VDD Day 01. 11 July. Bologna Railway Station to Agriturismo Piccolo Raeida near Badolo. 27 km. 9 hours. 940m up. 480m down. We left Bologna railway station at 0800 having arrived from Verona. It was already warm. Initially our route took us south through the centre of the city for 2 km and then west towards the old city gate at Porto Saragossa.

It was a remarkable walk with virtually all of it on covered pavements for which Bologna is famous. Under the arches it was cool still. At the Porto Saragossa the covered way continued for another 3 km climbing up a hill towards the Santuario Madonna di San Luca, arguably the most famous and spectacular building in Bologna and certainly with the best view over the city.

By now it was hot but the route dropped down a road and then a series of small paths for a couple of kilometres to the Parco Talon by the old church called Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Martino in Casalecchio di Reno a distant suburb of Bologna. We were hot and needed lunch so found a cafe on the small street and had bread rolls, water and yoghurt and took some for the journey also. It was a great find and the last food and drink we would encounter today

We left the cafe, returned the short distance to the route and walked a couple of kilometres passing the Agriturismo Parco della Chiusa, which would have been a great place to stay to break up the long first day especially if one had a late start from Bologna. After this farm we started a blistering hot 9 km walk south on the east side of the River Reno. The cicadas were deafening on this stretch and would probably give me tinnitus if I lived here. Sometimes the path went along tracks but other times it wove through jungle-like vegetation on a small path. After reaching a couple of ponds it climbed over a rock ridge and then started following a road to finish off this section near the river. It took a good 3 hours to walk this from our lunch stop and it sapped our energy.  It was perhaps 38 degrees. At last, with shirts sodden with sweat, we got to the turn off up a small path in the native oak and pine woods. 

After the jungle and the hot valley floor the climb past Mugnano di Sopra hamlet was a joy. It was shaded and the higher we climbed the more there was a breeze. It took a good hour, perhaps one and a half, to reach the top of the climb which was just 3 kilometres long but climbed some 350 metres. At the top the landscape and vegetation was completely changed. The poplars and creepers of the valley floor and jungle were long gone and now it was cedar, pine and the ubiquitous oak. We could look down on the Reno River valley far below to our west. To the east were rolling hills of forest and grassy fields for hay. It was what we hoped for after the sweltering heat of the afternoon on the valley floor. 

We still had another 5 km to hike in all but it was easy and breezy. The route took us on small tracks and lanes and also through forest paths. Frequently we passed villas and farms whose xenaphobic owners had fenced with all sorts of wire, fences and warning signs. Between the forest there were many small fields where hay had been collected. It was a very sleepy rural area. There were some fontanelles or faucets up here too, as there had been all day, to provide drinking water and to wash the sweat off our faces. The path crossed a barely noticeable Pass called Passo Monte del Frate at 530m and then descended slightly past a bed and breakfast and onto our accommodation at Agriturismo Piccola Raieda where we could rest at last after 28 km and 9 hours in the heat. 

The Agriturismo Piccola Raieda was superb. It had a spring fed pond where we cooled our feet as we drank fizzy water with the two large Maremma herd dogs in the garden. After a wonderful shower in a lovely cool room the host made us the most amazing 4 course meal which was regional specialities from the top drawer. After supper we retired to the room where I bashed out the blog while Fiona relaxed on the bed. It had been a hard day but the stay at the end made it all the more worthwhile. Hopefully the route stays high now in the more arid temperate zone rather than drop down to the furnace of the valley. 

VDD Day 02. 12 July. Agriturismo Piccolo Raeida near Badolo to Madonna dei Fornelli. 25 km. 8 hours. 1090m up. 790m down. After a great stay at Piccola Raeida we set off at about 0830. It looked like it was going to be another roasting day as it was quite still and there was not a cloud in the light blue sky. We started to climb almost as soon as we left on a small path which was often across flat rock slabs. It was not steep but it was sustained and we gained height quite quickly. We were essentially climbing up the edge of an escarpment with an increasing sheer drop to our west. After a short hour we finally reached the top of Monte Adone, 654m. There was a huge sheer drop on our west now, nearly 100 metres I suspect. Just before the top was a chasm, or gully, which cut deep into the cliffs. From the top there was a great view, especially to the south where we were going and we could hazard a guess as to where today’s destination was. Everywhere to the south the Apennine Mountains rose with each ridge a bit higher and more opaque than the nearer one. We took in the view and enjoyed the gentle cooling breeze before beginning the150m descent to Brento. 

The path down was dry and dusty but after half an hour we emerged from the arid scrub and walked down the tarmac toad to enter the large hamlet of Brenta. It was a very sedate place but there was a trattoria and it was open. The friendly owner served us water and cake and explained the next stop was about 2.5-3 hours away. On leaving Brento we continued down the road passing the exclusive Agriturismo Ca’ di Mazza and then the more down-to-earth B and B at Le Mandrie. I had hoped we would leave the quiet road and go through the forest more but the route continued to follow the road for another kilometre at least to Furcolo, where there was a beautiful farmhouse. This road we followed for about 6 km from Brenta was very quiet and because it went along the crest of the ridge it was in the gentle cooling breeze and had great views. 

After Furcolo however we met a bigger road with perhaps a car every 3-4 minutes. It was hot now and the cooling breeze had vanished so we had to endure the heat of the early afternoon for a further 2 km as we plodded along the road. There was the odd house but no hamlet until we got to Selve where there was a simple bar. We were parched so went in for a fizzy water which all bars had. However we had set our sights on stopping at Monzuno in an hour’s time so did not linger but continued to plod up the road past Tre Fasci. There were a couple of places where the route diverted off the road into the arid scrub on a small path but by and large it was road all the way until we climbed up the final slopes into the large village. At the main junction of roads there was a small square with a cluster of bars and simple inns to stay in. We picked the busiest bar and had salads and cool drinks watching life in the sleep village. There were a handful of other hikers, 4 in all, and nowhere near the amount I thought would be doing the walk. 

After lunch and about 1430 we left the bar to do the last 10 km. It was a much nicer route with little road and a lot of forest path. After a kilometre we left the track by Monzuno football ground and climbed up into the oak and sweet chestnut forest. We passed a couple of eccentric farms which looked like a hippie commune and then returned to the forest again. It was cool under the trees and there was a good breeze now. We climbed eventually up to Monte Poggio Santa Croce where there was a stout telecoms tower right on top of the hill at 940m. It was the highest point of the day. 

After the tower we continued south along the ridge on a track with great views on each side especially the east where there were hamlets of fortress-like farm houses scattered about the mixed farmed and forested hillside in all the small valleys and undulations. I am sure most of the farms were hundreds of years old. Soon we got to one such farm ourselves and passed right through its working yard where old tractors were hitched up to haymaking tools. This lovely old farm was at Le Croci. 

After the farm we climbed gently again on a mix of track and path through the oak and sweet chestnut woods until we reached Monte De Galletto also 940m where there were 4 large wind turbines. It was breezy now and the turbines were working hard and noisily cutting through the air as the spun round. In the late afternoon with the sun losing its intensity and the breeze still cooling us we started the easy relaxed saunter down the track for 4 km to Madonna dei Fornelli. There was corn and fodder in the fields and some had already been harvested. The village of Madonna dei Fornelli did not appear until the last minute as it was in a saddle on the ridge. We walked into the middle of this smaller village where there were a few simple hotels and restaurants. 

We were booking into the Musolesi Hotel. It was very simple but adequate, suitable for pilgrims. However it had a great shower and a west facing balcony. Our sweaty clothes were washed and drying by 1930 when we went out for a meal. We managed to buy a map of the walk in a shop and then went to Bar Skal where we had a great meal. There was a shop in town which made up rolls and this would be perfect for us tomorrow as there was probably nowhere to buy food along the walk as we walked south further into the forested Apennines  until we got to Passo de Futa at the end of the day. 

VDD Day 03. 13 July. Madonna dei Fornelli to Passo della Futa. 17 km. 5.5 hours. 710m up. 640m down. We had a slower start today and had breakfast at 0800. There was a great choice of foods and coffee. After this we went to the nearby shop and the lovely staff there made us 2 large focaccia rolls with prosciutto ham and creamy cheese. We eventually left at 0900 and went south up the hill on a small road which soon turned into a track and levelled off as it went through hay pastures, some of which were being cut and turned. After half an hour the track entered the woods and the lovely views down each side of the spine we were walking along were blocked. 

We climbed through the woods for another half hour to reach Monte Dei Cucchi, 1139m. En route we passed an old man coming down with a large wicker basket full of Boletus type mushrooms. He was beaming with pride and would no doubt get a warm welcome where he returned home with his foragings. There were a few houses hidden in clearings in the deciduous woods, mostly of small beech and oak, and all of them had fantastic hydrangeas in the gardens. After a further half hour the path dropped down to Pian di Balestra where there was a parking place; where day trippers started forest walks, a lodge to sleep in, and a restaurant. 

We passed through this hamlet and reentered the beech forest again as it climbed up to Monte Bastione, 1189m. As we walked here were passed various sections of the old Roman Road which had been uncovered by archeologists some 40 years ago. The original road was built in 187 BC. Just before Monte Bastione we crossed from Emilio-Romano into Tuscany province. The path now wove through the beech woods. The light occasionally shone through the canopy giving a light green hue to the forest. We passed a lovely old barn at Monte Luarion which had hay meadows around it waiting for the harvest and then returned into the beech woods slowly descending to the Passo Passeggre at about 1000 metres where there was a pond. We had been going for about 3 ½ hours now so when we reached a couple of benches beside the pond it seemed a great place to eat our giant and well filled focaccia rolls. 

After lunch and our rest by the pond we climbed again through the beech woods, sometimes quite steeply on a mix of some rough tracks but mostly wide paths. There were more segments of old Roman Road which had been wrestled back from the beech forest and restored. As we were going up one section to Le Banditacce hill we met two groups of people on horses. There were about 8 in each group and the riders looked quite competent. I don’t know if it was a club of friends or a commercial business. A little beyond the horses we reached Le Banditacce, which at 1205m, was the highest point on the Via Degli Dei. There was a small bell for walkers to ring. 

There now began a long gentle easy descent through the cool beech forest for some 4 kilometres. As we went down the forest suddenly changed to spruce and the demarcation was quite abrupt. I don’t know if it was due to human cultivation or we just were in a different soil or aspect or humidity. Occasionally it switched back to beech abruptly and then spruce again. As we neared the Passo della Futa we could hear traffic on the road which crossed the pass. 

We got to the road near the pass just opposite the German War Graves Cemetery. Apparently some 39,000 Germans had died in the various Appennine campaigns between 1939 and 1945. The various scattered graves, some marked and some unmarked, were all collected into this large cemetery with its ceremonial stone spire and individually marked gravestones. We went in briefly to see the scale of it before continuing just another 100 metres to the pass itself where there was a roundabout. One road went down to Passo della Futa Camping just 200 metres away while another went to Santa Luca 2 kilometres away where there was a village with a possible hotel – but well off the track. 

We had a place to stay a kilometre away at a tiny hamlet of 4 houses in a row at L’Apparita where one of the houses was an AirBnB with 3 rooms and a shared kitchen. It was a short hot walk down to it for a bit until it climbed again on a path through cool woods to the hamlet. It was easy to find the house and it was just off the main Via Degli Dei route and easy to get back to it tomorrow. We let ourselves in using the key box and let Franca, the host, know we arrived. He came quickly with some cold drinks to supplement the fridge full of cold beer. He was a great host and showed us everything. As fortune would have it we were the only guests so we did not have to share with anyone else. Franca showed us pasta and artisanal sauces to put on it, explained the payment for the beers, wine, soft drinks and pasta we might use and left. There was a washing machine so we put all the clothes in and then had a shower. Afterwards we had a bucketful of pasta and sauce and then relaxed in the cosy kitchen for a few hours before and early bed. It had been a great day, the easiest and most rural so far. 

VDD Day 04. 14 July. Passo della Futa to San Piero a Sieve. 23 km. 7 hours. 500m up. 1160m down. After a quiet night in the AirBnB at L’Apparita we had an early breakfast which we helped ourselves to and then set off at 0800. L’Apparita was not quite on the main Via Degli Dei route but just to the south of it. The main route went along the ridge which we skirted to the south of the ridge yesterday for 2 km and now today we had to walk parallel to the ridge again for 2 km until we met the route again. It was not a huge detour and added very little to the journey. However there was a 200 odd metre climb to reach the saddle where the two paths met again. The path we took was dark and shaded as it climbed gently through the beech woods until it reached the dry crest of the ridge. 

There was a great view here down to the valley on the east side where there were a few hamlets and then rolling farmland and forest beyond into the haze of the distant and higher ridges. We continued east along the ridge on a wide rocky path which many mountain bikers were also using mostly on electric bikes which coped with the rough terrain remarkably well. A good hour after leaving L’Apparita the route finally reached the high point of the day which was Monte Gazzaro, 1128m. We could get glimpses to the south through the trees of the vast bowls of forested landscape we were skirting round the top of. When we reached Passo dell’ Osteria Bruciata where folklore had it there was once a forest restaurant which served previous customers to the next unsuspecting customers. Here we also reached a larger junction of paths. 

Our path headed south down the ridge with the deep inhospitable forested valley of Pian de Gianni to our west and a wide open valley with farmland and even distant villages to our east. The descent down the ridge took us from the lovely shaded beech forest into spruce and then pines as it got hotter and drier. We stopped in the last bit of beech forest before plunging down the hot path into the dusty pines and oak scrub. We passed Mont Alto, Mont Linari and finally passed by Mont Calvi, each a hundred metres lower than the previous until the forest finally broke up into scattered farmland at about 500 metres. 

From here we continued to drop down small tracks into farmland with lots of vines, sunflowers and even legume type crops passing lovely old farms with tile roofs and heavily shuttered windows to keep the heat out. Some of the farms like Catelaccio were Agriturismo farms where one could stay. All the time the village of Sant Agata with its modest church tower was getting closer and closer until the farms bunched up on its periphery. We left the official route here to make a 400m detour into this gorgeous village on a narrow lane over a bridge with a small refreshing stream underneath, then past the church and into the main square which was quite small. Here there was a Osteria with a characterful owner. We had the ubiquitous 1 ½ litres of carbonated water and then a plate of tortellini and ragu which was the local speciality. It was delicious. In the Osteria and in the shade of the church there were quite a few other hikers, perhaps 12 in all, and all Italian bar us. It was the most we had seen all trip.

We had done the Lion’s share of the day now but still had 8 km to go and it was in the heat of the afternoon, and we were back at 3-400 metres altitude, but mercifully there was a small breeze.  We left the road just south of Sant Agata and continued on a track. We passed many old farmhouses, some modernised and saved and others about to fall into disrepair and abandoned. The fields here were mostly for hay and large round bales were scattered over the patchwork of fields. However there were also many fields with young sunflowers which stood erect and regimented. They were just starting to produce flower heads but in 6 weeks time they would be a glory of colour. There was the odd hamlet, such as Gabbiano, where there were perhaps 20 houses, a church, and nothing else.  It was the halfway stage and another hour took us to the outskirts of San Piero a Sieve. We crossed the small Fiume Sieve river by some playing fields and sports ground and then found ourselves at a small roundabout at the northern end of the small town. A leafy quiet main tree-lined street led south and after a few hundred metres we reached the small hotel we were staying at, called La Pieve. It was very tranquil and cool and covered in petunias. The landlady took us through to the garden and showed us a beautiful garden room which was perfect. The garden was covered in petunia boxes and baskets and added to the tranquillity. There was even a sink with a washboard outside to wash our clothes and hand them in a hot covered passageway. After a great shower I wrote the blog and finished at 1900. It was then time to go and eat and we left the sanctuary of La Pieve and ventured out onto the main street where there was an Osteria which had a fare for Via Degli Dei walkers and pilgrims who were going on to Rome.  

VDD Day 05. 15 July. San Piero a Sieve to Fiesole. 30 km. 8.5 hours. 1190m up. 1090m down. The couple who ran the La Pieve Bed and Breakfast in San Piero a Sieve were very tuned to the needs of walkers. He explained all the food stops to me and warned me I would be best taking a packed lunch from them. They also said we could have breakfast at 0630 which we jumped at the chance of as it was a long way to go today. The breakfast was large with lots of breads, biscuits and cakes, as is the Italian style. We left at 0730 as the town was getting going but while the sun was still cool. We walked up a side street to the west passing old terraced houses and then entered a lane which soon became shaded and leafy. It climbed to the top of a small hill called Scopeto. At the top of the hill was a campsite. 

The route now went down a track and across a road. There were a few fields of sunflowers here and many were in bloom. After the road the route climbed up a track for 2 kilometres. It went past a farm and then up past many Italian Cypress, Cupressus sempervirens, the iconic tree of Tuscany. Eventually we approached a small hamlet of older farmhouses and a very large and grand Medici villa. It was at Trebbio. There was a beautiful font here also. The Medici villa was a little hidden in the trees but as we headed south on the gravel track its magnificence was soon revealed, especially when we got to the farmhouses at Rabatta. Some 3 km from Trebbio, and maybe 7 from San Piero a Sieve, we dropped down to the hamlet of Tagliaferro in the valley and crossed the bridge over the Torrent Carza stream. 

It was the end of the easy section. From here we started a near 600 metre climb and as the heat of the day was building. We split the climb into two parts. The first half was largely through deciduous forest with a lot of oak and chestnut. The flowers of the chestnuts lay all over the ground like pipe cleaners. After a good hour of climbing in the heat with little wind we reached a small road with an abandoned and dilapidated farmhouse and attached church. The roofs had just started to fall in and vines were growing through the broken shutters. We stopped here for our very good packed lunch from La Pieve B&B. 

After lunch we continued up through the generally shaded woods past more deciduous trees until eventually they gave way to pines and spruce. The path was easy but it was hot in the heat of the day and it sapped our energy. An hour after lunch at the dilapidated farmhouse at Badia Bounsollazzo I at last spotted a large roof on the hilltop ahead. It was the Convente di Monte Senario. There was a pine tree lined avenue to get to it and soon we were passing through large gates and picnicking families to reach it. It was a large and imposing building and was perhaps home to 100 nuns. There was a shop here but it was only open between 0900 and 1200 and then 1500 to 1800 to allow the nuns to pray and it was 1330.

We filled up our water containers at the fountain and then started the descent down the south ridge of Monte Senario along another tree lined avenue to religious stations along it. At the bottom we turned east past an enormous stone ice house where winter ice from local ponds was stored with hay between the layers, and then came onto a quiet road. We followed the road for a good km until it veered west and we veered east on a path. The next two kilometres were quite idyllic as it was across a breezy saddle covered in hay fields with the occasional old farmhouse. To the south we could see down the valley to the ridge top town of Fiesole, where we were heading and then well beyond that the plain in which Firenze sat. It was just possible to make out the enormous dome of the Duomo, or cathedral. The breezy arable saddle soon ended in a shaded wood and just beyond we dropped down into Vetta le Croci. Here we left the route to make a slight detour into the village. Everything was closed but just beyond was a food truck and vegetable market which was open every day from 0800 to 2000. We stopped here and had paninis, yoghurts and cold drinks. It was quite busy with many customers stopping to buy cheap vegetables. It was a welcome break after 6 hours and the hot afternoon sun. 

We dragged ourselves away and could see the remaining route before us. We quickly regained the path and then followed a sparsely wooded and dry ridge for 5 km as it climbed to Monte Fanna. There were great views and some breeze but by and large it was baking hot and we were both sweating profusely. From the summit of Monte Fanna at about 680m, we started a long and easy descent to Fiesole, which we could see the whole time. The route was initially through pine forest but soon entered scrub and then cultivated land which was largely olive. We passed more and more farmhouses and then villas as we approached Fiesole. The official route seemed to bypass the town and head down to Firenze at the last saddle but we were staying in Fiesole as Firenze was too far. So we continued down the road to almost the main square. It was not a good way and there was little room to avoid traffic especially on some of the blind bends for about a kilometre. We would have been better treading a path through the quiet roads on the crest of the residential part of the town. 

We found the mundane Hotel Villa Bonelli and were soon washing off a day’s worth of sweat and dust. In the evening we went down to the main square which was lovely. The square was actually triangular with a large clock tower and old council building on one side. The other two sides were bars and restaurants. We sat in the middle of the triangle where some of the restaurants had expanded their outdoor seating into. The waiters and waitresses had to cross a pedestrian crossing across the same busier road we walked down constantly to serve the 50 customers on the other side, but they were confident the cars would stop and then all did. 

VDD Day 06. 16 July. Fiesole to Firenze (Florence) Railway Station. 11 km. 3.5 hours. 110m up. 380m down. We both slept well in the dark cool room of Hotel Bonelli after yesterday’s long hot hike. Breakfast was late at 0800 as per usual for a hotel which does not cater for workers or outdoor folk, but it did not matter for us as we only had 3 hours to hike today. We left well after 0900 and went down to the main square which seemed deserted after the previous night with all the diners. It was already warm. 

When preparing my routes I use an app called Strava. It has a facility to create a route using heat maps of previous users. I combine this with other maps, in this case one with the route of the Via Degli Dei available online. Once I have created the route I save it as a GPX file and send it to my Garmin Fenix watch. The watch is my main means of navigation. If I am confused I look at the map on my phone and if still confused dig out the paper map from my rucksack. Unfortunately for the day’s route I made a mistake in route planning as the online route was a bit vague with alternatives. Instead of following the obvious route out of the SW corner of the square at Fiesole and down the ridge for a kilometre, I planned the route out of Fiesole to the SE down to Cave di Maiano. The route I planned was very circuitous and took us back through the quiet streets on the southside of the ridge the town sat on to nearly the campsite. Here it headed down on tracks past old quarries now engulfed by oak woods. It wanted to take us even further to the SE but it seemed so out of the way we decided to head west along quiet roads to try and gain the more obvious alternative route at the Convent di San Domenico. Once we were on the small roads leading to this Convent and the junction we passed lots of expensive villas, many still surrounded by olive groves. It was a nice detour but it took a good hour and when we reached the convent we could look up the hill and see Fiesole clock tower just above us, perhaps just 15 minutes away. 

At this junction by the convent there was a small quiet road which took us straight down Via Giovanni Boccaccio. It was a small road with some beautiful old villas on each side of it. One in particular looked magnificent and very aristocratic and it was called Villa Palmieri. Even the home farm of this villa looked sumptuous and the whole estate was surrounded in neatly laid out olive groves. Another villa was Villa Schifanoia which was an exclusive university. 

As we travelled further down the road we dropped down into the open Mugnone valley where a small stream flowed. The stream was quite clear and there were plenty of large fish swimming about in the pools. They were largely confined to their pool until the next heavy rain would allow them to move. Soon the villas and houses gave way to apartments and we entered the outskirts of Firenze and the suburb of Le Cure. Here we were forced into the urban meat grinder by going through an underpass under a railway where many homeless people had set up raised beds where they spent each night after a day of trying to earn food. A bit beyond was Piazza della Liberta where we entered the more historical and touristic part of Firenze. We followed one street here all the way to the Duomo cathedral whose massive dome dominated all of Firenze and we had seen for the last 24 hours even from 20 kilometres away. En route to the Duomo we passed the Galleria dell’Accademia, where Michaelangelo’s statue of David was. The queues to get in were enormous, as were the queues for the Duomo and the tower beside it. It was hot and quite stressful after Appennine forests and I was so thankful we had been to these places before and did not have to endure them again in this season. We decided the best thing to do was to walk past the top end brand shops nearby selling superfluous luxury and continue to the nearby Railway Station.

The station was relatively small but busy. We bought a ticket to Bologna on the fast train and got it at 1355. It was a very fast and efficient train and it took us just 38 minutes to cover the entire walk of 6 days to Bologna railway station which was much bigger and more spacious than Firenzes. Here we retrieved some superfluous luggage like fleeces and duvet jackets and walked into the centre of Bologna where we rented an apartment for 3 nights. Bologna was a much quieter city with less pressure to tick off the sights. It was much easier and cooler to walk around due to the porticos or covered pavements. The Via Degli Dei had been a very nice walk but it was perhaps too hot to do it mid summer and I think May or September would have been better. It would also be possible to combine this walk with the Via Sanese (www.baxternature.com/via-sanese) to make an 11 day walk from Bologna to Siena with very varied scenery and culture. 

 

Back