Water along the Via

Where to find water

Along the Via, water is found mostly at public fountains in villages, often in the piazza or beside the church. It is also found at rural troughs, still working in many countryside areas of Piedmont and the Po valley. Cemeteries too, almost always fitted with a tap for watering the graves, are a reliable backup. They stay open during the day almost without exception. Bars and grocery shops in the stage towns remain the simplest way to fill bottles. Useful for a break too.

For planning ahead, the collaborative map on OpenStreetMap helps, flagging points tagged as drinking water. Apps like Fontanelle Italia are useful too, gathering this data into a map that also works offline. Not every ornamental fountain is drinkable: the ones flagged as such on these maps are, by definition.

How much to carry

Two bottles of about 750 millilitres each, one and a half litres in total, are enough on most stages with regular services. On stretches flagged as fountain-free for more than 15-20 kilometres, it is worth leaving with bottles full. A third reserve is worth considering, especially in the hotter months. In summer the need rises through the middle hours of the day. Especially on the exposed gravel roads of the Val d'Orcia and the Crete Senesi.

Seasonality

Many mountain fountains are shut off or run dry in late autumn and winter, against the risk of frozen pipes. This happens in the high stretches of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Sibillini. In high summer, by contrast, it is the seasonal bars and shops of the more isolated valleys that close earlier than expected. Better to ask the guesthouse the day before about real opening hours.

The known stretches without water

Some stages have documented stretches with no fountains or refreshment points for several consecutive kilometres. On Vercelli-Staffarda the Vercelli plain stays open and exposed for long stretches, with no shade. On Tortona-San Colombano the Penice Pass has about 25 kilometres with no reliable refreshment. On San Colombano-Chiavari the upper Val Trebbia stays solitary for some thirty kilometres. On the Arezzo-Sant'Antimo stretch the white gravel roads of the Crete Senesi run for about 20 kilometres with no services. Finally Norcia-Subiaco, the toughest stage of the whole Via, alternates 20-25 kilometre gaps between one village and the next.

Every bottle filled along the way tells of a village, a fountain, a hand that turned it on before yours.