Day 40 - Bagno di Romagna to La Verna

And so we come to the defining moment for the trip, the ascent to La Verna. The previous stage, to Bagno di Romagna was challenging, but to get across the Appennines, one must continue the climb a second day. Our goal today was to complete what is arguably the most difficult stage on the entire trip, the 1,360 meter climb to the Franciscan convent of La Verna.

Adding a little pressure into the mix was the fact that we were racing the clock. We had to reach La Verna before check-in closed at 6:30 PM. If we didn’t make it, we wouldn’t have a room. We have never taken ten hours to complete a stage, but we have not had this much mountain to climb. Moreover, our hotel in Bagno di Romagna didn't begin to serve breakfast until 8:00, so we were forced to make a late start.

The Last Dumpsters Before the Lonely Mountains

After wolfing down as many calories as we could stand, we set off at 8:30. We walked out of Bagno di Romagna on the main road, but after about a kilometer, we turned to the right and began to climb toward the collection of houses known as Gualchiere. The guidebook refers to it as a “Paleo-Industrial settlement.” I have no idea what that means. It seemed to be an interesting collection of stone houses.

A Paleo-Industrial Settlement

We passed through the Paleo-Industrial Settlement quickly, and then began to climb up a steep path away from the river. After climbing for a few minutes, the trail turned and descended back to the river.

Ouch.

Is there anything worse, on a day when you know you must climb 1,360 meters, then to have to make a false start?

The stage can be divided into four major ascents. The first, to Nasetto, takes one to roughly 800 meters above sea level. The second, to the top of Passo Serra, falls just short of the 1,200 meter mark. A third continues up through the 1,200 meter mark, and then, after a series of smaller declines and ascents, there is the final ascent of Mount Calvano, again breaking through the 1,200 meter line.

The first stage can be characterized as a brutal, steep climb up a series of slate switchbacks. At one time, a mule trail ran through here, but over the centuries, erosion has loosened many of the pavement stones, and there is very unstable footing in many places. We crawled slowly up the switchbacks for more than an hour. The valley slowly fell away beneath us.

The Old Slate Mule Path

As we reached the top of the first ascent, three cyclists on mountain bikes came flying down the path at us. Talk about a death wish. Or the urge to be emasculated by an untimely jolt from the seat.

I couldn’t believe it.

Mary of the Slates

Nasseto is a small collection of ruined stone buildings. It may have been a small farm at one time. There is an intact building which a person can evidently stay in overnight. It didn’t look that appealing.

Nasseto

Nor were the flies that were swarming over us whenever we stopped moving. One of the things that made this day particularly difficult was that we were unable to stop for a proper rest. Each time we did, the flies quickly jumped us and made sitting very uncomfortable. There was also supposed to be a water supply close to Nasseto, but we did not see it.

Onward. A short way past Nasseto,we were forced to cross an exposed shale ridge. This was a good place to step poorly on the slate and slide down the mountain to the valley below. A little further and we reached an advisory sign that warned us about the difficulties of continuing along the slippery shale ridge. The sign (and the guidebook) advised taking a detour down (giving up more elevation) and around the dangerous ridge. We did. After a long tromp through the forest, we climbed back to the main path (safely past the slippery shale) and continued to ascend toward the Passo Serra.

Again, it was a very steep, lung-shaking, heart-pounding, leg-quaking climb through the forest. It was nearly noon before we reached the Passo. Then, because we were headed for La Verna, we had to make another, third ascent.

Ultimately we found ourselves atop a narrow ridge. At some places it felt like the ridge was no wider than our trail. Nevertheless, we had fantastic views on either side, as the valleys fell away below us. We walked on the knife edge of the world.

It was very pleasant in the high country. We hiked through beech forests, admiring the twisted shapes of the trees. Some resembled blurred and twisted human faces, contorted into anguished grey shapes. The beech forest would be fairly frightening on a damp, foggy night. You can see where many European fairy tales had their start.

According to the guidebook, there was water (a sorgente) past the Passo delle Gualanciole. I had made the mistake of placing too much faith in this claim. On the previous stage I had carried three liters (six bottles) of fluids. Because the guidebook assured us there was water, I had lightened my load to four bottles for this stage. We were running low on water by the time we reached the Passo. It was hot. We needed more.

We did not find it. The sorgente was missing. There was a small creek set back from the road, but it was flowing through muddy bracken and seemed non-potable. A few hundred meters on we found a stone emblazoned with the European trail marking. A small pipe stuck out of the stone. I am assuming that this was the quasi-mythical water supply. Unfortunately, it was near dry. Drops of water flowed out of the pipe at the rate of one every three or four seconds. It would take a long time to fill our bottles at that rate.

Warning to future walkers: carry at least three liters of water (if not more). Do not assume you will be able to refill on the way.

With more tears in our eyes than water in our bottles, we headed for Mount Calvano. I had been dreading this final ascent all day. It came at the very end of the stage, a point of maximum fatigue. The last thing I wanted to face was a climb up another slate switchback.

Imagine my pleasure when the dirt road we were following began a gentle ascent and simply continued to ascend. We hiked higher and higher, and finally, were forced off onto a short path that brought us to the top of the mountain. A fairly painless ascent.

Mount Calvano is crowned by a grassy meadow. From this lofty spot we could see for what seemed like fifty miles. Mountains, valleys, and towns spread below us. I wish we had brought a picnic basket and a couple of bottles of iced prosecco to celebrate. But we hadn’t, so we didn’t linger.

We hiked down the stony path to La Verna, and in a much shorter time than we had anticipated, found our way to our evening lodging with the Franciscans. It had been another long day (eight hours), but now, the dreaded two days of difficult stages were behind us, and it was time for a well-deserved rest with the Franciscans.

Today’s distance: 24.5 KM

Total Distance: 836.4 KM