Cammino di San Francesco
In September 2019, Patsy and I walked from Florence to Assisi at a breakneck pace because we were running short of time before our pre-booked flight back to the UK. This year, 2023, we decided to repeat this first part but now walk all the way to Rome and have my brother, Ken who is 4 years my junior, join us.
Sep 10, 2023, Stage 1
We left Florence at 6 am followed the Arno river. We're using the Cicerone Press guide and had observed that the associated GPX track for the first day's walk is markedly different from the written and pictured description in the guidebook. In 2019 we followed the GPX track but this time we followed the written description because it's a whole lot easier. This was important because it was going to be very hot, a 33°C high.
Arriving at Pontassieve we took a long break in the shade then went to the large Co-op that stays open until 1.30 pm on Sundays. We stocked up with provisions, including for dinner.
Stefano, our host at "Sosta al Capitano" said we could check in at 2 pm so we climbed the short, steep hill to his place. Breakfast was scheduled for 8 am with no possibility of it being earlier.
Ken was exhausted and promptly fell asleep in our shared bedroom, leaving Patsy and me to figure out what to do tomorrow. I discovered there was a bus that ran from Pontassieve to Consuma, the end of tomorrow's stage, that passed through Diacetto, an intermediate point about halfway up tomorrow's 3,000' climb.
I installed the Autolinee Toscana (AT) bus app and created an account and bought tickets for all three of us, Ken all the way to Consuma, and Patsy and me to Diacceto.
Sep 11, 2023, Stage 2
Breakfast was good, with cheese, ham, yoghurt, cappuccino, bread, etc. Stefano said the bread was his own and it was sourdough.
We caught the 9:57 bus that actually came at around 10:10. It was only a 15-minute ride to Diacceto but it saved an awfully hot hike. Ken and I had both installed the "Life 360" app so we could track each other. He made a beeline to Hotel Miramonte and they let him into the room when he arrived. We believe he slept some more.
Meanwhile, Patsy and I took our time and stopped for a long coffee break when we came to a covered picnic table and swinging chair adjacent to a couple of houses.
In Consuma, we were surprised to find the cafe/deli that we'd enjoyed visiting in 2019 closed. It was scheduled to reopen in two days. Everything in Consuma was closed. We made our way to the hotel where we met Ken in the lobby, checked in, then went to the bar for a beer.
We ate dinner at the hotel's restaurant. €20 each for a pilgrim meal consisting of 1/2 litre of water, 1/4 litre of wine, a pasta dish, a meat dish, then dessert. They even accommodated Ken's request for a vegetarian dinner. The meal wasn't great.
We shared a room with 3 beds. Because Consuma is situated at 3,500', there was no A/C. Ken is terribly allergic to insect bites so we had to keep the windows shut. For the following night in Stia, I booked a €180 family suite with two bedrooms, in Albergo Falterona.
Sep 12, 2023, Stage 3
We'd arranged for breakfast at 6:30 but it was dismal, consisting solely of a croissant, juice, and two cappuccinos. It's surprising, but the cappuccinos we enjoyed in Montenegro and Albania have been better than the cappuccinos in Italy.
We set off at 7:30. Not long after starting out we met Jim and Carol, a couple about our same age from Pennsylvania on a trip organized by Sandy Brown (Cicerone Press author). They were doing the same trip as us and had allocated the same amount of time.
Since we had plenty of time, we took a 10-minute detour off-route to check out Castel Castagnaio, "castle of the chestnuts". The ruined castle was secured behind a locked gate so we made coffees and took a break in the shade below the castle.
Approaching Stia, we caught up with Jim and Carol and directed them to a shorter path to the town of Stia, the route recommended by Sandy Brown, instead of following the arrows on the signposts. Then we followed another different path, this one along the River Arno instead of down the paved road.
At the end of the river path, we walked through an adventure park. We stopped for another coffee break and watched people navigate the course.
What about tomorrow night? I called Eremo Camaldoli. The woman to whom I spoke didn’t speak English so we conversed in French. We could have stayed there but there were no facilities other than beds. I called the Camaldoli monastery but was told there were no beds available there either.
I ended up booking a 3-bed room in Hotel dei Baroni, just 3 km down the trail/road after the Eremo and adjacent to the monastery.
There was a super little grocery store, "Borgo Vecchio", just around the corner from the hotel. We bought some fabulous cheese here. So good, in fact, that I went back and bought another quarter kilo. The woman was kind enough to give me some salt. We made our own pasta dinner.