Day 6: Badia Prataglia to La Verna

 September 6, 2022

12.6 miles

3,700 feet of elevation gain

The namesake of this camino is St. Frances of Assisi, a patron saint of Italy who believed in caring for the Earth and all of its creatures. The Camino goes through many places that were important in his life. One of the most important places was La Verna, which was our destination today. La Verna is considered the most spiritual place in Italy, not a town, but just a huge monastery built into a rock cliff.

In La Verna, in 1214, St. Francis got sharp, nail-like wounds on his hands, feet and sides called stigmata, like Jesus Christ. He told only his closest friends about them, but when he died witnesses said they saw the marks.

As we walked today, I couldn’t help but think that surely St. Francis could have found an easier way get to La Verna. We had three extremely steep climbs and two equally brutal descents. A few miles into the hike, Enrique pointed to the highest point on this mountain range and said that was our destination. My heart sank, but I didn’t really believe him. Turned out it was true.

If St. Francis did come this way, then I don’t think he had a heavy backpack on his back. Probably because he condemned material possessions and wouldn’t have been carrying all the shit I brought.😂

The monastery is like a maze so we wandered around for quite a while when we first arrived, looking for the hotel. No one that we asked spoke English, so it wasn’t easy to find the place. This part of the monastery has been converted into a hotel.

After showering we went out exploring the place with Inken. 

And the view from the top:

We met a few other people at the hotel who are walking, but we never see them on the trail, which is strange. After dinner, we spoke with a woman from Vermont who has walked nine caminos. Her husband won’t fly so she does them alone. She Carrie’s a tent and sometimes, like last night, she pitches the tent by the side of the trail for the night. I’m enjoying my private room and bathrooms too much on this camino to sleep in a tent. Not missing the snoring of other people in the albergues, either.