“Slow Travel”, above all, means to explore your destination at a speed which is natural to the human species.
The human mind did not evolve to process impressions when hurled along at the speed of a car or a coach. So if you want to give your travel experiences a chance to penetrate the mere surface of your memory, to sink in and to grow deep roots in your mind (from where they can eventually trigger new insights and new ideas), you shall have to move about on your own two feet.
Hiking is consequently a key element in the concept of Slow Travel, and most of the events at last weekend’s Slow Travel Fest in Monteriggioni featured at least some element of hiking.
“Walk where your feet will take you” indeed.
After a brief welcome, we were taken on an opening walk on the Via Francigena, …
… the ancient land route from the Alps to Rome, the city which was the main destination for Christian pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages.
Any medieval traveller on his way from Northern Europe to Rome, no matter where he came from and on which road he had reached Italy, would have passed along this ancient road through Tuscany.
Today, the stretch between Florence and Siena is still the busiest part of the Francigena: no longer, of course, because it represents the shortest and most convenient land route to the capital of Christendom but solely because of the area’s ravishingly beautiful landscape.
Be ready for some views that look as if they had been lifted straight from a tourism brochure.
After a short visit to Monteriggioni Castle, a 16th century Sienese stronghold in the city state’s long (and ultimately doomed) battle of resistance against its perennial rivals from Florence …
… we walked down the castle slope into Viale di Monteriggioni and the Strada del Gallinaio before turning right into the Francigena sub-route 101.
The trail provides not only great looks of the Tuscan landscape but also a first experience of dense Mediterranean woods …
… before leading past a grassy plateau on the right from where you can get splendid views of Monteriggioni Castle.
On this meadow, we were treated to a poetry performance in the setting sun, actually more a reading of light verse judging from the reactions of the other participants – all in Italian, of course.
But that did not matter very much since we and the other members of the foreign contingent were willingly infected by the laughter and good mood of the crowd.
Laughter is highly contagious: humans are social animals, after all, and guided by an instinct to laugh along even if we can – at best – understand a word or a half-phrase here and there.
It also helped, frankly, that the reading was fairly short as the programme had to be speeded up due to the encroaching darkness …
… and we still had quite a way to walk to reach our destination, the ancient abbey of Abbadia Isola. Already, the sun was sinking behind the Tuscan hills …
… but we kept ploughing on through the darkness: just as the pilgrims would have done 500 years ago, knowing that a bed and some food would be available for them at the Abbey.
The same was true for us, in a way: Abbadia Isola, now a hostel and conference centre, was where the Slow Travel Festival was headquartered for the weekend and where a festive dinner was already waiting for us.
All in all, this was a great start into the weekend. We could not wait to see what the first full day of the festival programme would bring.
Next, we continue our slow travel with a most amazing hike along the Via Francigena in Colle di Val d’Elsa. Don’t miss our reporting of what we did at the Slow Travel Fest in Tuscany.
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