Via di Francesco, Day 18: Trevi - Spoleto

Sunday, June 11
18.8 km
275 m

Some days on camino are blissful, some fraught, but many are just days-- ordinary days of walking. They are neither miserable nor especially memorable. Today was one such day.

We woke early, refreshed from a day of rest, and left our home of nearly 48 hours: a charming room with wood-beam ceilings, creaky walnut floors, and a row of arched windows. We walked in the cool morning air, stopped for a typical breakfast in the next town, and paused a few moments to admire the shady green retreat of Fonti del Clitunno. Our greatest adventure of the day was missing a turn as we neared Spoleto, but it caused no harm. We just kept on going till the city was clearly to our left, and followed the main road into town.

We discovered our first choice hotel was closed for renovations, so we found another, waited a few minutes for a room to be cleaned, and then followed the housekeeper down long twisting hallways to our cozy room at the end of the medieval building. It was still early, barely noon, so we had plenty of day left for a relaxed lunch and exploration.

Spoleto covers a small hill, has three broad plazas, and seems to have room for both tourists and locals alike. Today, the  streets were filled with market stalls selling clothes, jewelry, art, crafts, and antiques. Children played in the spaces in between. A gramophone's tinny music filled the air.

We climbed past the bustle to the gleaming white cathedral piazza to see Fra Filippo Lippi's famous frescoes of the life of Mary. Tantalizingly cool drafts gusted from the cathedral portal. I do not now how long we wandered inside. The cool air and soft, dancing light made it hard to leave.

Later, there was dinner. Aperol spritz. A chance meeting with an old camino friend. A band climbed the hill playing drums, sax, a horn. People danced, clapped, tapped their feet in the fading light of evening. I drank it in. All simple. All part of the rhythm of an Italian camino. It was an ordinary day. On camino, even an ordinary day is infused with light, with music, with life.