Day 63 Fiorenzuola to Fidenza – 2nd August

Distance: 21.4 km – Elevation +50 m -50 m

Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 33 degrees

Fiorenzuola dʼArda was quiet last night when I visited the medieval collegiate church of San Fiorenzo. For supper, I found a small restaurant where I sat at an outside table watching the world pass by as I tucked into a local dish, Anolini di Formaggio, a cheese-filled pasta. I was tired after a long hot day so I retired early. I slept well and woke just after 5.00 am and prepared for the day ahead, a final day of walking on the plains of Emilia-Romagna. The town is quiet as I leave the hotel and it is not long before I reach the open countryside and arrive in Chiaravalle della Colomba. It is too early in the morning for a visit to the Cistercian Abbey. As I stand quietly by the war memorial – Monumento Ai Caduti E Alle Vitimi di Tutti le Guerre – I am startled by an unexpected “Buongiorno” spoken by a passing early morning dog walker. The path continues through the quiet countryside to reach the small community of San Rocco where I pass the Trattoria Trivelloni restaurant with an unusual garden display of what are best described as human size “rag dolls”. The owner of the restaurant is preparing to open and invites me into the garden for closer viewing. I walk by fields of ripening tomatoes and arrive in Castione Marchesi where I am able to buy bottled water and a sandwich for lunch. The walk today was an easy 22 kilometres on level ground and I arrive in Fidenza at 2.00 pm and check in to the Hotel Albergo San Donnino.