Today’s walk started with a beautiful path high above a narrow valley. This was probably the original pathway to Roccaporena, the tiny village where Margherita Lotti, Santa Rita, was born in 1381.
The walls of the gorge were quite steep and I could hear the babbling water of a stream far below. High above was a watch tower.
An impressive sight approaching Roccaporena is a church located on top of a large rocky outcrop. Rita is said to have regularly gone up there to pray.
Roccaporena is a tiny village but it gets a large number of visitors who come to see the places associated with Saint Rita’s life.
After a hot walk up an asphalt road, the remainder of todays walk was along a bush vehicle track.
There were pleasant views out over the surrounding hills.
Early in the afternoon I reached my accommodation which is an ‘agriturismo’ or a farm that also provides accommodation.
It was here that an Etruscan tomb was unearthed when a farmer was removing a mound of earth. Inside was the world’s best preserved ancient chariot. It ended up in Paris where it was purchased by J. P. Morgan and sent to New York. Some in Italy believe it was exported illegally.
Dinner at my agriturismo ‘Colle di Capitano’ was wonderful. After numerous antipasto dishes we had strascinati pasta and tasty pigeon.
Looks so nice and a mix of stunning mountains and villages. Hope the walks are not too difficult
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Nothing too hard so far but there’s a lot of climbing later in the walk with temperatures on the rise!
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Such a beautiful area Paul 😍
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Love all of your pictures! Is this a Camino of some sort? If so, what is it called? Just finished walking on the Norte in Spain and am ready to plan what’s next!
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Hi yes if you look at the first post in this series from Friday you’ll find an overview and a link to the website of the ‘Cammino di San Benedetto’ or The Way of Saint Benedict ‘ . If you haven’t walked in Italy before the most popular one is the Via Francigena which actually goes from Canterbury in England to Rome. It has the most infrastructure but I don’t know how many hostels have reopened after COVID. The Cammino di San Francesco is also popular . This walk has done donativo places but mostly B& Bs little hotels etc.
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What beautiful countryside Paul. That church is amazingly high! I’m vicariously enjoying your walk – glad you’re back on track.
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