April 30: Spoleto to Ferentillo

Previous day: April 29: Perugia to Spoleto

Today we leave Spoleto to walk to Ferentillo, which On Foot Holidays classes as a "medium" difficulty hike: 5 hours to cover 15 km, with a cumulative uphill distance of 350 m (plus a like amount downhill). We stay tonight at Agroturismo La Pila.

Today was what On Foot Holidays described as a “leg-loosening first day”, and nominally of “medium” difficulty—based on our previous trip with On Foot, we guessed this really meant “hard”, at least by our standards, and we weren’t wrong.

Palazzo Dragoni offered the best breakfast thus far. In addition to the usual fare (granola, croissants, yogurt, various sweet cakes and pies), there was good fruit (strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, raspberries), good bread (including a multigrain rye), and even a nice omelette garnished with chives and parsley, juicy and full of melting cheese. Yum! Shoshanna made a small sandwich for her lunch; I snagged a couple chocolate easter eggs for later in the day.

By the time we’d packed our bags, it was time to get going. The hike started with a 20-minute drive by Domenico, the driver hired by On Foot to get us to the start of the hike, at Patrico. We chatted a bit in Italian, with some simultaneous translation for Shoshanna when the topics got a bit abstruse, like the kinds of animals they had locally.) Starting with a drive is a good call, as most of those 20 minutes were spent climbing steadily uphill to several hundred meters above Spoleto. It would have taken us a couple hours at least, and we’d never have completed the rest of the hike if we’d have to do it.

The first part of the hike is a slow but steady climb of about 150 m. In bright sun for much of the way, so a sweaty beginning to the day. Our goal was to pass under the highest point in the local range we were in, which is Mount Finchio; there was an optional route to the top of that peak, but it would have added 300 m and probably two hours to our hike. We looked at the steep climb, looked at each other, and agreed to take the easy way. That involved navigating around the shoulder of Finchio, and crossing a saddle between it and an adjacent mountain that wasn’t named on our map.

Nope!

It's lovely country, with forests alternating with rock-strewn cow pasture. Much of the trail is rocky soil, thus quite uneven footing, which is hard on the feet. We stopped just past Finchio for a snack (an enormous orange from Palazza Dragoni and some trail mix), a rest, and some time admiring the view into the valley below Finchio, which eventually leads to Ferentillo, our destination, which initially wasn’t visible because it was too far below us and concealed by the mountain. The descent into the valley also alternated between forest and open slopes, but it was often steep (hard on the knees) and most often rocky (hard on the feet). For the most part, it was just a question of being patient and plodding along. In a few places, it was quite steep, including one 300-meter stretch (about 1000 feet) that On Foot described as a “fairly horrible, but thankfully short-lived experience”. I’ll say. I used both my hiking poles to brace myself during the descent; Shoshanna followed behind more slowly using only one pole. Several slips, but nothing horrible in the end.

A slippery slope

A slippery slope!

The last part of the descent was along winding paths, tracks, and small roads that passed between olive and grape orchards. We began catching tantalizing glimpses of Ferentillo, which led to a combination of “thank God, the end is finally in sight” and “why is it still so bloody far away”. What with the heat and the slog of the descent, we were both beat when we finally reached the flatland at the bottom of our descent. And mercifully, unlike several of our stops in the Amalfi hikes a couple years ago, our B&B was actually on the near side of town, so it was a pleasant surprise to end our hike a couple kilometers sooner than expected.

Yes, we circumnavigated this

Yes, we circumnavigated this!

Agriturismo La Pila is a beautiful rural site outside Ferentillo, with lush fields surrounding it, chickens squawking just beside our room, and a furtive white cat with a black mask. Our hostess doesn’t have much English, but a combination of my Italian and a fair bit of French got things settled. She wondered whether we might want a beer to recover. We accepted eagerly (not to say like stared piranhas attacking a large cow thrown into their stream) and she brought us a couple bottles of Moretti, a decent Italian lager. We drained a pint to rehydrate, though it left me (at least) a bit wobbly—so we set aside the second bottle for dinner. She asked whether we might want to shower; I said “probably twice”, as it was a long and sweaty hike and you could probably smell us back in Montreal if the wind were right. The shower was lovely, and reinvigorating.

Dinner tonight was be at the Agriturismo, which is no small blessing. I wouldn’t have wanted to walk a couple kilometers into town and back again. And it was both huge and delicious. Antipasti was a bite of something like spinache quiche, black olive tapenade on a small piece of toast, a nice mouthful of prosciuto, creamy cheese with sweet walnut on a thin slice of bread, and a salad of what looked like barley mixed with cherry tomatoes and mozzarella or something similar. Primi were chiorelli pasta (spelling?), which are noodles about as half as wide and twice as thick as fettucini, but slightly rotated, with a light tomato sauce and bits of meat. Nicely chewy. Secondi were what seemed like pan-fried pork with a very thin breading that was soggy from the juices (tastier than it sounds), and a touch of vinegar that added a nice tang to the meat. They were accompanied by perfectly baked eggplant slices, dusted with a sweet paprika and something else I couldn’t identify, but served cold to contrast with the warm meat. Dolci was vanilla gelato (best gelato I’ve had thus far, somewhere between ice cream and gelato in richness) with a drizzle of perfectly sweetened chocolate sauce. (Unfortunately, Shoshanna wasn’t feeling well—which happens when she gets overtired—so she left after the primi. The waitress offered me her dessert, which would have been lovely but not possible. Only so much room in the stomach...)

Tomorrow looks to be far easier than today, as it’s much flatter for most of the trip, apart from a grueling 350-m climb towards the middle. The larger concern is that they’re calling for rain, with possibly thunderstorms later in the day. We’re equipped for light rain, but if the weather gets nasty, it won’t be a nice hike. So we called Steffano, who’s our local expert, and the guy who designed the hike. His best guess is that we should have no problem, and we can call our next host for a pickup about 3/4 of the way if necessary. So we’ll do a bit of planning tonight to ensure that everything’s waterproof tomorrow, and we’ll take our best shot at it. More later!

Next day: May 1: Ferentillo to Labro