The First Day Outside of Rome, and the lucky encounter

10/20 - Albano Laziale to Aprilia - 8 miles

After a day of rest, it was time for me to escape the magnet that Rome had become for me, and continue on my walk. Rather than return to Genzano di Roma, I chose to start from Albano Laziale, which was a bit closer than what I had reached, but easier to reach from Rome.

After all my Rome excitement, the walk was uneventful, and dare I say it, boring. Nothing really to see, just more suburbs. Then, out of nowhere, a man flagged me down from the other side of the road. I figured his car was broken down, and immediately crossed to see if I could help. Of course, the caution lights also turned on in my mind, but this man did not fit the profile of those I should avoid.

He asked what I was doing, I explained, and he expressed a huge passion for walking and a desire to do the Santiago di Compostela pilgrimage. Sensing an accent, he asked where I was from, and when he heard, he responded in perfect English, saying that his father had been an American soldier in WWII. He offered me a coffee, I agreed, and soon we had become friends.

Since I had expressed my desire to reach Aprilia that evening, he made a few calls to see if he could find affordable hotels there. When he came up short, I asked if he knew of any places to sleep in Albano Laziale, where he lived. After a moment of weighing it out in his mind, he offered me the floor of his apartment, and soon we were on our way back along the same road I had just walked. We made a quick stop to see Lago di Albano, which I had missed, as well as the Papal apartments. It's always better to see a place with someone who lives there!

From the time we met on the road it was non-stop talking. Besides walking, we shared many common interests, and even had a common friendship connection, as he was a frequent visitor to Abbazia Sant'Antimo. He showed me his newly-purchased hiking gear, revealed his dreams about taking the famous pilgrimage in Spain, and we talked a lot about his experiences seeking to learn Mandarin Chinese (a future goal of mine).

He offered to take me out for dinner, and after hearing that I loved porchetta, we went to a place that served various meats and cheeses (among them a particularly delicious specimen of porchetta), as well as pasta all'amatriciana. At dinner we talked about his knowledge of English, and how he had a difficult time understanding slang and translating idiomatic expressions. It was so interesting to me to hear a person speak without an accent, but revealing his foreign status through strange turns of phrases and a misplaced word here and there. It reminded me a lot of the exquisite espionage practiced during WWII, when spies were required to learn everything, down to the tiny cultural details of sports trivia and regional dining, in order to pass as Germans or British, etc. He also asked me some questions about fraternities, as this whole idea was alien to him, and so I finally got to explain it (and defend it) to someone who held few negative prejudices. I think I even did a pretty good job, framing it in the classic Italian "in theory vs. in practice" discourse.

Since I saw that he was so eager to walk, I offered for him to try out his gear and walk with me to Nettuno, the next stop, and though he was uncertain about his ability to make it the whole way, he agreed to give it a shot. So, after a full night of chatting, I blew up my air mattress, set out my sleeping bag, and smiled at my continued fortune as I read a copy of Time Magazine Carlo had given me (in English!) before going to sleep.