Every year, at the beginning of August, Belforte celebrates "La Madonna delle Neve." This is a feast day (Aug 5) celebrating the day it snowed in Rome in 352 AD. There is always a "camminata" from Belforte to the church in Campo. This year we went along for the walk.
Everyone meets up in the piazza at about 8:00 in the morning. The kids are very excited because they get the opportunity to ride on donkeys! There were also horse back riders and a few vehicles, but for the most part we were on foot.
At this point, I had been walking everyday and, in fact, had been walking on the exact same path so felt that I was raring to go. The road makes a loop and I always took a left at the fork of the loop which allowed me to go up the less steep side and down the steeper side. Unfortunately, there was rain a few days before which made that part of the loop too muddy so our walk went up the very steep grade of the loop! There was a point when I wished I could ride on a donkey!
Hanging out in the piazza.
Starting to head out across the bridge (see me in red on the left??)
Our neighbor, Pamela, with Eduardo on the donkey and Fillipo in her arms.
We're going slightly downhill.
I love this picture!
Now we're going uphill again! You can see that the crowds have thinned out!
Giacomo finally decided it was worth riding on a donkey! He'd refused up until this point.
Larry enjoying the breakfast served.
Yes, we walked all the way to the top of this hill! And further!
After lunch they played games. Including tug-of-war! Here is one of the women's teams. Giacomo's mom, Lauren, is at the end. She is from Florida, but lives here in Belforte with her Italian husband, Federico, and two kids.
They held mass (after another walk--this time all down hill!) in this very small church in Campo. Most of us stood outside.
At the end there was a procession with a painting of Mary being carried while we said the Hail Mary.
It was an enjoyable, but long day. We got home at around 5:00! BTW, "longa" is dialect for lunga for those in the know!
2 comments:
What is the distance from Belforte to Campo? Tell Larry that he reminds me of a Super Mario Brother.
We aren't really sure how far it is, but think it is probably about 8 km (about 4 1/2 miles) to the top. We didn't walk all the way back because a friend gave us a ride!
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