Bolsena to Montefiascone

Anne had another 8am work call, so I took the bags down and had the breakfast room to myself. It ran the gamut from cakes up to cereal and yoghurt, then hit a wall. But still good enough...

We heard the forecast had changed to rain in the afternoon, so we were looking at old Bolsena again by 9am, then heading up the hills alone. Cool, cloudy, but a path through woods, vineyards and olive groves, with frequent glimpses down to the lake. 16.9km of Via Francigena track is about 18km once you add the distance to the start point, and the odd excursion on the way, although the big diversion on the way today was an archaeological park that was the site of Etruscan and prior civilisation graves and structures. We were overtaken by some Americans we had seen often on the way, and a few km before Montefiascone, we caught up with two Australians whom we'd also often seen - the ones who started in Canterbury 4 months ago.

Montefiascone is where the popes used to (ie perhaps up to 800 years ago) come for summer. It is about 100km north of Rome, overlooking a lake, and has a massive residence of rock. There is a rebuilt church at the 100km point that was mentioned in around 872. Now it has a seminary too, as well as an enormous, 1519, mosque-shaped Renaissance Cathedral of Santa Margherita, which has under it the crypt of St Lucia Filippini, in its own special church. Outside the old city is the huge church of San Flaviano, a 17th C Romanesque temple, with frescoes all round. It is two churches, one upon the other but in opposite directions, and with a facade built in 1262.

We arrived at the hotel, which is on a cobbled street leading up from the city's main gate, around 2pm, after looking at churches and sites on the way. Soon after, it poured. The rain stopped around 4;30, but low cloud clung to the town: Halloween in a misty, 600 yo medieval village would be quite something. We walked around the town in the semi-dark, saw the crypt (only us and St Lucia (incl head) present), and hoped the clouds would lift by morning because the old papal palace and the views down to the lake should be stunning in sunlight.

The hotel is good: very spacious room on the 4th floor overlooking the ancient, single-lane main street, with the massive Church of Divine Love (1580 - now part of an Augustinian nunnery) across the road and down a bit, but with a facade that looks much the same as the hotel and other buildings. Apparently churches were identified by just a green door, a rose window and a Gothic portal.

Dinner is outsourced to Dante's restaurant, which is quite close.

29,014 steps, 23.1 km and 89 fights. Tomorrow's walk is even shorter, and we then spend two nights in Viterbo. A friend from Sydney University in 1975 (Adam Harper) has a farmhouse near Viterbo. We will see him and his Italian wife for lunch on Saturday, and he is going to walk the first two stages south from Viterbo with us.Read more