Today we went for a 4-hour hike along the Francigena. This is something we've been keen to do since learning about the Francigena. What is the Francigena, you ask! It is an ancient pilgrim route that connected Canterbury, England with Rome. Charlemagne took this route to be crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, around 800AD.
The route went from Rome up to Siena, and from there to France. This route was strategically developed, because to the east there were marshes and deadly malaria. To the west was the coast and pirates. So towns like Siena partly owe their success and history to the Francigena.
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| Follow the signs |
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| Our guide Lorenzo |
In later centuries, during the 12-1300's, pilgrims would walk this route to get to holy, mother Rome. There were special inns and hospitals set up for pilgrims enroute. At these Ospedales, they could stay for free and receive medical care. The pilgrims would need to walk 20-25 km to reach the next way-station. Luckily, for us we were only doing a small section, from Monteriggioni to Siena, about 9 km.
I hired a guide from a walking tour company. The wonderful and very knowledgable, Lorenzo, met us at the trail head. We felt that we needed a guide to prevent getting completely lost. Those of you who remember hiking through Provence, will sympathize with our concern that we would not find our way.
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| Thick red mud - "Burnt Siena |
At the beginning of our walk, the skies opened and the downpour was fierce. Suddenly this didn't seem like such a great idea. But Lorenzo kept us so entertained with anecdotes, facts and stories about the history, the politics, the geology, and even the plant life along this route. Bob's colleague's wife, Marianne had joined us and the 4 of us braved onwards.
One of the new things that Lorenzo taught us was soon all over our boots. Thick, sticky, sucking, heavy red mud! This is the very red soil that early painters prized for making the reddish colour, "sienna". It is only found around Monteriggioni, and we walked right through it.
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| Lorenzo shares his considerable knowledge |
The route took us through some lovely countryside, dotted with old castles and farmhouses. The rain stopped and the sun came out. Lorenzo explained that some of the castles and deserted villas we passed were from the changes in land use. With the decline of the ruling Longbards, who controlled the land, a merchant-nobility class rose and bought the land. The nobility didn't want to work the land themselves, so they allowed peasants to live on their land in villas that they built for them. In exchange the peasants had to "share" 50% of their crops with the landowner. These peasants were "sharecroppers" and this system of sharecropping existed in north and central Italy until the 1950s. At that time, the farmers were allowed to buy their farm villa, although many chose not to and left for the cities. Lorenzo's grandfather was a sharecropper, and his family chose to buy their villa and still own it.
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| looking for trail markers |
Many of us who stay in holiday villas or farm villas may actually be staying in the previous homes of peasant farmers who worked the land as sharecroppers.
Marianne had a keen eye for plants and spotted many wild orchids enroute. Many times we stopped to admire the plants and the views and the wonderful tuscan countryside.
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| A deserted sharcropper villa |
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| Wild orchids |
Four hours and 9 km later we congratulated ourselves for the trek, and thanked Lorenzo for such an memorable and pleasant day.
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