Episode 6: The Way of the Gods

Episode 7

[00:00:00] Edo: Surrounded by nature on an ancient path trodden by Roman legions. We made our way up and down mountains named after Gods and goddesses crossing Italy's main mountain range, going from one artistic city, capital of the Renaissance to another, all while battling devastating blisters and blazing hot temperatures.

Come with us. Along the way of the gods.

[00:00:46] Anna: Hey Travelers. Welcome back to Go Far an Adventure podcast. I'm your host, Anna, and today Edo and I are excited to tell you about walking the Via Del Day or Way of the Gods. We actually did this hike two summers ago, but then we did other trips that we wanted to talk about and you know how life goes. But here it is, our episode on the Via Day.

The Via day is around a 130 kilometer or 80 mile hike. Over the Tuscanian app, mountain Range, beginning in Bologna in a Emilia Roman region, and crossing the mountains into Florence in Tuscany region. I was excited to put my hiking boots back on, put my big backpack on my back and get walking. Not that I wanted to stop taking bike trips, but I wanted to share a walk with Edo, 

[00:01:40] Edo: and I was anxious to try it out.

I had never gone on a multi-day hiking trip before, but ever since reading Lord of the Rings, as a teenager, I've always felt a desire to travel on foot and live my own adventures. It took around 15 years to actually get to do something, but it was totally worth the wait. The year before Anna and I spent a few days in the Dolomites with my family, and we really had it last.

I felt like the time had come for me to go on a long distance hike. I was ready to go far. We 

[00:02:13] Anna: started to do some research and walks that were close enough to our home city of Rome that we could reach easily by train at each end of the walk, and that had a somewhat organized route that we could follow.

Of course, we had both been to Florence and Bologna many times, but had never experienced walking between these two cities and certainly not walking over one of Italy's major chains of mountains. 

[00:02:38] Edo: The follows an ancient path that the ancient Romans and the Etruscans, an older population of Tuscany region used for trade and was later used by walkers and merchants during the Middle Ages.

It's named for the mountains that you cross over. Each named for an ancient pagan god or goddess goddesses, manzuk from the Latin monk, Jupiter. Venus and Monte was the Roman goddess of Atonement. It has an organized marked path with credentials that you can get stamped along the way. N BMBs and restaurants organized to accommodate hikers.

[00:03:21] Anna: It seemed like the perfect walk for EDOs first multi-day trekking experience. Looking back, I'm not sure if it was the best choice for a first hike. As there are parts of it that are challenging, but more on that later, the VI day guidebook and app recommends places to stay and eat at that are quite limited as the path passes through such tiny towns between the big cities of Bologna and Florence.

And I started booking them as soon as possible as we had planned to go during the most popular week for Italian summer vacation, al the day surrounding August 15th. Also, this was when Italy and most of the world was still in a semi lockdown situation and were unable to travel abroad for their summer holidays, which meant that there were even more people who were on outdoor trips in Italy.

I managed to book a place to sleep in every town that we could stop at or so I thought, 

[00:04:19] Edo: well, let's not give away too much right at the beginning. Suffice it to say that it's not really an adventure until something somewhere goes slightly wrong, be it leaving my water bottles at the bottom of a hill and realizing halfway up for getting my wallet in a bar by the sea.

Or in this case, well, you'll just have to listen on to find out. So as Anna said, we put on our backpacks and our boots, walked the short distance from our homes to the train station, and hopped on an early train to Florence. Once there we met up with my old friend Carlo, a very tall and very long-haired sirian, who's been living in Florence for years, who now works as an acrobatic gardener.

I swear that's the thing. Look it up. Whom I've nicknamed Carl Drago due to his striking resemblance to the Game of Thrones character. He took us out for breakfast, handed us the Via Yk credentials, that he was kind enough to pick up for us the day before. Took a couple of pictures of us in front of the Duo of Florence.

You can check those out on our Instagram page. Go our podcast, and waved us goodbye. 

[00:05:26] Anna: Day one of our way at the Gods was officially underway. Our first day was actually quite a bit challenging. Keep in mind that the way of the gods is meant to be walked from bologna to Florence. While we were actually going the opposite way, what was our first day was actually the last day in reverse for the majority of the walkers we met this and the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really make much of a difference since the elevation gain is the same in both directions.

You essentially go from sea level up over a mountain range and back down again. But psychologically it had pros and cons. 

[00:06:06] Edo: We've mentioned many times that we really don't like cycling or walking in and out of big cities, and this time was no exception. We began by walking a good quarter of the day's total distance inside the city of Florence.

Luckily, it was still quite early in the morning, so it wasn't too stifling yet, but the scenery wasn't that amazing. As soon as we got out of the city's beautiful historic center, After a little over an hour and six kilometers we start would would be one of the many ascents of that trip. We actually passed a ridge so high up that Leonardo DaVinci used it to test his flying machines off of.

He would've his friend jump off the side of Monte. We had to tackle the woods of Monte by going up a series of steep switchbacks. We only climbed 350 meters in around three kilometers, but according to our Strava records, some parts of the path reached a gradient of almost 20%. What made it funny was that we kept meeting people that came down the mountain on their last day with Florence in sight, having left from bologna, and we kept asking them how long to the top, and they would all reply, not much, just 20 more minutes, approximately.

Then we'd meet someone else around 10 minutes later, and they'd also say, you're about 20 minutes from the top and a couple more times after that longest 20 minutes of my life, let me tell you, it was definitely 

[00:07:34] Anna: a baptism of fire for Edo, especially in the Italian summer heat. The temperatures were way over 30 degrees Celsius, close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but the views made it more than worth it.

By that point, we were almost 10 kilometers in, around halfway through for the day. But we had another challenge ahead of us. After a very brief downhill section, we started climbing up another hill, a five kilometer ascent that took us up to 700 meters of elevation at the top of which a big grassy area where travelers like us could write messages on stones that were then set up to form a Karen.

There were some very interesting ones, like one that said that basically means in a colorful Italian way easy. My ass Edo felt more poetic and wrote down a modified version of a quote from Robert Frost. But we have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep. 

[00:08:39] Edo: We actually did have miles to go before we slapped.

Two and a half to be precise. After over eight hours on the road of which around four and a half were spent walking, we finally reached the small town of where we stayed at a nice restaurant hotel that served an amazing dinner with our bellies full. It was time to head over to bed. I was feeling a little off, but I just chalked it up to the fact that we had a very long day and I just went to bed without thinking too much about it.

After all, we had walked a little over 19 kilometers and scored almost 800 meters of elevation gain. Day two 

[00:09:18] Anna: began with a nice early breakfast, which to be fair was what we sorely needed. The dissent at the end of the first day brought us back down to around 400 meters of elevation. But to keep going, we had to climb another hill right at the beginning of the trail.

We set off bright and early in the morning and off we went up. Monte scenario, the plan for the day was to walk around 19 kilometers again, of which the first five were of pure uphill. We had five kilometers and 450 meters of elevation to go before we reach the top. Which translates to around a little over three miles and around 1500 feet.

For our Imperial listeners, we don't know about you, but we like to tackle these big challenges at the beginning of the day rather than later on you're generally fresh and well rested, and everything else seems easy in comparison. 

[00:10:12] Edo: That's because of general years, or at least it was in this case, at the top of the hills sits the sanctuary of MUN scenario.

Monastery built in 1235 by seven Noble Florentines who abandoned their life of wealth and comfort in favor of starting the order of the Aria, the Servants of Mary, otherwise known as the Surveyed Order. The seven holy founders, as they're now called, supposedly all had a vision of the Virgin Mary at the same time.

And decided to, in their own words, leave the world to better serve the Almighty God.

The monastery was then expanded throughout the years, up until the 19th century, and today it serves as a nice rest stop for pilgrims like us, and they make amazing sandwiches. That much I can tell you. 

[00:11:09] Anna: After a brief stop in the monastery and a visit to its church again, you can find these picks up on our Instagram.

We set off making our way down the mountain towards the little town of Taliaferro. That's when we knew that something was indeed wrong. This is as good a time as any to talk about gear and make sure to test everything in the right conditions before you set off an adventure like this one. 

[00:11:36] Edo: Anna is a seasoned adventurer and, well, I'm not, or at least I wasn't.

I made a huge mistake in this trip that almost cost us dearly. So this mistake that I made was that I didn't accurately test the gear that I was bringing with me on such a long trip. So as we mentioned earlier, we did spend a few days in the Dolomites the summer before, and I had bought a very nice pair of boots that I took on that, uh, mountain adventure.

So I thought I could use those same boots with the same socks that I've used the year before because they had served me well. What I failed to consider though was that that trip was fundamentally different because all we went on were day hikes. That didn't take that long. It definitely wasn't like one of those trips where you carry a heavy backpack on your back for a full day.

So what happened was that. My boots weren't really up to the task in that case, even though I did use them again later on in a, in another trip, and they worked just as fine. So it wasn't really the boots that were the problem. I found out the importance of wearing two pairs of socks. I know it might sound counterintuitive, but I actually read this on the R e I website.

Basically what had happened to me is that I was wearing standard run of the Mills Pongy socks that I bought from Under Armour. So they were actually quite expensive as well. And what had happened was that in the heat, my feet would sweat, and so the socks would get damp with sweat. And unfortunately then the sock itself would stick to the sides of the shoes.

And then once it got dried, it was really raspy like sandpaper. And so my foot. Would continually rub against the side of this ni now dry sock. And this caused me to develop some pretty serious blisters. So we decided at the end of the second day that I couldn't really tackle the third day of the, of the VI day, especially because it was supposed to be the hardest one.

And you know, with, uh, after an honest talk with Anna, we decided. We need to take a rest day, and so we just decided to skip that one. Sometimes 

[00:13:57] Anna: it's really hard to take a rest day, but it was what we had to do to stop the risk of perhaps an even worse injury for Edo. If you're doing a much longer walk, for example, the Cam Santiago in which you don't have a tight schedule to maintain, you can rest for a day or two to heal and then pick up where you stopped.

This is essential, especially with blisters, because the only way to heal them is to get rid of what made them happen in the first place. This usually means taking off your boots and relieving the pressure and or rubbing, in our case of walking the . The week of fe, we did not have the option to take a full day off or a day or two of rest as we had to reach our next stop where we thought

we had booked a place to stay. This meant that we would have to find another way to get to the next stop, pa. We figured out that we could take two buses, one from Pierre to Barbarino, then from Barbarino to PA Futa. While waiting on the unpredictable small town buses, we thought that we could relax, read, write, and help EDOs blisters heal.

[00:15:15] Edo: It certainly wasn't as relaxing as we had imagined. We had a cold drink and caught up on our journals and read at a cafe in the lovely square of Barbarino. We noticed the large coach style bus that would take us up to Pa Futa parked in the square, waiting for the supposed departure dime. The driver was smoking a cigarette inside of his closed bus.

We boarded the now smokey bus and had our choice of seats as we were the only ones on board. The driver began speeding up the steep, winding narrow mountain road, veering close to the guardrail at each turn. At one point I got up to adjust our backpacks to keep them from toppling over, and I was flung to the other side of the bus.

At this 

[00:16:03] Anna: point, I told him to sit down and put his seatbelt on. I used to ride huge coach buses up and down Mount Ouz for work, and I'm generally never scared in a vehicle, but I was actually fearing for our lives. And this whole time the driver is talking on his cell phone. I don't know if he had earbuds and a microphone or not.

I was too scared to find out. Needless to say, we were relieved to get off in Pa del Futa at over 900 meters above sea level and go check out the German military cemetery. 

[00:16:38] Edo: This is one of the largest German military cemeteries in Italy and contains over 30,000 graves. Let that sink in for a moment.

30,000 graves. It has a beautiful sculptural design on top of a hill with a beautiful view of the mountains all around. Reading the names, ages, and date of death of the soldiers. We noticed that most of them were between 20 and 25 years old, sent to die basically as the Germans were losing the war in 19 44, 19 45.

It is a really touching monument to peace. We then walked about two kilometers to the hotel Yoland, basically the only accommodation shop and point of refreshment there. We discovered that they had canceled our reservation. Now, Anna had specifically asked when she had booked a few weeks before if we needed a confirmation number or if we needed to give a credit card number.

But the woman on the phone who took the booking said that it was fine and that she would see us on August 17th. 

[00:17:45] Anna: Now it was this sort of old fashioned family run place where they took bookings by phone and the lady who took the booking was quite elderly, but now the family who ran the place explained to us that our reservation had been canceled because we had not confirmed it.

The same thing had happened to Eleena and Robi. A couple from close to Milan who had made their reservation by phone the day before and had also not confirmed. We started to panic as there was absolutely no other places available and we had no way of getting to the nearest town that was far away, and it was already late in the afternoon.

The family offered us a drink and found space for us in another structure. Ink about 10 kilometers away. And said that someone could drive us after the dinner 

[00:18:37] Edo: service. It was nice to trade stories with Ele and Robbie over a nice dinner before the non knew of the family offered to drive us, always with a cigarette dangling from his mouth to our other accommodation.

The ride was harrowing. He was always driving down the center of the narrow winding mountain road, often in the left lane, going quite fast and recounting to us how even today, the German military cemetery will find bags of bones left outside of its gate, left there by families in the area who found them buried in secret in the fields and gardens close by.

We were squashed into a tiny fiat panda. My backpack touching the windshield as I held it in my lap. Elena was gripping Anna's knee with her manicured hand at each herp and turn fearing for her life. The other accommodation was actually an apartment with Ele and Robbie practically sleeping in the living room.

But it was fine for them as they would leave before us the next morning, as they had a much longer and more difficult day ahead of them going in the opposite direction. We got a ride from the reception to the path a bit later in the morning. 

[00:19:51] Anna: This day's hike from Pa Futa to Madonna. Elli was fairly easy and picturesque.

Gentle enough for Edo to carefully get back on the trail with bandaged feet and now two pairs of socks at least. The first ascent was through beautiful shaded woods, where we saw many large groups of young people going in the opposite direction towards Florence. The next portion was a series of gentle ascents and descents around 1000 meters, passing the highest point of the VI at.

At 1,204 meters or 3,950 feet, we saw the best preserved portion, actual paving stones of the FLA mil, which was an ancient Roman road, built in 187 BC to connect bologna to Fi near Florence. We also saw the ruins of an ancient furnace used for making lime. Near which we exchanged advice with the many travelers heading towards Florence.

We then made our dissent into the very small mountain town of Madonna de F, which is greatly sustained by the Walkers frequenting, the hospitable and old-fashioned hotel slash, and the hotel bar Mu basically the only two places in town, along with the church dedicated to the Madonna of the snows. Check out a feature episode of my other podcast Stories, saints and Mysteries that delves into the legend of the original Madonna of the Snows, my parish church in Rome, santamania Maor.

Now, fortunately, hotel Polley was equipped with supplies for blister care and souvenirs. From the Via Deli Day, 

[00:21:41] Edo: I was feeling much better. Plus, it was helpful to have our easiest and shortest walk on the following day. Pretty easy ups and downs with nice views over fields, mountains and woods. Still fairly high elevation around 800 meters as we passed winter turbines, and thankfully a cafe and a grocery store in Mouna here.

We had sandwiches and stocked up on groceries for dinner as we would be staying at A, b and B that did not have any restaurants or grocery stores nearby. We actually met a guy who was going in our same direction. Who knew nearly no one does the vie from Florence to bologna. From the guidebook, it seemed like it would be half and half.

We then hopped on a bus to avoid walking five kilometers on the paved street in the sun. 

[00:22:29] Anna: There are some pilgrims or walking purists who act like it's a sin to ever take a bus. We believe that when there's an opportunity to be a smart walker and to take a bus, if it's a better option, then you should take it.

Like in this situation, we're walking along a busy, narrow paved road under the hot sun is not very safe. We got back on the path and continued through trees some country road until our b and b za about a kilometer outside of parental. Since it was only around two 30 in the afternoon, we had walked only about 11.8 kilometers.

We got to relax the lovely wood decorated loft apartment, swim in the pool, let EDOs blisters breathe and cook a nice dinner to eat on the covered patio. I'd definitely say that the VI del has a nice variety in the accommodations just 

[00:23:25] Edo: as long as you confirm your 

[00:23:26] Anna: reservations. Definitely after the fiasco, we continuously confirmed each reservation.

I got paranoid. Although it did seem like the few foreigners we saw along the trail had booked through an agency that had arranged up all of the accommodation meals and even a service to carry their backpacks, and it seemed to be very well organized and reliable. One of the things I do really enjoy about walking and biking in Italy is that with a simple cell phone call or message, when the reception is spotty, we can confirm or make a reservation or ask a question.

And I feel a great sense of comfort not having a language barrier, although I do have to say that even walking or bike touring in countries where I don't speak the language the Camino provides. In other words, you will find help. People are mostly kind, and somehow it all seems to work out often better than how you imagined, 

[00:24:25] Edo: I'd say so for this trip too, especially given my problems with the blisters.

It definitely could have been a lot worse or even so bad that I would not have been able to walk through it. The last day was the toughest for me. We started a little late around eight in the morning for the steepest scent up, but feeling fresh in the morning held, and the views were spectacular. We could see our b and b, and we took pictures on the beautiful rock formations and from the large metal cross at the bottom of which there was a box with a notebook inside of it where people leave their names.

[00:25:03] Anna: This is the viewpoint from which the cover photo of all the guidebooks is taken. 

[00:25:08] Edo: We saw many people arriving from the other direction struggling after a full morning of walking from bologna. The descent was very steep. We were clinging to the trunks of the small trees and definitely relying on our walking poles.

Then we continued through the woods. My feet were hurting from the descent. The pressure was stronger, and the blisters as my feet were positioned in a very different way as it was such a steep path down. We ate our picnic lunch under a tree that we shared with a girl coming from Bologna who was on her first day walking alone.

Fortunately, we got a bit of a second wind for the very hot and flat banana plane. There were a few fountains, and we also bought a cold bottle of water from an old lady selling refreshments to walkers. 

[00:25:54] Anna: I still remember how nice that water was. It sort of felt like we were walking through the planes of Africa, but sometimes there is a bit of shade next to the Reno River.

We passed a few groups of young people, and I was thankful to not have to do Monte after walking through the hot plane. In fact, I was really grateful that by going from Florence to Bologna, we got to really enjoy the hike up and the views from Monte while we were fresh in the morning instead of climbing at the end of the first day as people walking from Bologna to Florence do, we agreed that in the end it's about the same.

As we mentioned earlier, an equal number of psychological pros and cons. Whether you walk from bologna to Florence or from Florence to bologna, maybe we would've 

[00:26:44] Edo: had more contact with other walkers by walking alongside them in the same direction. But it was also nice to exchange tips on what was to come when we met people on the path.

Also going in the opposite direction compared to all of the other walkers basically meant that we never had to stand in line behind people, which is something that we actually saw with people coming from Florence to Bologna, especially in the, uh, narrow points. We initially had some possible family obligations in a Emilia Roman Romania region, uh, close to bologna.

Although we could have easily and quickly hopped on the train, it seemed to make more sense to walk towards and into this region instead of getting there by train, walking south and then taking another train to go back, or maybe deep down, we just wanted to be different. 

[00:27:34] Anna: It was actually kind of funny how nearly everyone was walking in the other direction besides us.

When we took a little break in a park full of people from Bologna, a local man told us that we were only the second couple that he had seen this year going from Florence to bologna instead of the other way around. 

[00:27:53] Edo: Then at a little over 23 kilometers, we began the ascent for the sanctuary of St. Luke.

Before getting to the sanctuary though, as Anna mentioned before, at the end of the descent of Monte, we were walking through these arid flat and hot planes. And remember how, how I was singing sea shanties to keep myself going. Leave her Johnny. Yeah. That was another moment. I just had to put one foot in front of the other and I was singing sea shanties.

I don't know why. Anyway, the San Luca is at the top of a very steep dirt path, at least from the direction we came from. That takes you past the stations of the cross for about one kilometer. The more uphill to the beautiful round baroque style church with a dramatic curved double staircase.

Unfortunately, there was no one in the sacristy to give us the stamps on our credentials or pilgrim passports, but Anna did go close to the Madonna of San Luca painting to get us little holy cards is proof that we made it. Now 

[00:28:58] Anna: that you're mentioning the Madonna d San Luca, let me tell you a little bit about it.

This holy painting was brought to this hill of LaGuardia outside of Bologna at the end of the 13th century. Of course, there were many miracles attributed to it, and now it is covered with offerings of precious jewels. The painting, it's coverings, and the whole church is pretty spectacular. I've been to Bologna many times, but I had never been to this church and the amazing portico that leads up to it.

It holds the record for being the longest portico or covered walkway in the world, 1,800 meters or 5,900 feet plus another 1500 meters or 4,900 feet on the, the flat ground. It was full of ese of all ages and types, running, walking, strolling. It was pretty neat. 

[00:29:54] Edo: We should point out that actually if you come from bologna, You get to walk under this amazing portico, and it's definitely easier to reach the sanctuary coming from Bologna because the portico isn't too steep and it's, it's got steps.

It's easy, it's covered. Whereas we came from the other side, so we just had to climb the mountain with a very steep path. However, we got to walk it on the way back down. Still, though it was pretty neat, but I was pretty tired and I already walked nearly 30 kilometers with painful blisters, and now the hard stone pavement and occasional step of the portico wasn't really helping.

We pushed on officially ending the vire in sma. Joda, the main square of bologna in front of the OR cathedral. We had a quick celebratory cold drink on the main square, and then we walked another couple kilometers to Bologna train station, where although dirty and wearing tracking clothes, we got the executive class seats in the private cabin for a ride back to Rome.

We deserved it. In hindsight, I do think it would've been better to have spent the night in Bologna to really celebrate completing the vie. In that moment, we were also ready to get home and take off our backpacks and put on some shoes that would be better on my 

[00:31:19] Anna: blisters. All in all, I really enjoyed this walk.

It sometimes seemed to us that this walk is marketed as being more of a beginner walk, but it's not. It's a bit challenging for someone who does not have a lot of long distance hiking experience. However, in terms of directions on the route, it is quite easy to follow. And there is accommodation along the route.

As long as you book ahead of time and then confirm each day enough cafes and fountains. It's definitely a satisfying walk with a beginning and an end. 

[00:31:55] Edo: Here are some stats for you. We walked a total of 90 point 16 kilometers or 56 miles. Remember, we took the bus on our rest day, so we're not gonna count that day.

With 3,147 meters or 10,340 feet of ascent and 3,461 meters, or 11,354 feet of descent with an average of 18 kilometers or 11 point 18 miles of walking per day and around 600 meters or 1800 feet of elevation per day. So here are my final thoughts about this hike that we did. We've had a chance, um, while cycling as well, and later on walking to go on these hiking trips that are, uh, more spiritual or religious in nature.

More like pilgrimages, especially, for example, the that we've talked about in an episode recently. Go check it out if you haven't listened to it yet. The vie day is more commercial. Being more commercial, it means that it's more expensive and it's more crowded. And I think, again, I keep saying I'm not really as spiritual as Anna is, but there's a different quality to these kinds of trips.

And even though the VI was beautiful in terms of scenery and nature and the food we ate and the people we met, the fact that it's so commercial, I think. Kinda takes away from it just a little. Now here's another interesting thing. While we were there two years ago, way before we had the idea of this podcast, we actually decided to bring a little field recorder with us and we attempted what eventually evolved into something like the episode that we released last time on Lake Como.

Again, go check it out if you haven't already. So we were. Walking and with our little fuel field recorder, we would record our thoughts at the end of every day or maybe even, even in the middle of the day. So there's a bonus episode, which is a companion episode to this one, which will be just all of these raw recordings pasted together, where we go in further detail about what happened, what we saw.

There's a lot of interesting information, for example, about the German military cemetery. So. As soon as you're done listening to this one, go check out the other one, and it will feel like you were with us for every step of the way.

[00:34:45] Anna: Thank you so much for listening to this new episode. We hope you really enjoyed it. As always, check out our Instagram at Go Far podcast to see the photos from this trip, as well as all of our other trips. And please feel free to get in touch with us through Instagram or by email go far. Pod gmail.com also.

If you're interested in other podcasts, please check out my podcast story. Saints and Mysteries. It's all about crazy stories from history. You can find it on all of the major podcast platforms. We would also like to thank Jake from Journey with Jake podcast for the lovely interview that we did with him the other day.

Check out his podcast and website. At Journey with jake.net there, you can listen to our episode with him as well as all of his other episodes with other travelers. We hope to see you again soon and again, thank you for listening and as always, go far.