OCTOBER 2018 : ITALY : VIA DI FRANCESCO : DAY 6 : Badia Prataglia - Chuisi Della Verna ; rest day - public bus

Breakfast was a lively affair with several groups up early to start a difficult section of the Via di Francesco

The route today, marked as HARD and with 100% chance of rain

We opted for the bus route 

A memorial to St Francis in Badia Prataglia 

Leaving Badia Prataglia by 8.40am bus

Autumn colours beginning to show in the forests

 

Arriving in Bibbiena- with several hours to kill

An opportunity to catch up on washing and some grocery shopping with limited towns in this forestry area

Our  hotel in Chuisi Della Verna, Hotel Ristorante Bellavista (with delicious evening meal - tender veal, mushrooms, a regional speciality, and grilled vegetables)

Early depiction of Santuario Della Verna - a significant site on the Via di Francesco

The paved path to the fabulous Santuario Della Verna... one of the pinnacle points of the Via di Francesco

Artwork to commemorate St Francis. He retreated to this place in 1214 and received the signs piercing of hands and feet or stigmata. This sanctuary celebrates this miracle.

Long paved paths to the top of La Verna. (In hindsight the Sanctuario is the better place to stay, as you only make this climb once and leave from the monastery in the morning)

View of the chapel built into the cliff - today rather misty

The site in its entirety 

The entry

The chapel courtyard

There are 72 beds available at the monastery each evening with dinner and breakfast included 

Another small chapel with porcelain reliefs

The path down to the chapel cut into the rock

Symbolic artwork

Down the path we discovered a forest path back to our hotel

Lush and green

A myriad of tiny flowers

We were so pleased with our decision to have a rest day and thoroughly enjoyed St Francis’ La Verna, which we may not have had the energy for after such a taxing day’s walk.Tomorrow is marked as EASY and the weather forecast is for a fine day.

M&M