When I first set out from my place in the UK, with the rucksack on my shoulders and Carlos pulling a bright orange trolley behind him, heading east across the English countryside, I did not fully know what would come of it all. I had the impulse to walk, and […]
andrea.vassallo78
31 posts
As I sit down to reflect on the journey that took me from my home in the UK to my family home in Italy, I find myself grappling with the enormity of what it meant, and continues to mean. Walking over 2,000 kilometres was never just about covering ground. It […]
As we approached the unmistakable outline of Stra, familiar landmarks began to emerge on the horizon. Each one carried layers of memory, and every turn in the road felt like a reminder of the life I had once left behind and was now returning to. The streets, the rooftops, the […]
When planning our route from Piacenza to Stra, this final stretch had always troubled me. Unlike the well-known paths of the Via Francigena, this segment felt like a void, unmapped in spirit, unsupported by infrastructure, and unrecognised as a pilgrim’s trail. I worried about how we would be received, afraid […]
We were now entering a new phase of the journey. The landscape began to change gradually, subtly. The Po River, our constant companion for so long, finally drifted behind us. With it, we also crossed an invisible border and stepped into the Veneto region. That moment, though marked by no sign or […]
Not long after departing Attilia’s, we came across one of the most unusual crossings of our entire journey. To reach the other side of the Oglio River, one of the main tributaries of the Po, we had to walk over a bridge made entirely of boats, tightly linked together to form […]
We were deep into the journey by then. Sunburnt, sore, and softened by the road, we made a phone call out of pure necessity. We had found a small bed and breakfast online and hoped for a place to rest, or at the very least a patch of grass to […]
The morning was already becoming hot, the sun climbing quickly as we rejoined the cycle path running alongside the Po. The landscape felt familiar by now—long, straight stretches of tarmac flanked by fields, irrigation canals, and the constant, slow-moving presence of the river. But something within me had shifted. With […]
Waking up in the morning was quite chaotic. Around twenty people were rushing to pack, shower, use the toilet, and get ready in general in order to catch the only rigid-inflatable boat allowing us to cross the Po River. We wanted to follow in the footsteps of the Archbishop of […]
After spending the night in a very unlikely location, we set off toward the Po river. We started walking just before dawn. The vast rice fields slowly gave space to different varieties of crops; the sun kept shining over the east, leading our way. The heat had a constant crescendo […]