Overview: the Via Francigena

A 1900 km historic route running north to south from Canterbury to Rome.

N.B. a new association, the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome, came into being in late 2006. It now has its own website. If you want to contact them you can do so at info*pilgrimstorome.org.uk [To reduce the risk of spam, we're removing direct e-mail links from this site. To use this address, copy it into your normal e-mail program, but replace the '*' with the conventional '@', before sending your message.]


The Route. The Via Francigena is one of the classic pilgrimage routes.  A 1900 km journey, through England, France, Switzerland and Italy from Canterbury (or even London) to Rome.  There is also a branch starting in Arles and leading via Vercelli which joins the Caminos de Santiago.  It follows the general direction taken by pilgrims to Rome in previous centuries although alternatives paths are used in places where the original route has now become a modern road.  The "Via Francigena" is first mentioned in a parchment in the abbey of San Salvatore al Monte Amiata in 876 AD.

Waymarking. Not well waymarked throughout, though in Italy the Via Francigena signs become more frequent.

Terrain.  Long!  The surfaces are normally easy to walk on with much on minor roads (a number of farm tracks are in fact tarmac now). Much of the initial part of the route through France is quite flat.  The highest point of the route is the Great St Bernard Pass at 2469m. Cyclists will need to take minor roads or dedicated cycle tracks for much of the route.
The Testimonium. A parchment in limited edition, created and offered by the AVF, will be given at the sacristy of St-Peter's Basilica, to pilgrims that walked at least from Acquapendente (130km) or cycled from Lucca (400km)

Weather/When to go. Allow about three months to walk the entire route (it is 85 days without stops).  May to October remember to time St Bernard Pass June – September.  The Italian coast is very busy in August.  There is a wide range of temperature according to height, latitude and season.

What to see. There is a wide variety of landscape and towns. There are traces of pilgrim activity in the past, numerous interesting small chapels and churches along the way.  Among the most exceptional sights are Canterbury Cathedral, Reims Cathedral and St Peters Basilica. Towns on the route include Siena and San Gimignano, Lucca and Rome.

Accommodation.  There are plenty of B&Bs and hotels, but little refugio type accommodation, some youth hostels, very few campsites, a few monasteries.   Accommodation details are given in the Guide-Vademecum, together with places offering discounts to pilgrims, provided by the AVF pilgrim association (address below).

Association Via Francigena
Web site: http://www.francigena-international.org/
 

Guide books:

Maps: Some very good maps are now available -

Monica D’Atti & Franco Cinti, La Via Francigena.  Cartografia e GPS.  Dal Monginevro a  Roma lungo l’itinerario storico, Milan: Terre di Mezzo Editore, 2007.  ISBN: 978-88-8985-60-9, 22€.

3 large sheets of maps in a set, covering the 800km from the Monginevro Pass over the Alps to Rome at a scale of 1:30.000, i.e. nearly two and a half inches to the mile.  In full colour there are 40 detailed maps covering all the stages of the journey, with the walkers’ route traced on them, height profiles, types of roads/paths used and complete GPS data.  Designed initially to accompany the authors’ own guide book the only drawback (at present) is that those wishing to follow the “Sigeric route” (i.e. cross the Alps via the Great St. Bernard Pass) will have to wait till Vercelli (150km into the Italian part of the route) before they can use them.


Other Links
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/via-francigena/
http://www.wanderingtheworld.com/francigena/index.htm
http://www12.brinkster.com/awelch/index.html

Thanks to William Marques, February 2005; and Alison Raju, October 2007.