Pilgrim Paths to Assisi goes on tour (Part 2)
(Click here to see part one of this tour!)
My “book tour” with Pilgrim Paths fit organically–and even surprisingly–with the actual walking I did with the group, starting from the first day. While my primary purpose in Italy was to host a group of 12 older adults as they walked the Way of St. Francis, I always took the opportunity to leave a book with an individual or a shop as we went along. I especially wanted to give copies to people who had been featured in the book, as a way of saying “thanks” to them.
The book itself describes in detail our several journeys on this unique pilgrim path, but the journey from Florence to Assisi was itself 2/3 of the book. As I walked with this group over 15 days, we were covering almost the exact ground that I’d been over the previous year.
Opportunities presented themselves almost immediately, beginning with the very first day, when we got to our destination in Pontassieve, an 18km walk from Florence. The hosts at our B&B recognized me as I climbed the steps to meet them, with Maura saying, “I remember you! Where’s your wife?” She had followed our journey on Facebook the year before and I was delighted that she remembered us. I gladly gave them a book to add to their collection.
The next day our group made a challenging climb up to the Consuma Pass, and at the end I was able to connect with Elena Piantini, who operates several B&B’s in that small town. Jane and I stayed with she and Luca and their children at their Rifugio (mountain hostel) in the tiny village of Villa the year before, and I wrote extensively about our time with their family. Elena also followed our journey and was delighted to get a copy of the book.
Along the way to the Consuma pass, we stopped in the bar in Diacceto. I wrote in the book about how Stefano, who works there, gave us advice about how to pick up the bus across the road. I told him he was in the book!
Elena with her copy of the bookI also left copies in some of the hostels and rifugios for pilgrims, some free reading for them. I know what it’s like to be staying somewhere while you’re on a pilgrimage and are just dying for something to read.
The host at Pietro in Viegnetto, one of the few pilgrim-only hostels along the way, which as actually our favorite place to stay. She wasn’t featured in the book, but the hostel was
Sabina at Rifugio Asqua, with her son and mother. I told about the delicious dinner they gave us the year before.
Marco, at the bookstore in Assisi.I usually travel light on my treks, but this time I carried 15 copies of my book and as I went along the load kept getting lighter. I sold the last five copies of the book to Marco, at the bookstore in Assisi, the Libreria Tipografia Zubboli.
I kept one copy of the book as a souvenir of the trip, and put stamps inside the book from the places that I visited or stayed. Pilgrims accumulate stamps their credential as they go along, as proof of their pilgrimage.Leaving copies of the book was a way of promoting it, but also a way of saying thanks to the many people who gave us generous hospitality along the way. The book was my way of giving back to this beautiful pilgrimage route, a gift that I hope just keeps on giving. And in giving, I have received so much and is why I’ll keep coming back.
Copyright © 2023 by Russ Eanes
Russ Eanes is a writer/walker/cyclist from Harrisonburg, VA and the author of Pilgrim Paths to Assisi: 300 Miles on the Way of St. Francis and The Walk of a Lifetime: 500 Miles on the Camino de Santiago.
