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The departure in Bologna
The official start of the Via degli Dei is from the Piazza del Dio Nettuno, which I captured in its best perspective that is also one of Bologna‘s famous seven unusual oddities.
If you are trained enough, the biggest difficulty is the backpacking. In summer, the first stage is also tough because of heat since it is almost all at or just above sea level and with a lot of asphalt. On the first night I stopped at a bnb at the foot of Mt. Adonis.
The enjoyments a decent room can give you are immeasurable when your feet are imprisoned, your shoulders oppressed and every millimeter of skin sticky.
Tigers and lions in the Way of the Gods
I fell asleep like a stone. But I had a troubled night because I seemed to hear strange sounds and noises. I thought of some animal in the roof being in an attic or maybe nightmares caused by fatigue.
Sharing breakfast with the other walkers who were sleeping there, it turned out that they too had heard those noises that they could not identify. The owner of the bnb came to our rescue and explained the mystery. So I met them only in an auditory sense.
His neighbor is a rescue center for wild animals, rescued injured in the wild, abandoned or neglected by circuses or private individuals…so he also has lions and tigers! so the cries were roars!
Until a few months earlier, Ginevra the she-wolf who had been hit by a car in the Marche had also been there. After they got her back on her feet they released her, and thanks to the GPS signal they had fixed for her, it was later learned that she decided to come to the sea, right in the pine forest behind my house where she started a pack.
The arrival in Florence
The Via degli Dei is so called because it passes by places with divine names, such as precisely Mount Adone and the fantastic Madonna dei fornelli, but also because of the remains of the ancient Roman military Flaminia, and it alternates between much forest and splendid views. Near the Futa Pass I visited the touching Germanic military cemetery with more than 30,000 German soldiers who died during World War II.
Beautiful then the approaching Florence and seeing it from above more and more distinctly recognizing Brunelleschi’s dome from afar. I met in Piazza della Signoria with a new girlfriend of mine and we had a lovely evening with an exquisite dinner. Of course, you can also take the reverse route and start from Florence.
Home set of travel On the road into central Italy, marriage proposal (Italy and Vatican)
First stage Via degli Dei Drive along the Via degli Dei, from Bologna to Florence
More hiking in the Apennines:
- Getting lost in the woods, the 00 trail, between Emilia Romagna and Tuscany
- Italy trail: no vampires on Mount Cucco
Next story from central Italy Hunted from restaurant in Abruzzo
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Countries visited in my travel stories
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
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