Italy 2026 Days 7 and 8 of Trip

It’s very early on a Sunday morning here in southern Tuscany as I sip tea on the veranda of our apartment at La Selvella. I am processing or attempting to process the two days we just experienced. I listen to the birds sing and chirp to each other and cherish the crisp morning air as the sun makes its presence known as it peeks over a nearby Tuscan hill. This place is so peaceful and beautiful. 

Due to three blisters on my feet and the fatigue in our legs we are not hiking the full 20 miles to Proceno. Instead, we took a morning transfer to Ponte a Rigo, shortening our hike to 10 miles. I am so glad we did.

From Ponte a Rigo we leave beautiful Tuscany and enter the Lazio region of Italy, where its capital, Rome, lies to the south.  And as we head south, we can still see the impressive Rocca di Radicofani fortress sitting high on a rock outcropping with its commanding views. Because we did not hike through Radicofani, we asked our driver to drive through that impressive hilltop town. Doing so made me realize that I would like to go back and spend some time there.

Today’s hike was not as hilly as yesterday. That said, we still had lots of hills. And like most of the others, we finished our hike walking up a large hill to our destination – the small village of Proceno.  Just before entering town, we stopped at a small church. This would be another routine for each day – stopping at a church to rest and pray before entering the town.

At one time, Proceno was situated on the border of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Papal States. For pilgrims arriving from the north this village provided their first encounter with the Papal States. As a result, Proceno became an extremely important stop on the Via Francigena. 

Our accommodation for the night is one of the guest houses at the Castello di Proceno. Built during the Middle Ages, this collection of buildings is a rare example of a medieval fortification that has survived in its original state.  It is now a stunning guesthouse located in beautiful, medieval surroundings. The property is surrounded by gardens with views over the peaceful countryside. A stone passageway leads us to our guest house, which was built in the 1300’s.

After we rested a bit, we walked around this very small and sleepy hilltop village. At times, it felt like we were walking through an outdoor museum – or even a ghost town with half the buildings uninhabited. And as far we could tell, we were the only tourists. 

The town of Proceno is so small that it has only a few restaurants. And because it was not summer, the true tourist season had yet to start. As a result, our accommodation did not start serving dinners until the following week. As Cecilia the owner explained, it was not even warm enough to open the pool – until that week.  We decided to eat a light meal of anti-pasta and retire early in our beautiful accommodation for the rest of the evening.

The next morning, we ate breakfast in the same space we would have had dinner the night before if the hotel had served dinner. We did get an impromptu tour of the place by Cecilia, the owner. Her family has owned this property since the 1500s and operated it as a printing press. She showed us some of the original equipment and even some of the printing stones with images that were used by the press to make copies. We were literally eating breakfast in a medieval museum. 

To spend more time in Bolsena, our destination at the end of our sixth day of hiking, we decided to take a transfer to San Lorenzo Nuovo and start the hike from there to Bolsena, which would make today’s hike approximately – our shortest of the pilgrimage. On the way to San Lorenzo, we drove through the larger town of Acquapendente.  In 1845 Charles Dickens visited Acquapendente, which he describes in his writings. It was also the first stop in Italy in the travels of Saint Roch in the early 14th century. This saint supposedly spent several days in the hospital here curing plague victims.

Once we started our hike out of San Lorenzo Nuovo, we could see Lake Bolsena in the distance. And seeing the lake constantly on our right as we made a slow decent towards the lake was a highlight of the hike itself. We would pass several luxury agri-tourism spots just outside of Bolsena, which might be worth staying at if one wanted to stay outside of town and take day hikes into town or even back in the other direction.

Formed in the crater of a volcano this lake has crystal clear waters and is truly a jewel in the center of Italy. It is here in Bolsena where St Cristina Church was built in memory of the miracle that is at the origin of the Catholic celebration Corpus Domini.  We were famished as we entered the older section of Bolsena at the top of the hill around 1 pm.  We stopped at a cafe and had amazing Bruschetta and capris salad and ice-cold beers. We finished the meal with another amazing pasta dish that had a little spice and heat to it. One constant theme on this trip was that our best meals were at places that we literally stumbled upon. 

After lunch we stumbled into our old friends from the third day on the Via Francigena, the bankers from Milano, Walter and Lugo. Like us, they were also staying at a hotel on the shores of Lake Bolsena. So, we walked through town and down to the lake together.

After checking into our hotel, The Hotel Loriana Park, we rested and swam at the hotel’s elegant pool. Situated right on the water, Hotel Loriana Park sits within a natural park on the shore in serene surroundings. To take advantage of this, we took a stroll along the shore of the lake and stopped at several establishments for drinks. When we went up to the register at the first place to pay for our amazing Compari Spritzers, we were told that the margarita pizza we had ordered was free. I can honestly say it was the best free pizza I have ever had. And Davis and I agreed that it may have even been the best pizza we had on the entire trip – period. We should have stayed and had dinner there.

Unfortunately, we had a mediocre dinner at our hotel. However, because Davis’s room had a balcony overlooking the lake, we made up for the uninspiring dinner by spending time on the balcony sharing the Bar Hill Gin I had brought with me from home. We admired the breathtaking view of the lake as we talked about the highlights of our trip – another great day behind us.