It happens pretty much every time I tell people about our upcoming travel plans. They’ll ask, “Where are you going?” I’ll say “To Italy.” Their faces will brighten with a smile, as they then ask, “Oh, I love Italy! Where in Italy?” So far, we are all good; no one is looking at me like I’m three cards short of a full deck.
“We are landing in Rome, taking a train to Assisi, and then walking back to Rome”, is my Reader’s Digest response to the question of where in Italy. Here is where the eyebrows shoot up as they then query, “How far is that?” When I lay it on them, it is roughly 150 miles; typically their mouths drop open. This may or may not be followed by “on purpose?” or “why?”
More testing is required, but early survey results indicated that nearly 100% of respondents believe that I’m in need of a cognitive wellness check once I share that I’m walking 150 miles in Italy. I suppose it does sound like a long way to walk.
Many of you may be surprised to learn that I didn’t come up with this plan to walk across a little snippet of Italy; Brenda did. Well, actually her sister Dianne provided the seed. You see, Brenda recently celebrated a milestone birthday, and we typically try to do something big in terms of a travel adventure around such a life event. When I turned 50, we ran an ultramarathon in California. When Brenda turned 50, we went to New Zealand. On my 60th, we did Oktoberfest. You get the idea: go somewhere and do something that you’ve not done before and make it as big as you can.
Initially, Australia was on the table for Brenda’s milestone birthday. However, the cost of getting there and getting around to see just a few of the many places to experience became formidable. As we mulled over options, Dianne mentioned that a friend of hers had recently completed a portion of the Way Of Saint Francis in Italy. They had walked from Florence to Rome, a distance of just over 320 miles! While the distance sounded daunting, the idea was definitely intriguing.
Years ago, we’d watched the movie, The Way, starring Martin Sheen. In the movie, Martin Sheen’s character has lost his son and is dealing with the loss by walking the Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James). This is a 500-mile journey starting in France and working across northern Spain. Brenda and I always thought that would be quite an adventure, but at the time, we were working and the thought of more than a month of walking was for another day. Later we read Andrew McCarthy’s book called Walking With Sam, where he and his son walk the Camino. He made it sound like a horrible walk, so we sort of wrote it off.
Turns out we weren’t the only ones intrigued with the idea of the Way of St. Francis, as Dianne mentioned that she and her husband, Greg, were also thinking that a walk through Italy sounded like fun. While 320 miles sounded a bit far for our first long walk, we determined that Assisi to Rome (roughly 154 miles) would be perfect for beginners such as ourselves.
We based our decision on the route and how far to go using a couple of guidebooks that Dianne’s friend recommended: The Way of St Francis: Via Di Francesco by Sandy Brown and The Way of St. Francis by Matthew Harms. Both books are great; however, after spending time recently reviewing our stops and putting it all into a Google My Maps, I think the Sandy Brown book is better. There are just a few more details on each leg of the route. The added bonus is that Sandy administers a very informative and active Facebook group that provides links to GPX files (GPS Exchange Points) you can use to lay out your own map.
Dianne’s friend and our research indicated that places to stay along the Way of St. Francis filled up quickly, so we booked all of our accommodations a year in advance. Even that far out, pickings were getting slim, but I think we found some nice places. Part of the availability problem is that most of the towns along our route are small and don’t have a variety of large hotels. This is obviously super cool in that we are traveling by foot through mainly rural areas, but it makes finding lodging a wee-bit challenging.
With accommodations wrangled, we had to decide what to do about our luggage. Do we pack ultra-light and carry our goods like a true pilgrim, or pack light-ish and see about transportation for our bags? In all honesty, I never got into backpacking. It sounds like a terrific way to get out there, but I wasn’t much of a camper as a kid, and that remains true today. Thankfully, Brenda and our traveling partners for this quest were on the same page. We opted to arrange with a service called Beppino, which will pick up our luggage each morning and move it to the next stop for a reasonable fee. The bonus with this option is that should any one of us need to arrange for a ride, they can handle this too.
Here is our itinerary for those that are curious:
Day 1 - Fly to Rome
Day 2 - Arrive in Rome, take train to Assisi
Day 3 and 4 - Explore Assisi
Day 5 - Begin Way of St. Francis from Assisi to Foligno (11.5 miles)
Day 6 - Walk Foligno to Trevi (7.8 miles)
Day 7 - Walk Trevi to Poreta (7.5 miles)
Day 8 - Walk Poreta to Spoleto (9.8 miles)
Day 9 - Walk Spoleto to Ceselli (10.3 miles - actually staying in Scheggino)
Day 10 - Walk Scheggino (Ceselli) to Arrone (9.4 miles)
Day 11 - REST DAY - Stay in Arrone
Day 12 - Walk Arrone to Piediluco (7.9 miles - actually staying in Labro)
Day 13 - Walk Labro (Piediluco) to Poggio Bustone (13.3 miles)
Day 14 - Walk Poggio Bustone to Rieti (10.7 miles)
Day 15 - REST DAY - Stay in Rieti
Day 16 - Walk Rieti to Poggio San Lorenzo (Ornaro) (13.6 miles)
Day 17 - Walk Ornaro (Poggio San Lorenzo) to Ponticelli Sabino (12.8 miles)
Day 18 - Walk Ponticello Sabino to Monterotondo (18.3 miles)
Day 19 - Walk Monterotondo to Boma Country House (Cinquina) (7.8 miles)
Day 20 - REST DAY - Stay in Boma Country House Cinquina - no luggage transport
Day 21 - Walk Cinquina to Rome (10 miles) - Finish of walk
Day 22 - Hang out in Rome, say hello to the Pope
Because we didn’t really get to explore Venice during our trip in 2023 to Italy, we tacked on a visit after the walk. And since we are already in Europe, Prague was just begging us to come visit. So we decided to go big and spend a week there as well to round out our itinerary:
Day 23 to Day 25 - Train to Venice and explore
Day 26 to Day 33 - Fly to Prague and explore
Day 34 - Fly Home
With our trip arranged, we spent the last year training. Brenda and I have been walking 5 miles every morning for a few years now. We occasionally added a few extra miles here and there. Over the course of the year, we’ve been working to increase the miles. Our New York City Rush adventure was a great test as we walked between 9 and 12 miles each of the five days we were in town. I’m pretty confident we’ve got the stamina for many days on our feet. The question is: do we have the functional strength?
I’ve previously shared my quest to be as fit as I can, which is a tale full of enough twists, turns, ups, and downs to rival a run on any mountain trail. In addition to walking, we had been doing high-intensity (HIT) circuits and regular weight training. While we got stronger, we weren’t really progressing. We accidentally solved the progressing problem a couple of months ago by doing a free fitness assessment at our local pickleball facility, Wolverine Pickleball.
Representatives from Applied Fitness Solutions were providing the fitness assessments at Wolverine Pickleball, which included grip strength and lower-body strength testing (via an isometric mid-thigh pull). There may have been a quick VO2max check in there as well. I arrived thinking that I’m pretty damn fit for an old dude. I was expecting I’d be in the high-end range of good, maybe just edging into the shadowy edge of Hulk-level strength.
The test revealed that I was firmly in the middle of the “Good” strength and cardio fitness level. Great news, and the folks from Applied Fitness Solutions said I was in excellent shape. But there was part of me hoping that I’d be on the high side of good, touching the elusive excellent.
There were no hard sells during our assessment. The AFS reps (Michael and Kemper) shared that their place took a more personal approach to fitness, with each member assigned an exercise physiologist who laid out a progressive plan to help them achieve their goals. If you need diet or other health-related coaching, they could help there as well.
After the fitness assessment, both Brenda and I were curious if AFS could help us prepare for walking the Way of St. Francis. Long story short, we met with the folks at AFS, toured their place, and became members. Brenda and I were assigned our exercise physiologists; mine is a fantastic young man named Adrian. He laid out a strength training plan with my goal of being as functionally strong as I can be as we prepared to ramble through Italy.
I’ve got to tell you that Brenda and I are feeling awesome about our preparations after joining AFS. We’ve been doing higher reps with lower weights as well as high-intensity circuit sessions along with our daily walks. I’m pretty sure that I’m as strong, if not stronger, than when I ran the ultramarathon when I turned 50. I thought I was strong enough to do the walk, but now that we’ve been with Applied Fitness Solutions for a bit, I know I can do this.
Our trip to Italy to walk the Way of St. Francis is nearly here. We’ll be up north for the U.P. Fall Beer Festival in Marquette to celebrate with our beer family, and then dash back home to repack and set sail for Rome. I’ve got a lot of prep still to do in terms of familiarizing myself with our route and also figuring out what all we want to do in Prague—an adventure within an adventure! I’m sure we’ll be sharing our experiences along the way. Hopefully you won’t get tired of us saying “Buongiorno!” Thanks for reading, friends. Ciao a tutti!
Upcoming Events You Won’t Want to Miss
Our events calendar on Life In Michigan is a treasure trove of events we’ve scoured the interwebs to bring to you. There are a ton of great events coming up. From that list, here are a few highlights:
Mr. Phylzzz, Bronson Arm, and Disco Behemoth at The Runoff in Kalamazoo on Sep 3.
Improv For Life Skills at Hear.Say Theater in Ann Arbor on Sep. 3
True Devil, Jezter’s Fun House, Trouble Clinic at Ziggy’s in Ypsilanti on Sep 4.
Chirp at the Mitten Bar in Ludington on Sep 4.
Backache Records Presents: Cripple Fight on Tape at Pux Taphouse in Grand Rapids on Sep 4
In Other News
Brenda shares a recap of our time at the Big Sable Point Lighthouse as volunteer keepers (a slightly different take from her excellent Sunday Sip recap)
We checked a unique record release show by Kelsey at the Arboretum in Saline. She played her debut album, Love Hard, start to finish, and it was a real treat.
Life In Michigan Podcast
It is always great to talk with our excellent friend, the beer ninja, Jay Green. I hope you all take an hour to enjoy stories about beer, life with us, and our pal Jay.
Crafting Community, Midwest IPAs, and "Day with Jay" Adventures with Brewer Jay Green!
Get ready, Michigan craft beer fans! In this episode of the Life In Michigan podcast, we sat down with one of our favorite beer friends, Perrin Brewing’s resident “Beer Ninja,” Jay Green.
Substack Restack Attack
Substack is where it’s at. Check out these other superb publications:
Zachariah Malachi shares a great story on Dolly’s escape from Porter.
Lots of great images in this collaboration between Susanne Helmert and Todd Haughton
Matt Fish has a fine review of Boston by Boston, which turned 50 recently (cripes!)
Darren Cools shares some thoughts on being earnest in our curiosity and authenticity.
Adventures Yet To Print
Well, Fuzz Fest was this past weekend, and that means a big story on music with plenty of concert photos is on tap. I’m behind in getting out my Blissfield on Tap story. Hopefully it will drop later today. Plus, we are still brewing up stories on Venture Brewing and the River Raisin National Battlefield Park in Monroe. Hopefully, we can get all that done before we hit the trail in Italy!
Sunday Sip Flashback
Now that we have a couple of years of Sunday Sips under our belt, I thought it was time to dip into the archives for a Sunday Sip Flashback.
🧙♂️Sunday Sip🧙
Have you ever wondered what staying overnight in a cozy Hobbit Home would be like? If you bring Malcolm Gladwell along, be prepared for some unexpected twists. Ours went down a rabbit hole into cultural legacies and, oddly, reflections about expiration dates.
Sunday Sip 📸
Can you feel it? That cozy glow of another Sunday Sip bundled about you. Can you hear it? Your good buddy Chuck saying, “Hey friend! What’s happening?” Seriously friends, shoot me a message and tell me how you are doing. While the winter has been crazy with a lack of snow and thunderstorms in February here in Michigan, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t been lon…
What Are You Reading? What Are You Spinning?
Boy, do I sound like a broken record! Due to eight days of struggling with an intestinal bug that required a significant amount of time in the bathroom, I’m once again at my deadline and coming up short on sharing my reading and listening pleasures with you all. I’ll see if I’ve got the bandwidth for a special update, perhaps via Fans With Bands on the music end and catch-up on my reading notes for you in the next sip.
That’s A Wrap
As my buddy Sturgill once said:
“Keep your head out of the clouds
And remember to be kind
And just stay in school
Stay off the drugs
And keep between the lines.”
Thank you for reading. Seriously, thank you! I hope your week is excellent! Don’t forget to kick out the jams!
Now, here is your moment of zen:
Inspiring! Can't wait to hear all about the adventure.
So excited for you both! And I know the feeling -- try telling people you've walked across Spain three times by choice. . . and that your favorite way to spend a "vacation" is walking 12 miles a day. (I do add the caveat that part of the fun is meeting all the people that are on the Camino routes.)
Based on your year-ahead planning, it sounds like there are plenty heading over to the Italian routes these days. Years ago I met an Italian while I was volunteering in Spain on the Camino. He wasn't walking the route. He was sent by the Italian tourism bureau to find out how to make Italy's walking routes as popular as the Camino. Looks like he was successful:) Wonderful!