A welcomed shorter walk marred only by long sections along the Via Cassia which is heavily trafficked. As we moved out of Tuscany into Lazio we noticed a marked degrade of the trails, as though weed whackers have yet to be discovered. But the walk through the Val di Chiana is beautiful.
We spent much of the day listening to podcasts on the latest news on the war in Ukraine. A lot of British stuff (the Telegraph has some good reporting), Daily Kos, which has some the the best in depth, front line reporting (I kid you not) and the American press. I am somewhat stunned by the nonchalant treatment of the latest Russian threats to detonate tactical nuclear weapons. Maybe we should not take the threats seriously but Russia signals its intents early and usually sees them through.
But here we are in the center square of Acquapendente, bustling with people, young and old, Aperol spritzers at hand with the generous appetizers served with a drink after 5 pm: pizza, prosciutto, olives, chips and crostini. Life is good.
Walking the Via Francigena 
The TNW threat has been gone over so many times, I think It’s seen as old news. (I did an NPR interview about it in March 2022.) Lately there’s been some back-and-forth among Russian commentators, some of whom claim (or are claimed) to be close to Putin (but not so much really), and the Ukrainians have crossed a couple more of what were once thought to be Putin’s red lines (eg cross-border strikes), and those things have revived the speculation.
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Hope you are right.
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Beautiful!
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Glad the walk is going so well. Russia still has a Potemkin army and not much of a navy but they do have one ace up their sleeve: nuclear weapons and lots of them. But in reality, they are only useful for bluffing, just like that fake ace. That bluff is why we haven’t supplied the Ukrainians with the fighter jets and bombers and cruise missiles they need to defeat Russia. We can’t risk the possibility that Putin is in the late stages of tertiary syphilis and might really order their use.
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Madman theory at work
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Congratulations on nearing the end. I doubt anyone knows Italy better than the both of you. Elena
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Dixon and I recommend listening to Rachel Maddow’s Ultra. A fabulous podcast series. Love you daily posts. Susan
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