Wednesday, July 19, 2023: On Wednesday morning, Darina left Acquapendente to walk the whole stage to Bolsena at 5 a.m., while I left at 6 a.m. to catch the 6:25 bus to San Lorenzo Nuovo, skipping about half of the 23.2 km stage. I quickly arrived in the town and went straight to the bar where I had my regular cappuccino and bought a rather stale prosciutto & cheese panino to take with me to Bolsena, since there were no services for 12km.
I had decided I would send my backpack ahead with Bags-Free, which I had used periodically for 20 euros per stage. This time I was informed that the cost for stages from Radicofani and Acquapendente to Rome was 30€ per stage! It was highway robbery compared to the Camino’s 5€/stage. But a desperate person is willing to spend what is necessary, and I had become desperate for ways to make this walk a little less miserable.
I ran into Pasquale, the French man who’d taken the bus with Darina yesterday, in the cafe. He told me that luckily it was flat to Bolsena, but I had read otherwise. I was proved to be right. He said he’d left Acquapendente at 4:50 am, around the same time as Darina, but he’d mysteriously arrived an hour before she did.
He told me he was walking to Bolsena today. He’d been “walking” since the Great Bernard Pass, but if he were that fast to be an hour ahead of Darina, he would surely have passed me today as I walked from San Lorenzo Nuovo to Bolsena. As it was, I barely saw a soul, not even him.
I left the town on my own but of course couldn’t go inside the Church of San Lorenzo Martire because it was closed so early in the morning. Apparently a 12th-century Byzantine cross was moved from the lower town and now stands in the 18th century church.
The original settlement at San Lorenzo alle Grotte (“San Lorenzo at the Caves”) was known since Etruscan times near caves set in the tall ridge. Due to lack of trade along the route and the presence of malaria, the town and highway were relocated in 1774 to the present location on the tall bluff above the shore of Lago di Bolsena, giving “San Lorenzo Nuovo” a new life but eliminating the medieval and Renaissance buildings that would have made it a charming town today.
After leaving San Lorenzo Nuovo, a view opened up to Lago di Bolsena. At 114 square kilometers, Lago di Bolsena is Europe’s largest volcanic lake. Between 100,000-200,000 years ago, successive volcanic eruptions led to the collapse of the earth’s crust in the volcano’s caldera, forming the lake and its two islands.Underground springs and stormwater runoff fill the lake, which flows to the sea through the Marta River.
After the impressive overlook, I followed a grassy path behind homes onto a pleasant forested path of wildflowers and gentle birdsong that was nearly drowned out by screeching cicadas. I ascended the hillside then descended through the forest and then headed downhill by a tree farm.
I then climbed and climbed with occasional glimpses of the lake. I passed a huge reddish-brown quarry and then headed downhill with clearer views to the lake.
I traipsed through a large field with no shade that seemed to go on forever then descended along a beautiful part of the path with dense forest to my left and fields to the right (shady!). I turned left before a “wind farm,” which was just one big windmill.
Cristina at Agriturismo Riserva Montebello, where we would stay the night, had said there would be a sign on the Via Francigena for the place, somewhere north of Bolsena, but I never saw one. So I ended up in the town of Bolsena, meaning I’d have to backtrack and climb uphill to the Agriturismo.
The first place I saw was the Chiesa di San Salvatore, built in the early 20th century in a neo-Romanesque style. Of course, it wasn’t open when I walked past.
The Rocca Monaldeschi della Cervara sits at a prominent point above the town of Bolsena. The castle apparently dates back to 1156 when Adrian IV, because of the raids of Barbarossa, fortified centers on the Via Cassia.
I enjoyed a lentil soup lunch at I Sapori del Castello in Bolsena. The soup was very hot for such a hot day. Darina wrote to say she was 25 minutes away, so I waited until she arrived, tired after doing twice the distance I had. She ordered the same soup as I had and we relaxed in a slice of shade.
Darina was having trouble with a red spot on her neck that was itching and burning so she wanted to find a doctor. I said I would go ahead and walk to the Agriturismo before it got too hot.
It turned out the sign had never existed directly on the Via Francigena but had been on a curvy road way uphill from Bolsena. I trudged up the curvy winding road 2.1 km for 40 minutes in hot sun with cars whizzing by. It was dangerous and pure torture. Finally I saw the sign for the Riserva and though the sign said 150 meters my GPS said 600 meters. I stopped and collapsed on a patch of asphalt to catch my breath and drink water before climbing the rest of the way.
Finally I arrived and told Cristina there was no sign for the Agriturismo directly on the Via Francigena as she had told me and she said, “No, the sign is on the road.” I said, “I asked specifically if it was on the Francigena and you told me it was.” Here was an example of someone exaggerating their proximity to the path to lure unsuspecting guests. I was not happy.
I showered and did laundry but I hadn’t heard from Darina. Finally she called to ask if I could get someone from the Agriturismo to drive down to Bolsena to pick her up. I seriously doubted Cristina would be any help but she surprisingly asked a young worker there, Alessandro, to drive down to Bolsena. So Darina was able to avoid that horrid walk.
She told me the pharmacy had been closed but she had found a doctor for tourists who told her the spot on her neck was either an allergy or a virus. I thought it might be sun poisoning but who was I to say? Anyway, they prescribed some meds but the pharmacy was closed until much later that afternoon or 9 a.m. the next morning. Darina said she’d need to rearrange the schedule for a few days to make it to the pharmacy in the morning and to take a break from walking as the doctor told her not to walk in the sun for a few days. I was happy to accompany her on any bus she chose to take and to give up walking for a couple of days. 🙂
It was a lazy afternoon in the Agriturismo as it actually is a place to stay for people with cars who can go out and explore various places. There was nothing to do or see and dinner wasn’t until 8:00. There was a pool on the property but for some reason it had been drained and they were in the slow process of filling it up again. I looked at it longingly but to no avail. We wished we had stayed in Bolsena as it seemed a very nice town. We napped and went out for drinks at 6:30. Darina didn’t want to drink because of her virus but since they brought 2 glasses of wine, I drank them both.
We had a 3-course dinner at 8:00: Bruschetta with 4 different toppings, tagliatelle with cherry tomatoes and basil, and some kind of beef, which I didn’t eat as I don’t like meat, with overcooked green beans. They brought a dry heavy cake for dessert; I ate only a few bites. The dinner went on for a solid 2 hours and it was way too much food.
We decided we’d sleep in the next morning, eat breakfast, explore Bolsena and then take a bus to Montefiascone.
Steps: 25,724; Miles: 10.91. Day 10 Stage Walk: 7.46 miles, or 12.0km.
Weather: High 92°, Low 72°. Sunny.
The Via Francigena is an ancient road and pilgrimage route that runs from Canterbury, England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. In around 990, Archbishop Sigeric journeyed from Canterbury to Rome and back, but only documented his itinerary on the return journey, taken in 80 stages averaging about 12 miles (20 km) a day, for a total of some 1,100 miles (1,700 km).
This is the continuing saga of our attempt to walk the stages from Lucca to Rome, which are, in total, about 255.07 miles (410.5 km). Since we had to cut out stages due to time constraints, our actual goal was to walk 211.77 miles ( 340.8 km).
Running tally: (Day 10): 99.4 /211.77 miles (159.95/340.8 km).
This post is in response to Jo’s Monday Walk: Street Art struggles.
~ wander.essence ~ 
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