Day 14: Valfabbrica to Assisi

 September 14, 2022

10 miles

1700 feet of elevation gain

I awoke with mixed feelings this morning. Sorry to be ending our camino, the beautiful views, wonderful people, mindless routine of walking, eating, sleeping. But also glad to be ending, glad to have accomplished this and glad to be able to rest a little.

We met Alberto in the town bar for a quick coffee and croissant and we were on our way. We talked politics a little, and I got the feeling that Alberto didn’t think too highly of America. Not just trump, but America’s place in the world and its influence on other countries. It was interesting to hear a perspective from a European.

Assisi can be seen from quite a distance away and as we got closer, we saw there was a very steep climb into the city. It’s always disorienting to come into a new city, but today felt especially so because it was full of tourists which felt a little claustrophobic after the small towns and wild forests we’ve been walking through. We had booked a hotel, Camere da Anna Maria, which was just under a mile outside of Assisi. I’m not sure why I booked something so far away, but it’s quiet and peaceful with a beautiful view and a bus stop right in front to take us back to town. We’ll stay here two nights (the first time in two weeks that we are staying somewhere for more than one night), then take a train to Vietri sul Mare, on the Amalfi Coast for four nights and then two days in Rome before heading back to Spain and then home.

There is a lot about this camino that I enjoyed more than the Camino de Santiago in Spain. The Via di Francesco has been more beautiful with incredible views and rugged wilderness. It has been quieter with way fewer pilgrims. The intimacy of a smaller group walking made connections with people stronger. The towns/villages were filled with interesting architecture and history. And it was more physically demanding than Camino de Santiago. However, the ending in Assisi feels a little anticlimactic. Instead of a city of pilgrims celebrating, there are tourists everywhere.

We ate dinner with Alberto and said goodbye to him since he’s going home in the morning. Inken texted me and said she was going to skip a day in order to arrive in Assisi tomorrow to see us. So it goes on the Camino. People come and go.

In the end we walked 164 miles in 14 days and climbed 28,610 feet. We were probably close to the oldest pilgrims on the trail, but hopefully we’ll be able to do more caminos in the future.