Bridge of Care

Like many of the oldest buildings on the pilgrim roads to Rome and Santiago de Compostela, the place where we slept after our first day of walking on the Via Francigena was originally built as a hospital for pilgrims. The rooms were large, and it was easy to imagine a time when they were filled with people in need of special care. When I read stories of all the attention given to pilgrims at places such as this one at Ponte de Cappiano, I remember that our English words for hospital and hospitality come from the same Latin root. True hospitality, it seems, never overlooks the physical needs of the ones who are being welcomed. In many cases, this was a long-term commitment for the people who ran hospitals such as this one. Recovery from illnesses sometimes took months and even years. If children were orphaned, the hospitals would often take care of them until they reached adulthood, helping them obtain education and equipping them for jobs. If the orphans were female, it even meant finding them spouses and providing money for the dowery. For us, there was the very simple need of a bed and a shower, but it was nice to know that a long tradition of care existed in that beautiful building which also served as bridge from one side of a river to the other.