la mia passeggiata

When we first arranged to live in Passignano, I had hoped there would be a path along the lake for walking or jogging. Unfortunately, like most old lakeside towns, the edge of the lake is defined by a road with a constant stream of cars. There is a swathe of parkland between the road and the lake immediately across from town, but it doesn't provide much more than a strolling area where you can eat your gelato. To actually work off that gelato, I needed to find somewhere else to walk.

So the other day I went out the medieval City walls and followed a street up to the hill above. A couple blocks later, miracolo! I come across a sign for a pedestrian path linking Passignano and some other town! I head off into a grove of olive trees, the lake visible off to my right. Later, after a long stretch lined with cypress, I come to an old farmhouse and an abandoned church which is being used as a greenhouse. The trail heads downhill at this point, past the church, into an area of lusher greenery, and then gets a bit difficult to see. Suddenly I worry that perhaps I have taken a wrong turn. A dog starts barking. I can't see the dog, but he sounds annoyed, and I don't want to run into him, so I turn around and head back. But as I reach the abandoned church, I pass two German hikers. Clearly I was going the right way.

The next day, determined to do a proper walk on the trail, I head out again, telling John I will be back in an hour to join him for his morning cappucino and cornetto. When I get to the church and farmhouse, I now see the dog whose barking frightened me the day before. He lives up in a loggia attached to the back of the house, and leans out the openings to threaten those on his territory. Today I tell him, "bravo, bravo," and keep going. He's not going to jump down from that height.

The trail is amazing. It goes through areas of wild growth, then emerges in farmlands before tucking into a bit of forest. There are old stone houses, roosters, butterflies, and lots more dogs. Occasionally there are trail markers, typically a red and white rectangle painted on a tree or rock. They're subtle. Finally I arrive in a tiny little town where the road splits. I don't see a trail marker, but it's close to the 1/2 hour mark, so I'm ready to turn around. A woman emerges from one of the houses, sees me standing there and tells me if I want to see the old something (I can't quite understand what it is), I just follow the road up to the left. Now, here's where it's a problem to not speak Italian. I pretty much understand what she is saying, and if I knew Italian I could tell her, "no, not today, I need to turn around, but I'll come back next time." Instead, I nod, say, "grazie!" and head off the direction I've been pointed along. I figure I'll go 5 minutes farther and then turn around and hope she's not there.

But the trail opens up to a great panorama, and then there's an amazing stone house being renovated, and when I finally decide I really do need to turn back, it's been 15 more minutes. And so I turn around and head home. And then I'm passing bee apiaries, which are so neat. But, wait a minute, how did I not notice them last time? Maybe I took the wrong road. I try another one, apartments buildings, hmm, that's not right. I spend the next half hour trying to figure out where I came from. I find an old church (ah! that's what the woman was telling me about), there are red and white markers all over, but none of them seem to get me back to that little town where I came from.

Finally I ask a woman walking her dog how to get to Passignano. She says it's easy, just follow that road to the right. Now, if I spoke Italian better, I could ask her if there was a pedestrian trail rather than the main road she's pointing me towards, but I don't speak better Italian, so again I say, "grazie!" and head off down the street. It does take me back to Passignano, just the non-scenic way, back down to the road along the edge of the lake with the constant stream of cars.

Yesterday I followed the trail again. This time I paid better attention. Oh, and following the guy on the tractor also helped.