurt, but I felt incredibly happy to be doing this.

In the last month, I remember examining my new mindset. I felt like I had been walking forever and not long enough at the same time. I felt alive and at ease. Time did feel like it was standing still. I wondered if I might change during an experience such as this and I think to some extent I did. Not enough that another might notice, but I find myself enjoying "the moment" a little bit more, worrying about the future a little bit less, and seeing luxuries where I once saw everyday items. One thing for sure is that I grew to love this pilgrimage!

I now say farewell to all of you. Thank you for reading my blog and I hope some of you consider walking along this or another route someday. I am already planning another similar journey that I hope to pursue in the next few years. If it gets off the ground, I'll be sure and write about it here.


Until then, "Buon Camino!"



As a little comic relief, I thought I should post Chad and my US customs photos from our return... Let's just say that the flash surprised me :)