Fatal beauty

Italy has a fatal beauty which is why conquerors viewed it with hunger.    And none is more fatal than Tuscany which is a huge section of La Via Francigena.  Here in Lucca the city arrests with its prosperity.  I try and negotiate a reprint of Albertos maps, buy a new walking bastoni, for my last one gave up the ghost, and repair stubbed toes.   I thought Italy would be a pleasant stroll from one plate of risotto to the next but that is not so.   it is just as tough as the rest of the journey.   the tuscan hill towns are magical.  there has been light rain in the hills, and there are daily concerts of the music of Giacomo Puccini.

Phil Cousineau

The practice of soulful travel is to discover the overlapping point between history and everyday life. 

oz peregrinus

Sister Mary MacKillop

i AM REASONABLY ON PROGRAMME TO REACH ROME IN TIME FOR THE CANONISATION CEREMONY,    AFTER RICE PADDIES AND MOUNTAINS I AM NOW AT THE SEA , MARINA MASSA.

ULTREYA

OZ PEREGRINUS

AT THE WARM SEASIDE

Rice

Alberto warned me about the rice paddies where I could not sleep savage because of the canals which breed mosquitoes.   Flat country of Lombardy.

And so did it remain for countless miles until past Piacenza and my memory of Piazza Cavilli 12 years ago.   It is plod after plod on La Via Francigena.  Then south and east to the beautiful hill town of Costamezzana and then refuge at Fornovo duomo before the climb and climb and tight trails to Cassio then on to Passo de Cisa.  Take care on the trails, in this alpine region between Emilia Romagna and Tuscany.

Until Pontremoli and the fatal beauty of La Toscana.

Albert Camus

Dont walk behind me I may not lead
Walk besides me and be my friend.,


It is warm in Pontremoli


oz Peregrinus

Just love Italia

It is great to be back in Italy after 12 years and to see the passegiatta and the ragazzi in the evenings and to drink the best coffee in the world and to eat risotto and the pasta so perfect.  I got drenched the first day coming down from the Grand St Bernard Pass but since then the weather has been good and though I staggered on the route through Aoste I am now in Piedmont and at Alberto Contes farmhouse in Roppolo.  The body is holding up and the spirit is strong.

Bob Dylan


Well Im pressing on.  Yes Im pressing on
Shake the dust off your feet, dont look back
Nothing can hold you down

It is warm in Roppolo

Deus nobiscum in Via

Oz Peregrinus

Swiss Leg

After Lausanne the weather was superb and even though Swizterland is famed for its mountains i must say that the route of La Via Francigena around Lac Leman was a delight particularly through the vineyards of Chasselas grapes planted centuries ago by Cistercian monks.    Montreux overwhelmed me with its blatant wealth.    What a contrast to the Abbey at St Maurice whicvh has looked after the town for 1500 years.  And a good days walk to Martigny.   Note that a lot of the trails are narrow mountain ones.  Take a walking pole.   In Orsieres I attended a very moving signing mass,  Of course the mountains may have given me an incorrect sense of power becasue foolishly I went from Orsieres to the Grand St Bernard pass in one day.    I recommend stopping over at Bourg St Pierre before the final ascent.   Also it was a delight to stay at the hospice at the pass  where i attended mass and prayers and ate good swiss beef.   This is the Pass of history .. . Hannibal, Charlemagne,  Napoleon .... it seems to mark the crossing from north to southern europe.

Now I am in Aoste, with its rich roman heritage.  The weather is mild.

Paul Gauguin.

I shut my eyes in order to see.

For is not imagination the inner eye?

Deus Nobiscum in Via

Oz Peregrinus