19th July 2017

19th July 2017

Viterbo to Vetralla -23kms

We left Viterbo this morning at 5:45am, crossing the whole of the city as we were on the wrong side to follow the Via Francígena.  It gave us a chance to see the city without the hustle and bustle of tourists including the beautiful Palazzo dei Papi, a palace with an elegant loggia, which was the seat of the popes in the 13th Century.

We were soon following a minor road when we came across Robin and Jill who were coming in the opposite direction.  There are two possible routes you can follow out of the city and they had decided to chose a different one to us.  Soon we were crossing the countryside and climbing.  Th main feature of the terrain today was dust!  The paths were very sandy and the dust got in everywhere.  

At one point we went along an interesting path named "Itinerario della Fede, Etruscan, Roman and Christian, marked with the stations of the cross type picture frames, a very unusual sight bordering some fields.  We saw an Etruscan tomb, which had also been used as a Christian catacomb.

For a longtime we played hide and seek with the motorway, criss-crossing it time and time again.  At one point three large trucks passed us on the track heading for a field.  The dust cloud was such that we had to stop for a while as it was difficult to breath.

Eventually some six hours later we arrived in Vetralla.  Uniquely among non-English cities, in 1512 Vetralla received the protection of the English Crown, bestowed upon the town by King Henry VIII.

Tonight we sleep in the Monasterio Regina Pacis.  Tomorrow we head for Sutri.

Our excitement grows as we get nearer to Rome!