Oct 4, 2023, Spoleto to Pontuglia
I wasn't able to find a place to stay at Caselli, the nominal end of today's stage. Looking at Booking.com I was able to find a place on Booking.com for €78 that was listed in Scheggino, about a mile and a half off our route. It was an apartment called "La Raccolta". However, when I looked closely at its location, I was delighted to realize that it wasn't actually in Scheggino it was just a few hundred feet off the cammino in the hamlet of Pontuglia.
Leaving Spoleto we had to make a significant detour because the Ponte delle Torri was in disrepair. We ended up hiking for a while with an Italian guy, who was living and working in London, and a couple of his English friends. They pointed out walnut trees to us so we entertained ourselves for a while picking and eating fresh walnuts.
At Sensati, in a small church, we found an Italian guy who spoke perfect English was living there. He'd repaired a broken font and had also "decorated" a nearby area, painted rocks, etc. One man's decoration could be another man's graffiti just like one man's garbage could be another man's treasure. I wasn't overly impressed. I thought less would have been more and it was an intrusion into nature.
We continued. La Raccolta turned out to be a real gem. It was fabulous and must have been recently modernised. Everything looked new. We never did meet the owner but a neighbour showed us into the apartment where the owner had left beer, wine, pasta, and sauce for us so we could make dinner. We were carrying a little food, having made it a habit to carry at least one night's food, just to be safe. We were all set.
It was early afternoon when we reached La Raccolta so Patsy and I went exploring. There wasn't much to see, a small church (there's always a church) and a few other residences. Immediately outside La Raccolta was a small pond with some ducks. It was an oasis.
Oct 5, 2023, Pontuglia to Arrone
Our alarms went off at 6 am. We left at 7 but it was cold so I headed out wearing long pants, my long-sleeve shirt, and fleece top.
It was almost all road-walking today on a mix of paved and gravel roads but the roads were mostly quiet. The only excitement was when we stopped to take a break at the small town of Ferentillo. We watched what appeared to be a helicopter rescue from the top of a cliff.
I'd found it much easier to locate lodging in Arrone. On Booking.com I reserved "Cuore del Castello" (the heart of the castle) for €72. This apartment was located in the old castle on the hill above the town of Arrone. Upon reaching Arrone we had to climb the hill in the middle of town to reach our lodging but this place was fabulous. It had a fully-equipped kitchen and a commanding view over the surrounding countryside.
After dropping off our backpacks at the apartment we walked to the nearby Conad market where I bought a packet of fresh rabbit already chopped up.
Back at Cuore del Castello, Patsy and I went walking around the fort and the San Giovanni church that dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, respectively.
For dinner I made one of my favourites, "Coniglio alle prene" in Italian, "Lapin aux pruneaux" in French (rabbit baked in a rich wine and prune sauce with shallots). To accompany the rabbit I made roast potatoes and steamed zucchini. Mmm, it was so good! I was in heaven.
Oct 6, 2023, Arrone to Piediluco
I called direct to the Hotel Miralago (view of the lake) to reserve a room for tonight. They even gave me a generous pilgrim discount and the price (€80, perhaps, but I neglected to make a note of it) even included breakfast.
We managed to tear ourselves away from the castle at 7 am. It was still cold so again I started out wearing long pants, long-sleeve shirt, and my fleece jacket.
Leaving the hill castle, we wound our way around another hill and walked along a valley through which ran the Nera river. On the other side of the valley were more fortified hill towns. These towns all arose during the Middle Ages, each one had a central church and a surrounding wall. I wonder whether they fought each other or if they had a common enemy?
We arrived at a junction from which one path headed to the bottom and the other to the top of the 165 m-high Cascate della Marmore, billed as the largest man-made waterfall in the world.
The waterfall was engineered in the 15-16th centuries to divert a river that was causing repeated, destructive flooding. Now the water is harnessed for hydroelectric power and only released to the waterfall twice a day. It's a tourist attraction and there's a €12 per person fee to see the falls in action.
Hotel Miralago was very pleasant but not as nice as the apartments we'd enjoyed the previous two nights. Large hotels are just too impersonal.
29 мар 2024
