An accidental section of the Fragincena - Monday, 13 Aprile

Sometimes it's the small moments that stick with you as you roll through the miles. Our small moment was meeting an old man out walking his dog the morning as we made our way out of the small village of Lusolo. He knew no English and our Italiano was "po" to none. Nonetheless, we carried on a conversation of expressions, repetition and, probably, mis-understanding. Regardless, we, I think, were able to make clear that we were from the States, many weeks into our cycling journey beginning in France,  and he was able to convey that his mother moved to New York and that he had a brother in Texas, and some connection to California. His eyes, that I would have described as speculative, suspicious had we not stopped, turned kind during the course of our talk and lingered with us as we moved on. A memory not captured on film, but moments after...

As soon as after we got through the northern portal of the village of Lusuola, we realized we'd been on, at least some of the time, a pilgrimage route of some sort. We didn't know what it was exactly, but the name and symbol of a trekking saint kept popping up on street signs as well as smaller trail posts or placards on buildings and even cincrete roadside posts. 

Via Francigena. 

Here's what wiki shows: The Via Francigena [ˈvia franˈtʃidʒena] is the common name of an ancient road and pilgrim route running from France to Rome, though it is usually considered to have its starting point much further away, in the English cathedral city of Canterbury. As such, the route passes through England, France, Switzerland and Italy. The route was known in Italy as the "Via Francigena" ("the road that comes from France") or the "Via Romea Francigena" ("the road to Rome that comes from France").^[1] In mediaeval times it was an important road and pilgrimage route for those wishing to visit the Holy See and the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul.

...

The Via Francigena was not a single road, like a Roman road, paved with stone blocks and provided at intervals with a change of horses for official travellers. Rather, it comprised several possible routes that changed over the centuries as trade and pilgrimage waxed and waned. After all, all roads lead to Rome. Depending on the time of year, the political situation, and the relative popularity of the shrines of the saints situated along the route, travellers may have used any of three or four crossings of the Alps and the Apennines....

Turns out, we'd been on parts of the route since Lucca, though we had not realized, nor seen pilgrims... Not until today when we saw a two separate backpackers going in the opposite direction. Yes, all roads lead to Rome...if you're heeding south... But our route went northish from Lucca toward Pietrasanta to Massa to Sarzana to Aulla to Villefranche (after which we found our sanctuary of the previous night), to the bigger town of Pontremoli to the Passo della Ciso, where we had a nice chat with three from Düsseldorf who were cycling a section from Milano.

Not as spiritual to some, but maybe for others...homage to a former Giro d'Italia

After the pass at Cisa, we rolled toward -- down and also still up-- Berceto, near where we camped for the night in Italian camper luxury, since we were the only guests (of 4)) not holed up in a caravan.