Italy Coast to Coast Walk 2026

After we left Acquapendente, the Via Francigena took us through mostly flat agricultural land.  There were several people out walking but we saw no other long distance walkers. We had fun photographing sunflowers,  muddy puddle reflections and even Radicofani, still visible in the distance. At San Lorenzo Nuovo we had a second breakfast then spotted the lake,  where we were headed.  The Via took a route through forest and fields with tantalising glimpses of the lake. We saw footprints after the rain last night and wondered if there were pilgrims ahead of us. We arrived in Bolsena in time to have lunch before strolling down the avenue of giant plane trees to our accommodation. After a rest, we wandered down around the lake,  finding the swimming beaches and a few birds.  We had a gelato before a thunderstorm chased us back inside. Leaving Acquapendente this morning The first half of today's walk was along quiet country roads Sunflowers Quiet country roads o...

We made a scratch breakfast of tea. yoghurt and cantucci leftover from dinner last night. Cantucci are hard almond biscuits, delicious when dipped into Vin Santo and a great hiking food (even without the Vin Santo). Today's start was all downhill, with sweeping views back to Radicofani and across the countryside. We noted a pilgrim rest area with bench but no water fountain. A large dog guarding sheep barked at us but we passed without incident.  When we reached the valley floor, we had a rest outside a little church and ate some leftover biscuits. We continued on through fields until we reached Ponte a Rigo. Here we noticed the external murals on the church and subsequently learnt they had been painted in January 2026 to celebrate the Via Francigena.  We refilled our water bottles and dowsed our hats ready for the next section, alongside the Via Cassia. We noted that Dave the Goblin had placed his sticker here - good to see that he was still going! Surprisingly the traffi...