Castelforte - Sessa Aurunca 13 November 2022

To day it started raining quite hard when I wanted to leave the BnB. However, I managed to shut myself in and couldn't get out. I had left the keys on the table inside as instructed and pulled the door of the appartment shut. When I came to the gate to let myself out, the only way to open this was by using a key which I now had  left in the appartment. Tried to call the landlord Marcello but he didn't answer for a while. In the  mean time I put on my rain gear as it rained quite a lot. After a while Marcello came down from his appartment and let me in my appartment again. He is such a nice old man and  made me a cup of his special coffee which he burns himself. It was very good and we sat talking for a while about his hobby and I had to tell him all about my adventures.  By 10 O'clock the rain lessened and I said good bye to Marcello to get underway to Sessa. In Italy all houses are well protected by steel fences and gates that are locked real good. One needs invariably at least 3 keys to get inside a house or flat. One for the gate, one for the main door and one for the appartment. And all those locks are usually in good order and hard to break down. I'm not sure what causes the Italians to shut themselves up behind steel fences, gates and steel bars and keep watch dogs, but I guess it may have something to do with history, culture and possibly a high crime rate in the past? Anybody can shed some light on this matter? I feel in any case quite safe walking in the streets and am not afraid to be mugged or robbed of my money or anything. 

The trip to Sessa was otherwise again quite uneventful although I was a couple of times chased by small loose dogs that wanted me off their land. Loud mouthed scarey beasts! I came through one or two villages that are for sale. Vendesie signs all over and not a person in the streets. The houses are not well maintained and look dilapidated. Also here people have moved out to the bigger cities and just come back every now and then to tend to their olive trees or small vineyards. 

Got a nice welcome again in this BnB La Rinascente in the historical centre of town and had a look at the rather impressive cathedral just 50 'm away. I even got a stamp for my pilgrim credential. There are 15 more churches just in the old centre of Sessa Aurunca alone! Quite something.

A table is reserved for me in the family restaurant, so I guess I'll talk to you later.