Italy has linked more than 960 miles of walking routes into a new pilgrimage network stretching across six regions in the central part of the country.
Called the Cammino di Francesco, or Way of St. Francis, the network connects existing trails through Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany, and Umbria. The routes follow places tied to St. Francis of Assisi, the Italian friar who founded the Franciscan religious order in the early 13th century and is one of Catholicism’s best-known saints.
Rather than following a single trail from one fixed starting point, travelers can set out from a variety of cities including Rome, Florence, Rimini (on Italy’s eastern Adriatic coast), and central Ascoli Piceno, with the routes ultimately leading toward Assisi, the Umbrian hill town where Francis was born in the 1180s and where his tomb is in the Basilica of St. Francis.
Italy’s Ministry of Tourism unveiled the project on July 30, part of a €40 million (more than $46 million) investment in the country’s walking routes and timed to the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’s death in 1226.
The individual trails themselves aren’t new. What is new is that Italy has brought the various Franciscan pilgrimage routes into a more cohesive network and added them to the country’s official tourism platform, where travelers can now find maps, stage-by-stage itineraries, and other planning information in one place.
That makes the Way of St. Francis less like one very long trail and more like a choose-your-own adventure through central Italy. For example, a traveler with a week might walk from Rimini into the Apennines, while someone with two weeks could follow a route from Rome or La Verna to Assisi. Longer itineraries can string multiple sections together.
What is there to see and do along the Way of St. Francis?
Hike to the Sanctuary of La Verna in the Tuscan Apennines, a sacred place situated along one of the Way of St. Francis routes.
Photo by Flora Orosz/Unsplash
The Way of St. Francis follows places associated with the life of St. Francis, but the appeal extends well beyond religious pilgrimage. Depending on the route, walkers will cross forests of the Apennines, high plateaus, agricultural valleys, olive groves, and medieval towns while stopping at monasteries, hermitages, abbeys, and churches.
One of the more manageable sections begins in Rimini and runs 68 miles to La Verna in Tuscany. Typically completed in five stages, it leaves the coast for the Marecchia Valley, passing places such as the picturesque village of Verucchio and the fortress-topped town of San Leo before climbing into the Apennine Mountains.
In the mountains, trekkers will head to the Sanctuary of La Verna, a sacred pilgrimage site set among beech and fir forests at more than 3,600 feet above sea level, and a site St. Francis first visited in the early 13th century.
Travelers can end their trip at the sanctuary or continue south toward Assisi. That onward journey is considerably longer. It’s roughly 118 miles from La Verna to Assisi, passing through the Upper Tiber Valley and towns including Sansepolcro, Città di Castello, Pietralunga, and Gubbio. Gubbio has particularly strong ties to Francis; according to legend, it was there that he tamed a wolf that had been terrorizing the town.
Travelers can also walk north from Rome. A roughly 155-mile route begins at St. Peter’s Basilica and heads into the Sabine countryside and the Rieti Valley, where several important Franciscan sites are concentrated. Among them is Greccio, the mountain village where Francis is credited with staging the first living Nativity scene in 1223. The route eventually crosses into Umbria, passing Spoleto and Foligno before reaching Assisi.
Other sections lead through the Sibillini Mountains in Marche and the high country of Abruzzo. The latter includes a roughly 54-mile stretch through the Rocche Plateau and Subequana Valley, passing small mountain communities, castles, churches, and stretches of relatively undeveloped countryside.
How to plan a trip
The grand finale is the chance to explore the historic town of Assisi with its picturesque buildings and alleyways.
Sean Pavone/Shutterstock
The sheer size of the Way of St. Francis might seem intimidating, but the network is designed to be entered from multiple points, allowing travelers to pick a section based on the number of days they have, the difficulty level they are comfortable with, and which part of central Italy they most want to explore.
It’s worth looking beyond mileage when choosing a section. Daily stages can range from relatively gentle walks through valleys and farmland to long days with significant elevation gain in the Apennines. Italy’s official tourism site, Italia.it, breaks down the network into separate stages with information such as distance, walking time, elevation change, and trail surface.
Accommodations also vary by route. Larger towns have conventional hotels and guesthouses, while some of the more traditional pilgrimage corridors are home to monasteries, agritourism stays, and small inns that cater to walkers. Because many routes pass through rural communities, reservations are particularly important in smaller towns.
Pilgrims can also obtain a credential, a passport-like booklet that is stamped along the route. Travelers who complete one of the treks can present their credentials at the Basilica of St. Francis and request a testimonium, a certificate recognizing their pilgrimage.
For travelers who aren’t drawn to the religious aspect of the route, the appeal may simply be the chance to see a less-visited stretch of central Italy on foot. And with no single prescribed itinerary, the Way of St. Francis can be easily tailored to travelers’ desired trip and walking length.
