Vetralla to Sutri
The opening page of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind is to my mind one of the best in literature. The opening line is ‘It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts.’ You can read the rest of the page here if that beginning seduced you as it did me https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/297978/the-name-of-the-wind-10th-anniversary-deluxe-edition-by-patrick-rothfuss/9780756413712/excerpt Today we experienced that silence of three parts. The first part occurred on the outskirts of Vetralla when we entered a tall, deep oak forest. Our feet made no sound on the soft track and all we could hear was birdsong. The trees were so tall it felt like being in a cathedral and it felt right to be hushed. The second part of silence was in amongst acres of ancient hazelnut plantations. Two days ago I couldn’t have recognised a hazelnut tree from a carrot. I have now seen and walked through thousands of them. This is a major crop in the Viturbo region, so much so that there is concern it’s becoming too dominant and affecting the biodiversity of the area. The trees were beautiful but the silence came from the lack of bird song. The silence of absence. The third part of silence was dense and deep and surprising. We plunged into a rain forest after substantial rain. The ground was thick black mud, the forest was dense beach and fern and moss, and the sound was the white sound of running streams punctuated by birdsong. It was like an outward bound course as we slid down slopes, crawled under fallen branches and at one stage navigated a bridge that had half collapsed. It was quite unexpected and we felt like we were back in New Zealand. In fact the pilgrim walking just ahead of us was a kiwi, regretting his lack of proper hiking boots.
In the midst of this we had a couple of wonderful surprises. The first was stopping for lunch when we saw a picnic table. As we glanced about us we realised that we had three enormous towers behind us. On investigation we learned they were the Torri Di Orlando, built in Roman times.Two are thought to be funeral towers and the third a bell tower built by a chap called Orlando which is Italian for Ronaldo about whom an epic poem has been written! All three now stand in fields of hazelnuts. Here is a photo of them with a bunch of other pilgrims from the UK who joined us. See if you can find the second tower behind the tree.
The second surprise was passing through a tiny and delightful little medieval town called Capranica. The legend is that in the 8th century a group of goatherds fled to this tuff hill to escape the invading Lombards. Capra means goat and the town was named Capranica. It has an intact wall, cobbled streets, a fascinating cathedral unlike any I have seen so far bedecked with massive red and white fabrics and the narrowest alleyways I have ever encountered. The only negative was the steep descent down its walls and an equally almost vertical climb that followed to get back up to the ridge.
We arrived in Sutri this afternoon having dodged most of the forecast rain, covered in mud and keen for a shower. It is another charming, very quiet town. We sat and had a negroni in the square this evening and watched the groups of local men gather for a chat. Dinner was at a local trattoria with our English friend who has once again found herself in the same accommodation. We had a very enjoy evening eating genuinely local fare. Meat and no veges unless you specifically order them.
Now it is that other kind of silence. The pigeons are roosting, the locals are long in bed. There is no traffic or human noise other than the sound of my breathing as I write. This is my first slightly homesick day. My daughter graduated from her university degree today and it was sad not to be there with her. We spoke by phone, but it’s not the same, is it? She had a wonderful day anyway and that is what counts.
Tomorrow is another big day (it was 26km today, quite a lot longer than we expected). We go to a place called Campagnano di Roma of which I know nothing. That is half the fun of this - the not knowing and then discovering. More rain forecast but the gods have been kind so far so we are hopeful for just drizzle.
I will leave you with a photo I took just half an hour ago as we walked back in the rain through the streets of Sutri.
Until tomorrow
love Marie
