Pope to Puglia Day 17 Vitulano to Benevento – 20 km

On the way out of Vitulano, we crossed paths with a group of “Herb Tourists” hiking the mountainside for wild herbs with medicinal qualities.  Herb Tourism.   The troop leader is the cousin of the owner of the B&B where we spent the night and the uncle of the guy transferring our luggage.  When I told him we are Americans, he exclaimed “Ahh, Americani, I have a cousin in Naples Florida.”  Umberto, the owner of the restaurant where we had dinner last night, was in Kennebunkport, Maine last year.  “Why Kennebunkport?” I asked. “I have a cousin who lives there.”  We are part of a global community.

The path to Benevento included an 8 km stretch on a bike/running path, very well maintained, littered only by the white blooms the wind was blowing off the limb.  Benevento is the largest city to which we have been since Rome.  It is an old Roman town with a few monuments to show for it.  Most important, it was the site of the Battle of Beneventum in 214 BCE when Roman legions defeated the Carthaginian armies on their way to reinforce Hannibal, who, deprived of the army he was expecting, was relegated to wandering, thus saving Rome and Western Civilization as we know it.