This trail is the section of the via Francigena leading from Bolsena to Montefiascone, we walked through the path in the opposite direction.
Let's start from the entrance of Montefiascone , walk down on a steep descent towards the church of San Flaviano , also close to the church of the "Madonna delle Grazie" .
Unfortunately, once you exit from Montefiascone, the path proceed for 2km on paved road , most of them with no sidewalk. Finally the route leaves the main road so that we can walk in the countryside; if you need water, there's the "Fontana del Sambuco" , but (be careful: the water in this area is not drinkable due to arsenic contamination. The spring season shows us its colors: brooms , poppies and many other flowers. 4 km from the begins and we se the the lake of Bolsena , for the first time, the landscape remind us the Umbria and the Tuscany , but suddenly the path goes back on a paved road .
There is a torrent to cross , walking on some stones; then we passed by the small church of the "Madonna di Turona" , inside the Turona nature park .
This is a very important fork : the indication lead to the Cassia road , quite dangerous with no sidewalk for a long section. The only reason to walk on this road could be the basalt rocks called "Pietre Lanciate" , the "thrown stones", an interesting sample of columnar basalt due to prehistoric volcans eruptions. It would be better to avoid the Cassia road, so if you download the GPX you'll find two routes; one of them skip the Cassia road leading from the previous fork to Bolsena .
Bolsena is a nice village, the medieval streets lead to the castle, in piazza Monaldeschi, the view from the top is really nice. From here, we have to walk 2 more km to reach our destination for overnight accomodation, the "Ostello Gazzetta". We walked for a total of 19 km.
Point of interest: Bolsena lake, Montefiascone, via Francigena, Turona nature park
Difficulty: medium
Difference in height: 400 m
Maximum height: 600 m
Length: 16 km
Duration of journey: 5 - 8 hours
Suggested season: spring
Technical equipment : recommended