La Storta to Rome!
Sunday, August 16, 2026 I had said in the last post that La Storta hadn’t provided any outstanding photo opportunities when I arrived, but I was hoping there might be some in the morning. That didn’t happen. In fact, all the pilgrims I talked with after La Storta all commented on the fact that in […]
Campagnano di Roma to La Storta
Today’s walk was the last stage before arriving in Rome tomorrow (which I almost can’t believe!). I thought the walk might be more urban than rural since Campagnano is only 42km (26 miles) from Vatican City, but it turns out that Rome isn’t Houston, and the city doesn’t sprawl outward for 50 miles in all […]
Vetralla to Sutri and then to Campagnano di Roma (43km to Rome)
From Vetralla to Sutri I left yesterday morning at 5:00 a.m. not expecting much from the day other than a fair bit of climbing in the first 10km and getting another 25Km closer to Rome, but the Via Francigena surprised me with one of the best stages since crossing the Apennine Mountains. After a pretty […]
Montefiascone to Viterbo and Vetralla
It’s a joy to start a day’s walk through the pre-dawn streets of a medieval hilltop village as the sun begins to rise over the countryside below you. It’s an even greater joy when the day’s trail begins to follow a well-preserved stretch of original Roman road. In this case, the road was the the […]
Acquapendente to Bolsena (on a surprisingly beautiful lake) and then to Montefiascone
Acquapendente to Bolsena (24km) The first half of this walk was through fields of hay that had already been baled and fields of sunflowers almost ready to be harvested, while the second half (after the village of San Lorenzo Nuevo) was mainly on forest paths and a gravel road with regular views of Lake Bolsena, […]
Castigliona d’Orcia to Radicofani and Acquapendente
Leaving Castigliona d’Orcia at dawn had me switching from looking back at the fortress and the village on the hilltop and forward toward the sunrise over the valley below. Both were magical. A pilgrims’ rest stop and a good dog both showed up just when I needed them in the middle of nowhere. These abandoned […]
Siena to Quinciano, Torrenieri, Castiglione d’Orcia, and points in between (61km)
From Siena to Quinciano Between Siena and Quinciano (20km), the Tuscan countryside is beautiful, but it’s less dramatic than other places and most of the Via Francigena is on asphalt or gravel roads. It even passes a wrecking yard and other industrial uses, so it felt like a walk that mainly connected Siena to the […]
Colle di Val d’Elsa to Monteriggioni and then to Siena
The Via Francigena drops off the high bluff on which the historic center of Colle di Val d’Elsa is located and then takes you through the newer neighborhoods below the bluff. It then follows the Elsa River Path for 5km, which turned out to be one of the most beautiful stretches of the Via Francigena. […]
Gambassi Terme to San Gimignano and Colle di Val d’Elsa
The official stage from Gambassi Terme to San Gimignano is only 13.7km because San Gimignano is such a historic and architecturally significant stop on the Via Francigena that the stewards of the VF want to give you plenty of time to enjoy the city. I still got an early start, though, because I love taking […]
Lucca to Gambassi Terme
Lucca to Altopascio My last post said that the next one would be to San Miniato, but I’m going to include Gambassi Terme in this one because I took almost no photos on the first stage from Lucca to Altopascio. The Via Francigena was virtually all asphalt for that first stage, and it ran through […]