Via Francigena - Background, and getting to Rome (and beyond)

 Background

The Via Francigena is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from Canterbury, through France and Switzerland, to Rome, and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. It was known in Italy as the "Via Francigena" ("the road that comes from France") or the "Via Romea Francigena" ("the road to Rome that comes from France"). In medieval times it was an important road and pilgrimage route for those wishing to visit the Holy See and the tombs of the apostles of Peter and Paul.

 

The 2000km long route (to Rome) has been gaining popularity in the last 20 years, thanks partly to the Italian Government investing in its infrastructure, and partly due to walkers/pilgrims looking for an alternative to the exponentially busier Camino de Santiago, in Spain. More background can be gained from the link below

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181203-a-1000-year-old-road-lost-to-time

 

Why do the Via Francigena?

I’ll be honest, this year I wanted to do the Camino Portuguese coastal route from Porto to Santiago (it takes c14 days), but Cate wanted a change from ending in Spain. So that was it; no bathing and beaches along the way for me! We’d seen the second BBC series of Pilgrimage, which had taken in parts of the Via Francigena, so we thought we’d look into that. Although there is information on the web about it, proper decent practical information was near impossible to find. By, ”practical”, I mean what is the infrastructure like along the way (cafés, food. Hostels, hotels, route-markers, baggage transfer etc). In short, all the things we were very confident and knowledgeable about in Spain. I absolutely prefer to my own thing, but it was becoming clear that it would be pretty hard. Like the Camino, there are several companies who offer organised, but self-guided trips – i.e. they book the hotels, baggage transfer, and supply relatively detailed route instructions.

We found a company that offered to sort the “last 100km”, so with a slightly heavy heart booked with them. A heavy heart, as it’s not our usual style; plus doing just the last 100km felt a bit like cheating. Furthermore, you just know that you are paying slightly over the odds for it. Nevertheless, this would give us a great “tester” of the Via, and could shape whether or not we would come back for more; ideally self-organised.

Prior to going we did a few longer walks of c9-10 miles, but to be honest, neither of us felt entirely “match fit” for this trip. Moreover, my right knee had started to become very painful in the last couple of weeks before leaving. I’d been doing “Couch to 5k” as well as a fair amount of walking. Perhaps it was just over-use. I’d tried to play the situation down to Cate, but deep down I was very concerned it would scupper this trip.

 

Friday 20^th September - Day Zero – getting to Montefiascone

The attractive hillside town of Montefiascone marks the beginning of the final 100km to be walked to get to Rome. In particular, St. Peter’s in the Vatican. With a flight leaving Heathrow at 11.45, getting to Montefiascone before last check-in at our hotel for 19.30 was always going to be a bit tight. Thanks to the relatively new Coachway near the M40 junction, coaches from the “Oxford Airline” service now stop there, and offer a regular, and very cost-effective way of getting to Heathrow. £28 return for the two of us, versus c£100 for taxis, made it the obvious option. And I have to say that it was a very good experience all round – obviously, no bias there, as it’s an Oxford thing!

 

We flight boarded on time, but about 5 minutes before departure time the Captain warned that we were being delayed due "an adverse weather event in the south of England". An hour late, we pushed back and headed south, arriving at Fiumicino only 20 minutes late. We subsequently found out that the adverse weather event was, in fact, a tornado in Hampshire! By the time we’d got through the formalities and retrieved our bags it was clear that the earliest we’d get to Montefiascone station (two miles out of the town itself) would be 8.30pm. Bugger! An email was sent to our Company’s local representative, explaining our predicament, and requesting for them to ask about keeping check-in open. Furthermore, could they possibly see if they could book a taxi for us from the station?

 

Using the helpful Trenitalia App, train tickets were booked for us to get to Montefiascone, with changes at Roma Termini, and Orte. With a 21-minute transfer window at Termini (Rome’s main station), all should be smooth from herein. Our train arrived at Termini 7 minutes late, but 14 minutes would be fine. Of course, by now it was rush hour time, so we had to fight our way across the station between the two platforms that were furthest apart. This was not a time to be taking prisoners, and our rucksacks helped us to bludgeon our way. To add to the fun, our train to Orte was not simply on “platform 1”, but “platform 1 East”. That was about 400 metres further down platform 1! We got to our train with a couple of minutes to spare, feeling very flustered, and dripping with sweat. Battling through the crowds with 12 kilograms on your back and a further 4kg in a day rucksack was bloody unpleasant (polite version!).

The rest of the journey proved to be uneventful. Thanks to the excellent local agent, a taxi was waiting to meet us, and we arrived at the hotel at 20.45. We dropped our bags off and shot out quickly to get something to eat. After eating we had a short wander around part of Montefiascone, and it certainly looked very pretty; just what you’d expect from an ancient hillside town.