Sandwich Haven

Posted on October 6, 2026 by M. Roland

[Reader, if you are just joining this journey, click on the “About” tab for context. The posts began in January 2026 but with an interlude from May til September 2026 when I was walking the Via Francigena. Now, I am picking up the journey from Canterbury to Rome where I left off — in Sandwich, England.]

Sandwich’s geographic location, then and now. Photo credits: English Heritage; Apple Maps.

The river port town of Sandwich, in southeast England, was once closer to the sea than its present location, now two miles from the ocean. The harbor in medieval times was called Sandwich Haven, a port deep enough for 600 large commercial and military ships! In 1457 Sandwich had been invaded by French troops so its role as a military port would have been fresh in Malory’ mind as he wrote Le Morte Darthur; he himself was a knight-at-arms. 

At the New Inn on this July evening, I seem to be the only guest. When I get back to my room after a walk along the river and solitary dinner in the pub, I pick up the only choice of reading material in the room, a Reader’s Digest Condensed Book. I have not seen one of these familiar volumes since I was a teen at my family home. It takes me back to summer evenings in the house on Cottage Place where I would read an entire condensed novel, bleary-eyed, til near-dawn.

Tonight I read, first with jaded skepticism, then with genuine interest, the condensed version of Ralph G. Martin’s book on Wallace Simpson, once Duchess of Windsor, and Prince Edward, The Woman He Loved. The stakes were high for them.

The next morning, I go for a run along the River Stour, which runs from Sandwich to the sea, glorying in the warm sun and cool morning air. At the quay, I read a small sign from the harbor master, offering boat tours on the river. I am sore tempted to stay for his 11:00 am tour, but I must catch a train to Dover, a ferry across the English Channel to Calais, France and then make a long drive from Calais to Rennes, where the International Arthurian Congress will start in a few days.

River Stour, near Sandwich

Alas that I only gave myself an evening and a morning in Sandwich! Still, coming to Sandwich marks a kind of shift for me: I’ve followed the fictional route of Malory’s Roman War account from Winchester to York to London, and now to Sandwich. Off the beaten path but following Malory’s geography.

I feel a sense of release and delight opening up in me, untethered from the tensions of my marriage and from the “logical,” direct route to the conference. I’ve stepped into the landscape of Malory’s text, disrupting time.

Sandwich Haven — in medieval times, a safe port. For me, too.

From here, over the English Channel to France!

For Further Reading:

Daniel Weston, Contemporary Literary Landscape.

Meg Roland, “Malory’s Sandwich: Marginalized Geography and the Global Middle Ages,” in Marginal Figures in the Global Middle Ages and Renaissance.

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“Redy on tho bankes”

Posted on September 14, 2026 by M. Roland

[Reader, if you are just joining this journey, click on the “About” tab for context. The posts began in January 2026 but with an interlude from May til September 2026 when I was walking the Via Francigena. Now, I am picking up the journey from Canterbury to Rome where I left off — In Sandwich, England.]

A medieval carrack. Image credit: World History Encyclopedia

[In Sandwich,] there were the moste part of all the Rounde Table redy on tho bankes for to sayle whan the Kynge lyked. Than in all haste that myght be, they shypped their horsis and harneyse [equipment/armor] and all maner of ordynaunce that fallyth [was needed] for the were [ war], and tentys and pavylons [pavilions] many were trussed . . .

And so they shotte from the bankes many grete caryckes [large sailing ships] and many shyppes of fore-stage [with forecastles], with coggis and galeyes and spynnesse [a variety of sailing ships] full noble, with galeyes and galyottys rowyng with many ores [oars].  And thus they strekyn forth into the stremys, many sadde hunderthes [valiant hundreds]. (Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur)

In the Norton edition of Malory’s Le Morte Darthur, editor Stephen Shepherd provides a footnote for the word “bankes,” suggesting that it means “shore.”  This makes a certain sense as Arthur and his knights are readying to sail across the English Channel with their war ships. 

Still . . . the text says ready on the bankes . . . and it says they struck forth into the . . . streams. It sounds more like a river port than an ocean port to me. So I wander to the town quays to check it out.

Photo Credit: Sandwich Port and Haven

Sandwich is a quiet town along the winding River Stour. The placid, curving river is lined with rushes; marshes and small woodlands shape the now-quiet geography of the river. At the town’s wharf, pleasure boats are moored. 

I stand along the river banks in town and imagine the intensity of the docks in Malory’s tale: provisions being loaded and trussed, high-strung horses stomping and clattering onboard large wooden ships. Testosterone and horse sweat, the shouts of soldiers filling the air. 

Standing on the banks of the River Stour on this July evening, the text suddenly makes sense to me. With its near-access to the sea, the upstream/ channel location of Sandwich would have been an ideal point of departure rather than a port directly on a rough sea coast. The river channel provided a protected harbor where troops could load arms and supplies onboard, and where men steeled themselves for a journey of war.

No surprise, this is also where Roman troops first arrived in Britain back in 43 AD.1 Now (fictionally), Arthur’s army intends to reverse that trajectory.

For Further Reading:

Richard W Unger, Cogs, Caravels and Galleons: The Sailing Ship 1000-1650.

All citations are from Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, P. J. C. Field, editor (2013).

Registered with the Author’s Guild

  1. Nearby Richborough Fort is well worth a visit. ↩︎
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The DIY Italy Prize!

Posted on July 28, 2026 by M. Roland

On a morning run in Latera, past vineyards and fields of hazelnuts and olive trees, I suddenly realized, I “won” my own DIY “Italy Prize.” Self-created and self-conferred!

You may have heard of the prestigious Rome Prize. Each year, the American Academy in Rome (AAR) invites about 30 scholars, artists, and musicians to come to Rome to pursue their work, inspired by the Eternal City. Each year, 1,000 applicants seek to ascend the Mt. Olympus of academia.

I have never applied for the Rome Prize.

But the AAR also offers the opportunity to be a Visiting Scholar or Visiting Artist, a short-term, non-stipended stay to access the wonderful library collection and, for a short time, take a sip of the ambrosia with the Rome Prize pantheon.

As I transitioned from village to pathway on my run in Latera that morning, a tidal wave of sensation washed over me—the sun illuminating the spring forest, dazzling the fields: riotous and fulsome, a green exuberance. The long grasses of the hedgerows, the meadows of lupine, each gave their wild beauty to the day. Gratitude brimmed my heart.

But it began with a rejection.

In the Fall of 2025, I applied to be a Visiting Scholar at the AAR but was not selected. My vision of a month-long stay to explore the relation between the Via Francigena and Malory’s Roman War account seemed crushed..

As Elizabeth Gilbert has written in her book Big Magic, sometimes the muse taps your shoulder and asks you to show up. Hold on, or the muse will pass you by. I’ve been holding on to the thread of the Passionate Geography project since the idea first drifted into my mind on the train from London to Winchester. 

So after hearing the disappointing news, I had a sit down with myself. 

I had (somewhat randomly, coincidentally?) seen the La Casa Etruria Artist Residency listed on Res Artis. I applied and was accepted! I researched the Via Francigena, booked small hotels along the five-day walk to Rome, and read about Viterbo’s medieval San Pelligrino quarter.

I self-organized a month in Italy, including two weeks of writing at La Casa Etruria and a few blissful days at the AAR Library in Rome. It felt true to muse’s invitation.

Come May, I walked the last section of the Via Francigena (the same route as Thomas Malory’s Roman War itinerary in Le Morte Darthur) through the gorgeous landscape of rural Lazio, each day closer to Rome, along with my beloved partner, Paul. 

In Latera, in the cool of the mornings, I’d run past bucolic fields on the outskirts of the incredible medieval village. I felt the muse’s affirmation. Here was my own DIY “Italy Prize.”

I stopped to take it in, filled with a sense of wonder and gratitude: this project has shaped a sense of purpose for me and, yes, a love for the work. 

“Though you’re a whole world, Rome,” Goethe wrote after visiting Rome, “still, without love, the world is not the world, and Rome cannot be Rome.”1

Eccomi—here I am.

Coda: While at La Casa Etruria, I applied again to the AAR for Fall of 2026 and this time . . . I was selected to be a Visiting Scholar for December 2026! Whoo hoo! Very grateful to the AAR. Holding fast to the thread.

At the courtyard of the American Academy in Rome, on a one-day visit in May.

The Way It Is

—William Stafford

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

  1. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Roman Elegies. Highly Recommended. ↩︎

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Signs along the way: Via Francigena

Posted on July 24, 2026 by M. Roland

Walking country roads and forest paths meant that the usual phone map would not be suitable for our trek. With the relevant pages of a guide book torn out and tucked in my backpack and with the All Trails app on Paul’s phone, we set out, wondering if this would be enough to find our way.

Not to worry, those two resources together guided our wayfinding on the Via Francigena, but the route itself is well-marked at every juncture. Below is a collection of the signs, with some variety, that guided us to Rome.

The first trail marker–a good sign!

Note the rare image of a woman pelligrina, below.

Made it! With gratitude to the European Association of Via Francigena Ways and the many volunteers who help make the Via Francigena a navigable cultural route.

Ceramicist Daniele Lai in Viterbo’s Pellegrini district creates ceramic art in the medieval Zaffera tradition, with a cobalt, brown, and ivory palette. Here, a pilgrim, setting forth on the Via Francigena.

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To Lift the Spirit: Churches and Flowers of Latera

Posted on July 14, 2026 by M. Roland
A watercolor painting of the ceiling of Chiesa della Madonna del Carmine by MarjaLeena Pohjola, a recent visiting artist at La Casa Etruria.

What are the structures or practices that lift everyday life with a sense of spirituality, beauty, or hope? In Latera, there are both historic and contemporary options: churches and flowers.  Latera is a town dedicated to public art but in terms of individual action, you can walk into one of seven churches in town or plant bright red geraniums outside your front door. 

Traditionally, Italian townspeople built and lovingly maintained multiple Catholic churches within a village, and Latera is no exception.  When the population was around 2,000, having seven churches does not seem disproportionate for a devout populace. Now, with around 770 people, only two of the seven are active on a weekly basis but the town provides a walking guide—a kind of small-scale pilgrimage—to the historic churches, each rich in faith and story.

In the center of the historic town, the 16th century Chiesa San Clemente offers weekly mass. A small group meets to pray the rosary and the church bell rings sonorously daily. One of the seven churches is decommissioned and now serves as an exhibition space.

San Clemente, top left. Photo Credit: Latera Art Farm. A temporary flower petal mosaic-path was created in front of San Clemente.

San Guiseppe, above right, is an intimate-sized neighborhood church with crochet flowers adorning the door. 

Three historic churches line the road along the valley floor. The first, Chiesa San Sebastiano, was built in the shape of a Greek cross in the Middle Ages. San Rocco, a small, proportioned stone church dating to around 1400, was built when the plague took many lives in the village, a form of hopeful devotion.

Curiously, the medieval Chiesa Madonna della Cava, has a 20th century bomb out front! During World War II, a bomb landed in the church at a time when it was vacant. It was seen as a divine gesture of protection. Someone tends geraniums and other flowers out front to this day. Still grateful. 

My favorite, Chiesa della Madonna del Carmine, is a beautifully cared for, living-room size church at the top end of town, with a gold and light-blue starry ceiling (depicted in the water color at the start of this post)  We passed by most mornings on our run, then again during our evening walk.

One day we visited more intentionally, stepping inside to give a pledge to each other. Then, we stood on the concrete step outside and . . . jumped off! In medieval times, “handfasting”— giving a pledge to your beloved outside the church door — was considered a legally and religiously binding marriage.  

Today the churches of Latera are quieter, but many of the homes have beautiful potted gardens of wistaria, hydrangeas, peace plants, and geraniums, bringing a different solace to the town, softening the stone environment.

Reading an article in an Italian kids’ magazine, I learned there is a national effort to support the api—the bees. These potted gardens lift the spirit—of bees and people. Churches, art, flowers–each offers its own testament that, in different ways and in sorrow or hope, Latera is living and resilient.

After two weeks, it’s time for us to depart from Latera—for now. As we drive away, I take a last look.

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In an Italian newspaper (Lazio Courier, June 25, 2026): “USA Writer Captivated by Small Village”

Posted on July 2, 2026 by M. Roland

And, indeed, I was! See the article below, in Italian. And below that, a rough translation from Google translate.

What a pleasure to write about the town of Latera–and, in turn, be written about!–inspired by our journey on the Via Francigena and my reading Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. Passionate geography, indeed–landscape giving rise to experience, emotion, and now, a shared memory with new friends from Latera.

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Latera and Art: Transforming a 12th century village into a contemporary open-air art museum

Posted on June 26, 2026 by M. Roland

With its origins as a 12th century medieval village (and a record of settlement far back into antiquity), Latera is embracing contemporary art to help define its identity for the 21st century. For a small community, it is remarkable how much creativity is blossoming in the town.

Credit for the town’s commitment to public art goes to the Mayor and the Commune of Latera which has funded the Art Farm Project. The project commissions artists to create site-specific work, fashioning Latera into an open-air art experience. In addition, local textile artisans have softened stone church and civic structures with whimsical additions. The La Casa Etruria Artists Residency adds momentum by bringing artists and writers to the village for two- to four-week periods.

Visiting a medieval hill town, you might expect historic churches and fountains but in Latera you also come upon contemporary murals, sculptures, and crochet flowers as delightful surprises.  

Francesco Vullo, “Threshold,” 5,000 blue sodalite stones, evoking a sense of flowing water.

Top: Nicola Ghilardelli, “Ossesso,” aluminum circle with a serpent biting its tale. Elisa Capdevila, “The Flowers,” mural of a young girl from Latera with the iconic chestnut leaves of the surrounding forest. Bottom left: view of The Flowers from the town cafe. Center right: Mirko Loste’s large-scale mural “The Forgotten Queen.” Bottom right: Polymetis, a Canadian design studio, just installed a sundial made from beautiful Carrara marble. 

Check out the creative crochet installations in Latera!

Christmas 2025
Doorway to San Guiseppe Church.

May 2026 installation of ethereal crochet flowers seemingly floating above a central piazza.

Together these artistic endeavors are bringing new life to this hill town that has struggled, as have other Italian towns, to retain its viability and appeal to the next generation. Unfortunately, Latera no longer has a school so families with children drive to the next town. But electric car charging stations, summer concerts and movies, and a commitment to a civic future of public art are giving residents hope that Latera can find a creative way forward to appeal to the next generation and to international visitors.

I will tell you right now—you should visit Latera!

There are a few Airbnb accommodations in town or in nearby towns, and Latera is a hub from which you can swim in Lake Bolsena, visit the stunning hill towns of Pitigliano and Orvieto, soak in the hot springs of Saturnia, enjoy wines and a lake view at the Villa Cavaciana winery, or hike bucolic trails throughout the area. The city of Viterbo, the sea coast, and the official Via Francigena route are all less than an hour away. In town, the Museo della terra chronicles the incredible hard work of farming and family life from the previous century.

All major Italian cities are over-crowded with tourists. Visiting the rural province of Lazio, we stepped back in time, but also glimpsed a possible future through the eyes of contemporary artists. Perhaps art can offer a way forward so that Latera can flourish in the century ahead.

Tiles on a house on Via della Mura.

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Latera: persone gentili (kind people)

Posted on June 16, 2026 by M. Roland

Traveling often focuses on sights to see, restaurants to sample, and negotiating crowds. Staying in Latera for two weeks, however, gave us a chance to get to know a few of the 770 people who call the quiet town of Latera home. 

Lulzana welcomed us each day with a big smile as we ordered our “due cappuccini, per favore.” The local bar/cafe (above, right) is the center of town geographically and relationally, with friends gathering throughout the day.

Early in our stay, Lulzana asked Frederica Pancrazi to translate a phrase for me. And just like that—we became friends. Co-owner of Fit Foto, Frederica made us a delicious ragu and her father even picked up a cake for us. 

Over dinner, we learned that Frederica and her husband Riccardo are members of the “proloco,” a group that promotes events, art, and business in Latera. 

Angelo’s charming flowerpot garden is an iconic scene in Latera. He advised me to move my basil plant up from street level to avoid dogs “watering” my basil. 

A different Riccardo, a talented chef, runs a superb weekend restaurant, La Cantina del Mago, in a cool grotto-like atmosphere.

Riccardo’s mom, Nadia, grows many of the vegetables served at the restaurant. To explain a dish, both Riccardo and Nadia came out from the kitchen with garlic shoots, hooting with laughter. 

An artist and photographer, Zehava Perez is Dutch but calls Italy home and is the creative who started the Residency.

Chatting over coffee or apertivo, I learned how the EU allows Europeans to live in a different member nation. 

Walking around the quiet, south end of town, I passed by a gentleman sitting at a table in front of a doorway. Lo and behold—behind him was a tiny bookshop! A Dante reader and once a volunteer calligrapher at the Vatican, Gianni wrote our names in beautiful script.

Here, Gianni reenacts a famous image of Dante with a laurel crown, signifying Dante’s status as a revered Italian poet, and holding a quill.

Shop Owners: Three women were part of our daily life in Latera: at the forno (bakery), home goods store, and grocery/ magazine shop. They waited patiently as we fumbled with euro coinage to buy fresh bread, a lemon squeezer, or a kid’s magazine (to learn Italian).

In all, the shops in Latera comprise the bar/cafe, a butcher, grocery/magazine shop, a home goods store, bookstore, hair salon, pharmacy, and the Cantina. A few other shops are on the periphery of the village.

A Residency suggests a different way to travel: stay in one place, learn a few phrases, let friendliness and curiosity— for both travelers and locals—blossom.

Our front door at La Casa Etruria.

In addition to the warm hospitality, Latera is reinventing itself as a town that embraces art. See next post!

Grazi, Latera!

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Latera: bosco (woods)

Posted on June 13, 2026 by M. Roland

Slate gray bedazzled by iridescent green. The boschi (forests) of Latera burst with spring color, softly surrounding the town as a breathing cloud, a magical green world. One minute you are in town and the next you are enveloped in a woodland lush with new growth and birdsong.

But the forests surrounding Latera are also a living presence in town.

Photo Credit: Zehava Perez, lacasaetruria.com

In the photograph above, Zehava Prerez captures the way the forest softens and colors the townscape of stone and slate and tile, sometimes creating a “green wall” as background. 

The verdant spring penetrates into town and catches you by surprise as you round a corner or turn into an alleyway. A mediterranean mixed forest of oak, chestnut, and beech trees, the stunning canopy creates a living nearness. 

There are also dozens of trails around town to hike or run, including the infamous Trail of the Brigandi. As I understand the complex history, some rural farmers of southern Italy saw the 1861 unification as a takeover by wealthier landowners of the north. Their cause was ultimately unsuccessful: violence, poverty, and emigration were some of the results. Today the Trail of the Brigandi is one of many trails and farm roads that traverse the area. 

Once you discover the proximity of the bosco, you see that living in the village is also living in the larger environment of forest and field.  

As a medievalist, the border between town and forest, so different from today’s sprawling suburban transition zones, clarifies a common literary trope in Arthurian literature: a knight leaves the court for the magic or misfortune of the forest, such as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In the forest, adventures could quickly present themselves, but even at court the beckoning presence of the forest feels close by.  

Upcoming posts: people, art, churches

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Latera: Borgo Medievale

Posted on June 10, 2026 by M. Roland

You might wonder: what is it like to live in a small medieval village?  Well, thanks to La Casa Etruria Artist Residency, we had a chance to experience a little bit of what it might be like. 

Just ten miles from the official route of the Via Francigena, the small medieval village (borgo medievale) of Latera spills down the side of a volcanic caldera, a flow of stone medieval buildings, churches, and narrow cobblestone streets. The elevation at the top of town is around 1600 feet and probably around 1000 feet at the base of the town. Ladies with shopping bags walk slowly uphill to the café to visit with friends after the daily shopping.

La Casa Etruria, our residency house, is just under the red sign; the front door opens out to a narrow street juuust wide enough for cars to pass through.

The town looks a bit austere at first, but it is filled with friendly people, murals and art, flowers on doorsteps, small historic churches, and a museum of the land and people. I came for a two-week residency, organized by the wonderful Zehava Perez, an artist and creative spirit. As Zehava notes, Latera is “very authentic and natural,” and the area has so much to explore.

My writer’s desk at La Casa Etruria

I came to the residency to write about walking the final segment of the Via Francigena, from Viterbo to Rome, about 115 km. Read about our five-day walk on my blog on WordPress: passionate geography or my Substack (they have the same posts).

If you are an artist or writer, consider applying to La Casa Etruria Artist Residency. Latera is a delightful, unique place to come to with curiosity, a little Italian if possible, and an open heart. You will be well rewarded. 

The biggest surprise?  The incredible forest (bosco) that surrounds the town. See the next post!

Aerial photo Credit: Frederica Pancrzai, a professional photographer who lives in Latera and owns a photo business, FotoFit, in nearby Aquapendente
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