The Via Francigena played an interesting political role in the life of the Italian city states as control over the pilgrim route to Rome was a factor in their competition with each other.
Today the route is renewed not out of necessity, but out of interest - similar, but less pronounced, than the interest in the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. The Camino, however seems to retain its ancient way as a means of getting pilgrims quickly and efficiently from various points to Santiago. The Via Francigena is not so; it is a pieced together route between the ancient Sigeric stopping points and doesn't seek the shortest or most efficient route to Rome, but rather the prettiest views and hiking trails. The route is either passing through beautiful mountains, hills, woodlands, rural farms and fields, or along highways with Italian cars zipping past you at dangerous speeds.
There have been countless times during the course of the pilgrimage where I've said to myself, "This winding path away from the main road is beautiful. I've seen enough; just get me to Rome." There have been countless times from beginning to now when I've said, "This highway is pretty direct.... Holy *#%*! That car just went by really fast. Just get me to Rome safely!"
Today was different. Leaving Vetralla, with three more stops to go before reaching St. Peter's Square in Rome, the course led along a very well tended path through woods with tall trees and very little brush or undergrowth. It looked to be a local park that many people used to take nice strolls. Except for some annoying black gnat-like insects (the type, I think, I might have swallowed one or two walking to Burgos on the Camino de Santiago), it was a very pleasant beginning to the day. Later after leaving the woods a thought passed through that there are no "mystical" forests or wooded areas in this land that has been civilized and cultivated for millennia. Are there any forests or woods that would inspire the imagination to form stories of otherworldly adventures and perils? Celtic lands come to mind for such tales. Italy has its own otherworldly charms with Romanesque churches and gothic cathedrals, Etruscan tombs and Roman amphitheaters, vast vineyards and resulting wine.
With well over two-thirds of the stage finished, I left Capanica expecting a quick finish into Sutri. I remember the hospitilier at the Toretta di San Pio VI in Viterbo saying something about Sutri and the woods being beautiful, but I must have mistranslated because I thought he was talking about to road after Sutri.
First sounds of water flowing reminded me of another beautiful area after Bolsena. What really first captured my attention were the little iridescent blue dragonflies. I thought, "Of course the blue is iridescent, because in nature blue is never the result of pigmentation coloration but rather a function of structure and scattering effects." How very analytical. But it wasn't very long until the path seemed to be engulfed by the very type of woods that I had only very recently considered missing from Italy. The small river seemed to be more of a companion than a feature to be observed. It spoke softly. At first the banks were too steep to go down to the water, but when the opportunity arrived I went to touch the water and cup it in my right hand. I made the sign of the cross as I have done in many churches, both at home and in the beautiful Italian duomos.
I will not write of all my thoughts through the woods, but it is enough to say that this was the first time when eagerness to reach the end of the stage and thence reach Rome was not anywhere near foremost in my mind.
Along the Via Francigena I don't feel the same melancholy of an end accompanying the eagerness of finishing as I did on the Camino de Santiago. In both cases there is the realization that it is the journey that is important and not the necessarily the destination. However, just as seeking an answer is important even when asking the question could very well be more important, so too having a destination helps when he journey is the focus. During this journey I have been focused on reaching Rome, but still with the realization that if I never reach Rome the journey is the
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