Vetralla — Oct 23

Today we had three choices. There is the extraordinarily long route, 42 km to Sutri (out of the question), and a 17 km optional route to Vetrala, with a possible 1.5 km extension to see some Etruscan burial sites and a Roman bridge, which we decided to walk. The road passed through a Via Cava—a road dug deep into the soil by the wheels of the Etruscans! The Roman bridge was a disappointment but we did see its few remains. The various Etruscan sites were even more of a disappointment, being simply covered holes in the ground.

But all was not lost for us. In the early 300s Saint Valentine and Deacon Hillary who came from the East to preach, were martyred and buried here, outside of Viterbo, in the persecutions of Diocletian.

Mark 8:34–35: [Jesus] summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.

So if you wanted to see Etruscan burial sites, you don’t see much.

We did discover that we were walking on the original Via Francigena that existed before the 800 AD incursion of the people of Viterbo who wiped out the poor little town of Saint Valentine, stealing his relics and moving them to the cathedral…a curious way to practice religion!

We were able to pray at the presumed place of burial.

The way back to the official alternate version was a little tricky. If you’re not following the Stations of the Cross on the way back, you’re on the wrong route.

Some poor priest, back in the 60s had great energy and put up a very nice series of outdoor Stations, ending at the burial sites of the saints, but it’s very clear, no one has been using them for years. You do your best, you see what flowers and then life happens.

After that, the walk was, at times,  nondescript, with lots of olive orchards and some large fields of kale. We walked at times in some deep ruts in the road. It wasn’t until we climbed up through an olive orchard and sat down at a wonderful rest station, up high and looking out over the scenery, that we had any idea of just how beautiful it all was. Life can be that way when you’re in a rut (“when you’re a rat” according to auto-correct).

Love from your priest,

Fr. Patrick