Day 10: Citta di Castello to Pietralunga

 September 10, 2022

18.3 miles

2700 feet of elevation gain

We left Hotel Umbria early in the morning because we knew we had a long day ahead of us. We walked 1.5 miles just to get out of town and then another 4 miles along a road before hitting the turnoff for the trail. As we walked, the Australians went by in a cab, skipping the 5.5 miles on the road. We met up with Pia and walked with her for a few miles, but she’s 19 years old, with long legs so she soon took off and was quickly far ahead of us.

There were some hills to climb, but the hardest thing about today’s walk was the distance. It was just really long. Even Enrique’s feet hurt and he doesn’t usually have problems with them.

Pietralunga is built on the top of a hill, as are most towns here. 

After walking 18 miles, the greatest injustice was that we had to climb a huge amount of stairs to get into town. I wish I had counted them, but I had no idea there would be so many. We found our lodging, B&B Gaigo, and after laundry and showers, went out to explore the town. That took about 5 minutes since there’s not much here. Probably a good thing because we were able to eat an earlier than normal dinner (7:30 instead of 8:30) and have some time to rest before another long day tomorrow.

I had pasta for dinner and Enrique had duck. It was good to get away from pizza for a night. Lots of pizza here, and the Italians always order their own pizza, even though they are about the size of a medium pizza in the US. They eat a whole pizza by themselves. Waiters don’t know what to make of us when we ask for plates to share a pizza.