From: Isernia
To: Venafro
Miles: 15
Total: 554 Miles
After leaving our hotel this morning we started off with a fairly short climb and then basically the entire rest of the day everything was downhill. It took a while to get out of the town of Isernia and like many of the other towns in Italy we have walked through we went through arches inside a wall to the original part of town. The streets were narrow but the architecture was nice.
After we left the town we walked through the countryside and then through an industrial area before we finally hit the main road. A little past half way on our walk we stopped at a mall along the main road. It appeared to have nice stores in it but even better for us it had a nice cafe/restaurant with a large buffet. Unfortunately when we arrived at noon they were not serving any lunch for another half hour. John asked if they could at least make a couple of pizzas for us befoe 12:30 and they were kind enough to do it. The pizzas were hot, fresh and very tasty.
With full bellies we finished the last couple hours of the walk and got to our first choice for a B&B for the night. They only had one room available and they didn’t look too clean or updated, so we decided to pass and try the second B&B.
We had to backtrack a little bit and go up a hill, which is never fun after walking all day, but we found choice number two. The door was locked but there was a buzzer on the door. We tried it a couple of times but no one answered. I finally used my phone and the owner of the B&B answered. She didn’t speak any English and we don’t speak any Italian but she knew enough that we were at the door and she said she would be there in just a few minutes. It was probably less than three minutes when she drove up. Once we got inside we knew we made the right choice. The rooms are bright and cheery and the owner was extremely helpful. She had to do a bit of cleaning up but we are happy we made this choice.
After our big lunch of pizza we will probably just grab a lighter snack tonight. There appeared to be plenty of cafés and restaurants just down the hill around the corner about a quarter-mile.
Tomorrow we are off to the town of Cassino which is at the base of Monte Cassino. If you are a military history buff like me you know that the Battle of Monte Cassino was a costly series of four assaults by the Allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by Axis forces during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The intention was a breakthrough to Rome. Between 17 January and 18 May, Monte Cassino and the Gustav defences were assaulted four times by Allied troops, the last involving twenty divisions attacking along a twenty-mile front. The German defenders were finally driven from their positions, but at a high cost. The capture of Monte Cassino resulted in 55,000 Allied casualties, with German losses being far fewer, estimated at around 20,000 killed and wounded. I am looking forward to seeing the city tomorrow. Have a pleasant Sunday and we will be in touch tomorrow.
