Sunday, November 7: Poggio Bustone to Rieti

 

Good morning from the high mountains in Poggio Bustone dating back to ancient Roman times. In the very early thirteenth century, Francis and twelve of his disciples moved here to find tranquility.

You are looking out to the Valle Santa.

In the most remote areas of central Italy Francis found peace. Hee reconciled with man and nature while converting local people to his faith.

Poggio Bastone is one of the famed areas for the production of prochetta tranchetto. Tradition has it that the recipe was created by Moretto, a local butcher.  The recipe calls for a special cut of roast pork with the skin on, wild Tuscan fennel pollen, rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil.  It is then rolled up like a jelly roll, tied with twine and covered in olive oil. It is cooked over wood for 8 to 12 hours. The skin turns into cracklins, which I am not so fond of but they are always included with a serving.  

As I was walking into Cantalice there was a soccer game. I could hear the cheering from several miles away as well as the announcer.  

Cantalice, another hillside village, known for Saint Felix, a Capuchin Friar, famous for his devotion to the poor. 

The trail wound its way to the bottom of Cantalice, only to start back up again.  There were at least twenty staircases.  I was definitely on tired legs from yesterday's crazy adventure and all these steps killed my legs.  My feet weren't to happy about it either.

These markers also are a part of the trail signs.

Look closely at this photo.  This tree is full of oranges.  I don't remember orange trees turning this color.  Is this unusual or has my memory failed me? Help me out my Florida friends.

Marcella Mariani was Miss Italy 1953, and on her way to becoming a legendary actress.  According to wikipedia  "her promising career was prematurely ended by her death in a plane crash, which occurred on the slopes of Monte Terminillo in the province of  Rieti Italy, as she returned from hosting a film festival in Belgium. Traveling from Brussels to Rome, the DC-6 passenger liner crashed due to errors made by the crew in poor weather conditions. Heavy wind and snow prevented searchers from reaching the crash site for over a week. All 29 passengers and crew were believed to have died on impact. Mariani, who had turned 19 a few days earlier, was taken to Rome, where she was buried." Monte Terminilo is the mountain that I am hiking on right now.

I saw several signs dedicated to her and she was referred to as the "face of the crash."

The highlight of today's walk was to see the famous Santuario La Foresta. I almost missed it because it is rather lackluster and looks too modern for Saint Francis lifetime. At the time of Francis, the church was known as San Fabiano and later became the monetary it is today.

This beautiful tile work was just outside the church.

Saint Francis is pictured above the door -- another for Mary. Late in life, all illness in his eyes caused Francis to gradually lose his sight.  He stayed here for more than fifty days.  He was attracting large crowds and the crowds ate all the grapes in the nearby area, distressing the local farmers.  Francis had the farmers bring the few remaining grapes to the winepress at the church.  Francis turned these grapes into twice the yield as the previous year.  This became known as the miracle of the grapes.

The pulpit is made from an old tree and right behind it is the altar. It is a very small, modest sanctuary.  

This is a closeup of the window behind the altar.

Saint Francis

The ancient frescos in the church.

I don't know what this group of statues represents. It was on a small hill just above the Sanctuary.  I tried to find something on line with no luck.

On the walls around the Santurio were the twelve stations of the cross. They were all a little hard to see due to the abundance of shade lining the walls.

Whoohoo -- Rieti. The beautiful Rio Velino is a tributary of the much larger Nera River.  My hotel is the tall building on the right.

I was starving at about 3:00 when I arrived in Reiti.  I threw my backpack into my room and headed out to look for a pizza.  I figured if I ate such a large mid afternoon lunch and could snack on it later at night.

I ordered a Gonzaga pizza.  It had a pumpkin sauce, gorgonzola cheese,  mozzarella and walnuts.  I thought it was such a weird combination that it had to be good.  OMG.  Int was wicked good.  Every ingredient complimented the next.  The pumpkin sauce was a tad sweeter than tomato sauce and gorgonzola balances the sweet while the walnuts give it some crunch. And what is not to like about mozzarella on a pizza.  There are some really innovative pizzas here in Italy. And all of the crusts are homemade.

Look what I found -- just for Ralph Letizia.  The street was lined with beautiful boutiques -- fitting because Ralph always notices stylish clothes.  He would not think of me as too stylish right now. Hi Ralph and Frances!

So another successful day of 15.1 miles and I didn't get lost once!