It's been a while since I've read 'The Cheese and the Worms'.

I think that many of our conceptions of Europe, and history are off. There mas much more churn and people moving around than we think. Though Menocchio probably didn't travel far, the priests and members of the Inquisition did. If you where close to a river, you'd see lots of people moving around, they were highways of goods being moved.