⚜ Avvisi

Day 12 - Est! Est!! Est!!!

Acquapendente → Bolsena (23 km)

If you missed the other days, you can access them here.

The moment I saw the menu, I knew it was going to happen. I needed an intermezzo to replace today’s intended story. I fully consented to the two courses that put me into a carb coma. The 9 pm espresso didn’t help and neither did the tiramisu. Arrivederci clear and focused mind. Instead of the well-researched continuation of the Pazzi conspiracy, you get a whiny dispatch about drunks, wine and eating too much. It happens.

The morning started by sitting on a bench to help another pilgrim with compression bandages. A bottle of wine was also there, half-full. Or half-empty, if you’re that type. It was 9 am and a drunk guy came to make sure his bottle was still there. We reassured him. He sat with us, hands shaking, slurring instructions about the ankle support. I’m glad we didn’t listen.

The poor fellow reminded me of Johannes Defuk, a 12th-century German bishop who was travelling to the Vatican for an appointment with the Pope. Story goes that he sent a scout ahead to find the best wines on route. The duty was simple: taste and if impressed, carve the Latin for “it is” on the door: “Est”. At an inn in Montefiascone, tomorrow’s destination, the scout was overwhelmed. The wine was divine. The nectar of the gods – even though the Church would’ve probably punished him for talking about many Gs instead of the one and only G. The scout inscribed “Est! Est!! Est!!!” on the door. Johannes loved the wine so much that he dropped his appointment, didn’t reach Rome and settled there to keep drinking the Montefiascone wine. A line on his tomb apparently says: “Because of too much Est!”

Now, today’s wine critics see the apocryphal history of Est! as more compelling than what you get in your glass. I don’t know anything about wine, so you be the judge of that. Today, I felt a bit like Johannes, dropping my writing duty and looking for a cop-out. I promise I won’t give up at Montefiascone to stay there for the rest of my life and have wine. I’ll keep going all the way to Rome, one step at a time. I’ll keep writing, one word at a time. What can I say? The sun, the talking and the dinner got the better of me today. I’m going to be a responsible adult and sleep early.

Till tomorrow,

Florin