Winewalkers: May 8, 2016 - Via Francigena Day 20

Campagnano di Roma to Vatican City, Rome (17 km)

No shoulder leaving Campagnano

Our last day on the Via Francigena began with a less than inspiring walk out of the busy streets of Campagnano di Roma. The roads were busy with traffic, there was hardly any shoulder to walk on and sides of the roads were lined with garbage. After 6 km our guidebook suggested that we could get some relief from the traffic by following the trail through the Nature Reserve, but the directions for finding this were so vague that after wasting half an hour we gave up and continued through the traffic clogged roads.

On the bike path

Two hours later we managed to somehow get onto a cycle path where we even saw signs occasionally that we were still on the Via Francigena, but I don't think it was the official route or even the variation we were looking for. The best thing about it was that it was broad and there was no traffic other than bikes and other walkers.

Rome and the Vatican finally appear

Eventually we arrived at a park overlooking the city and could see the Vatican, then we threaded our way through the streets trying to find our way and lo and behold we eventually arrived at the Vatican.