Day 9: 5 km past Citerna to Citta di Castello

 September 9, 2022

9.5 miles

1500 feet of elevation gain

Our walk began in Florence in the Tuscany region, following  the Arno River Valley and into the Apennine Mountains. Now we have left Tuscany and entered the region of Umbria, following the Tiber River. The landscape has also changed dramatically. At the beginning of our walk we went through vineyards and olive groves and then into rugged mountains that had few towns or villages along the way. Now we are seeing agricultural valleys and more towns. It seems more civilized now.

Yesterday we walked 5 km past the end of that day’s itinerary which shortened today’s walk by 5 km. Because the walk was shorter, we could sleep in and have breakfast at 8:00 at our albergo. Patricia, the owner, doted on us since we were the only ones staying other than a woman who was not a pilgrim. Patricia is an excellent cook and spoiled us with dinner and a huge breakfast this morning. She even lent me a pair of slippers to wear during my stay because my boots were so muddy. She told us her house had been built in the 1800s and been pretty much destroyed when her parents bought it and renovated it. The entryway was the stable in the original house.

We felt like old friends when we left, and hugged goodbye and walked off into a misty morning.

The walk was pleasant through farmland with views of the valley. Our first view of our destination, Citta di Castello:

Citta di Castello is a medieval town surrounded by a stone wall and full of narrow maze-like streets with many piazzas (plazas) and a beautiful church. We immediately got lost, but then a young German pilgrim woman, Pia, came by and helped us navigate to our hotel. She is 19 years old and walking alone.

As with all towns here, the place is very quiet when we arrive in the afternoon. People start coming out around 6:00 or 7:00, and the plaza is full by 9:00. Since that’s close to my bedtime, I would have a hard time being European.

As we walked around town, we ran into our Australian camino friends, Chris, Peter, Susie and Jen (who is actually from Tasmania). We thought we had left them behind in Santo Stefano, but they decided to also skip one stage and take the bus. So we went for a drink with them and met a few other pilgrims. There are more people walking this camino than I thought, but the strange thing is that we hardly see anyone on the trail, just in town in the evenings.

Tomorrow is a long day of hiking.