Our accommodation was well appointed and comfortable, and Chantal was a charming and helpful host. On Chantal’s recommendation we went to the only restaurant, just over the bridge in Ponte d’Arbia, for supper. We had an octopus starter followed by sole meuniere, and it was very good. When we arrived there was only one other diner there, but by the time we left the restaurant was packed, and we could understand why. It is amazing that you can find such good eating in out of the way places, and at a very reasonable price too.
We awoke to the sound of what we thought was a rain-wet road, but on opening the shutters it turned out to be another glorious sunny blue-sky Tuscan spring morning. We were a bit slow getting going, having enjoyed a nice cup of Taylor’s of Harrogate Yorkshire tea (we carry it with us!) with breakfast. We had given ourselves a shorter day than the guidebooks suggest for this stage, stopping at Torrenieri rather than going on to San Quirico which we will do tomorrow instead. It was just as well because Julie’s knee was playing up today and needed a couple of rubs of Voltarol to keep it going.
Our route took us back across the bridge and immediately off the road, climbing up onto higher ground with spectacular views over the Arbia valley. Like yesterday, most of the cultivated land seemed to be given over to growing wheat in vast unhedged fields stretching for miles over the undulating hillsides. There was a lot of evidence of gullying and soil loss even after the exceptionally dry winter they’ve had here.
More quickly than expected we found ourselves descending to the small town of Buonconvento, a medieval walled town in the valley, surrounded by newer development. The old centre is delightful, and provided several cafes to choose from for our mid-morning cafe latte and snack. In its heyday, Buonconvento was the most important settlement in the d’Arbia valley, its fortifications built by the Senese in the late 1300s to protect trade in the area. There was some damage caused by the retreating German Army in WW2, but of the original 9 watch towers 7 are still complete and the 13th century church was rebuilt. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit the town’s museums, which include religious art taken from local churches and a sharecropping museum, which would have been interesting.
We were intrigued to see sign up in the cafe supporting the prosecutor who is famously pursuing the mafia. Unfortunately – or possibly fortunately! – our Italian is not up to exploring such subtleties, but we wondered whether there may be a local issue with corruption or organised crime as three smartly uniformed carabinieri came into the cafe for their mid-morning caffeine fixes just after us.
Suitably refreshed we walked on out of Buonconvento, greeted on our way by several people asking us where we were from, whether we were going to Rome, and wishing us ‘buon camino’. After passing an area of light industrial units and extensive allotment gardens, we were once more into open countryside.
Our relief at being off busy roads was short lived, for our track took us back down onto the road and behind a crash barrier, before climbing steeply uphill alongside but above the road. The ups and downs were tiring, but the views in all directions were rewarding. We began to see more vineyards as the day went on, with people out mending trellises and doing other maintenance work with diggers which seemed to involve dumping mounds of rocky soil beside the road.
We passed several vineyards offering sales at the gate, and even one offering pilgrims a glass of wine, a bottle of water, and a sandwich for 8 euros! Having resisted the temptation we were impressed to see that a picnic table was provided even for those who had walked on by without tasting their wine.
Just when we thought we were nearly there the track we were following turned uphill and then snaked around the hills for about 4kms before eventually bringing us into Torrenieri, our destination for tonight. It was a well used track, with quite a lot of vehicles belting up and down throwing up dust and grits, few slowing down as they passed us covering our faces or turning our backs for protection.
We found our billet easily in a small apartment block on the edge of the town, and Giuseppe was waiting to let us in, as arranged. A charming man who has walked to Rome himself and clearly understands pilgrims’ basic needs are for a comfortable bed, bathroom, breakfast and recommendation for where to get supper. We are the first pilgrims this year, so we will be starting a new page to write in the visitors’ book before we leave tomorrow.