Written by Ishtar & Ellie
Hello friends, family, and staff! We hiked the Via Francigena starting in beautiful Tuscany — specifically, a little town known as Gambassi Terme! We reunited with our lovely guide, Lauren who took us from town to town to learn about historic Italy.
Our agenda:
San Gimignano
Poggibonsi
Colle di Val d’Elsa
Monterigionni
Siena!
The trail we’re hiking “Via Francigena” means the road that comes from France, although it starts in England — a bit confusing, we know. Tuscany’s symmetrical cypress trees and rows of vineyards steal our gaze each day. The original pilgrimage was hiked for the purpose of traveling to the stunning St. Peter’s Basilica. People hiked from Canterbury, England to Vatican City. The first person to travel it was Cedric the Serious. Like the original hikers, we’ve been staying in hostels and “Abbys” — even some “glamping”.
Along the way, we’ve been making stops such as our first, bread making in Gambassi Terme with Luca. We made a crunchy snack covered in salt and olive oil like an Italian flatbread. In Poggibonsi, Dario the archeologist taught us about a 9th century village and medieval weapons and how they fought back in ancient times with swords, daggers, heavy chainmail, and shields! Dario also gifted us with an arrowhead that the whole group helped to make!
We were later accompanied by another guide, Luca, who took us on a path along the Elsa River. Luca also introduced us to the forager, Simone, who taught us about the multitudes of useful plants that can be found right under our noses.
On our last day of hiking, we had a fever-dream visit from a new friend named Roberto — a lively and kind ex-police man who smokes cigars and rides a motorcycle — the group agrees that he was very cool!
It’s back to the city for the Terra Group now — Florence! Thank you again for reading!
