Via Francigena: Ivrea to Pavia – Mountain Descent into the Po Valley

```html

Over the last week I walked the stretch of the Via Francigena from Ivrea to Pavia, passing through Vercelli. From Aosta the route follows the course of the Dora Baltea river, which you leave precisely as you exit Ivrea, the first major town in Piedmont.

In the following days you walk alongside the Serra, a ridge of mountainous land with a horizontal profile that stretches from the last mountains of the Aosta Valley to Cavaglià, where the Po Plain begins with its irrigation channels.

Walking towards Vercelli feels like entering what I call the Italian mesetas. The flat and monotonous landscape, surrounded by rice fields, leads the pilgrim to feel as though walking through an endless and disorienting expanse. Mosquitoes and other insects typical of marshlands accompany every step, time moves more slowly, and the sun these days certainly doesn't help with orientation.

Waymarking throughout the route remains good, though a bit more could still be done; unfortunately many associations manage the signs, so from Vercelli onwards you'll find several routes you can follow.

On the bright side, the number of pilgrim accommodation options increases significantly and, despite not having large numbers of beds available, pilgrims always manage to find an affordable place to sleep.

Happily the number of walkers continues to grow, perhaps due to the Jubilee, or perhaps because many, after their experiences on the Santiago routes, have finally decided to walk through their own country discovering themselves and their roots.

Towns along the Via Francigena from Ivrea to Pavia

The towns you pass through are small and accustomed to caring for those who walk; the warmth of the locals is something wonderful—they're always ready to point you in the right direction and are curious about what drives so many people onto the roads of their home. Towns like Robbio and Mortara offer pilgrims all the peace they seek after hours and hours of walking.

The rural character of these places, despite the passage of time, remains intact, so that sometimes it feels like walking through a postcard from the 1960s. Unfortunately you notice a lack of young people, all heading to the cities now, and there's a fear that in not too many years these small communities will disappear.

Pavia among all the major cities on the Via Francigena is perhaps the only one offering nothing particularly special: there are no hostels set up specifically for pilgrims, nor restaurants offering special menus, as though everything had been brought here by mistake, even though Sigeric himself had noted it as one of the mansiones to traverse.

But don't be discouraged because after this stretch, between crossing the Po and entering Emilia Romagna, the Via Francigena returns to displaying its enchanting beauty and the landscapes pilgrims so desire.

The week ahead will take me through the land of Parma ham and Emilian wine, towards Fornovo sul Taro, gateway to the long climb up to the Cisa Pass. I await this moment with impatience, especially to return to walking through my beloved forests.

```