• La Francigena
    La Chiesa si San Francisco, consecrated in 1149 AD.
    La Chiesa si San Francisco, consecrated in 1149 AD.That's about the speed I move up the steep hills.The view from Acquapendente's summit.Beware these vicious beastsThe gate entering the town, after an already steep 1 km climbThe gate from the opposite side.

    Stage 13: Radicofani to Acquapendente

    October 8 in Italy 🌧 22 °C

    22.8 kilometers
    Elevation gain/loss: 450m/854m
    Steps: 30,918
    Total distance traveled: 243.8km
    Distance to Rome: 167.4

    It had to happen. So far, the weather gods have been very kind to us. We hadn't seen a single drop of rain on the previous twelve stages. That all came to a screeching halt today. Just before setting out at around 7:00, we saw flashes of far off lightning, and heard rumbles of distant thunder. It had rained quite hard late last night, but as we started today's hike, there was nothing falling from the sky.

    Sadly, the low cloud cover obscured what has been described as the most scenic part of La Francigena, although we managed to see some of it a little later on.

    The rain held off for about an hour, but then the heavens opened with a vengeance. I barely had time to put on my rain cape before the rain came down in torrents for about thirty minutes. It continued on and off until about the 10 kilometer mark when the sun finally popped through the clouds and stayed with us for the rest of the day.

    Today was the second longest distance we'll travel in a day, just over twenty-four kilometers. We started out with a fairly steep eight kilometer descent from Radicofani before the trail leveled off. It was a long, but relatively easy walk, except for the last 1.3 km, which was a very steep uphill climb, cruelly placed, considering my old legs had already carried me twenty-three kilometers.

    We didn’t see any other pilgrims today as La Francigena carried us out of Tuscany. There were a few sheep, some cows, and, at our 15 km rest stop, two terrifyingly vicious looking canines. The "Beware of the Dog" sign posted on the fence warned us to steer clear of these two Marremano-Abruzzese Sheepdogs. They are native to this region, and serve as livestock guardians. They are indeed vicious and powerful beasts when dealing with threats to their flock or herd, but these two came to the fence with tails wagging and smiling faces, so it was kinda hard to take the sign seriously.    Read more