day 45 - Sarzana to Massa - day 12 for 2026

• day 45 - day 12 for 2026
• Friday, 8 May 2026
• Sarzana to Massa - 18 km today
• 1 029 km on my Via Francigena before today
•       18 km for today – walk 12 – train 6
• 1 047 km on my Via Francigena (206 km for 2026)

We start at 07h. Today promises to be like a walk in the park and alongside a canal. Except the park is quite small and at the top of a hill. And the first two thirds of the canal is still having finishing touches and not yet open.

We avoided the first gratuitous hill: we could not avoid the next. The route takes up a steep hill and down the other side. After more than three hours on our feet we come to a section of the canal where the barricades have just been cast aside and final footpath painting (a walker above a diminutive bicycle are being carried out). The walking now is easy. This canal effort is already providing an activity for locals and long distance walkers alike.

Since Piacenza we have been slaves to major roads SS9 and SS62. Today we encountered SS1 Aurelia by crossing it to reach Avenza / Carrarra. But we first pass through the historical Latin site of Lunae (now Luni). We pass the indoor museum and the outdoor excavation (much is under cover from the worst of the elements.

The heat at 22c is affecting my abilities (despite drinking more water than usual at this stage) and Nadine agrees to a halt for a tall cold orange drink at the outskirts of Avenza. Nadine also buys some focaccia to have with our meal tonight.

From the train station the places where the pure white marble is taken is clearly visible across a wide area of hills about 5km away. And as the train leaves Avenza, I notice many businesses involved in preparing marble for delivery to customers.

Massa train station is several km from the centre of Massa and the hostel. The pin-drop location on the map is a building site. A local sees our confusion and instead of pointing and talking leads us to the hostel’s front door. We shake hands in farewell as he wishes us safe travels. And the process of checking-in is quick and efficient with warmth.

After a few hours rest Nadine and I go to the piazza our guide referred to. It is but a few minutes away. It would be almost 100 metres square. The east side is fully occupied by a three storied building – magnificent – not over powering. The north and west sides have one or two rows of orange trees laden with fruit. In the middle is an obelisk with a panrl on three sides noting significant events in the formation of Italy in 1851, 1860 and 1870. The side notes an event in 1943 and the departure north of German forces on 10 April 1945. The feature of the obelisk is recorded on piazza; this is s line, of Carrera marble of the spring and autumn equinox at midday.

We go shopping for food at a local Conad store and over dinner I ask Nadine what she most preferred. She replied with the two hilltop villages far above at all times. I agreed and would add the almost complete walk and cycle wsy beside the canal: as well as being a local utility it will transform the way for pilgrims to Rome. The pity is they could not extend it north to the outskirts of Sarzana. And that other communities from Pontremoli down cannot create similar facilities for their own communities and pilgrims.

And so to our own beds.