On 24 – 28 August the team of the European Association of the Via Francigena ways (EAVF) will be travelling from Calais to Besançon along the French Via Francigena on GR®145, the cultural route of the Council of Europe.Massimo Tedeschi, EAVF president, Martine Gautheron, vice-president and 1st deputy of the Champlitte municipality and the team: Luca Bruschi, director, Leslie Maussang, French coordinator, and Elena Dubinina, international relations and cultural routes advisor will take part in this road trip.
The Via Francigena GR®145 crosses France along 1000 km (making one third of the entire cultural route) via 3 regions, 8 departments and more than 250 municipalities.
The route offers a great opportunity of cultural, economic and tourism development to rural and urban territories thanks to a flow of pilgrims and walkers from all over the world curios to discover the route and its offers. This is why the EAVF is committed to connecting local communities, associations, French Federation of the Via Francigena (FFVF) and tourism professionals for fruitful collaboration.
Five meetings will take place along the route aiming to present the Via Francigena, the EAVF association and its activities, as well as to provide space for exchange of best practices. Promotion of the European dimension of the route will be in the center of discussion. Regional and departmental hiking committees are warmly invited to participate in the meetings, as they represent strategic partners in charge of maintaining and securing the Via Francigena GR®145.
This event will also be a great occasion to officially present a new EAVF guide “The Via Francigena from Canterbury to the Grand Saint Bernard Pass” by Favre publisher. The French part of the new guide was prepared in collaboration with the French Hiking Federation FFR.
Finally, it will be an opportunity to present a new map with all EAVF municipalities as well as to discuss the application process of the Via Francigena to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The meetings will take place in Calais, Péronne, Saint Quentin, Châlons-en-Champagne, Châteauvillain and Besançon. They will gather local authorities, regions, departments, municipalities and urban communities together with tourism organizations and associations that work directly on the ground.
The team will also walk along some sections of the Via Francigena and carry out promotional activities.
The programme:
– Monday 24.08 // 9:30 – 12:00 in Calais (in partnership with the city of Calais), in the auditorium of the Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode.
– Tuesday 25.08 // 9:30 – 12:00 in Péronne (in partnership with the Haute Somme tourist office), at the headquarters of the Haute Somme community of municipalities.
– Tuesday 25.08 // 15.00 – 17.00 in Saint Quentin (in collaboration with the city of Saint-Quentin), in the Town Hall
– Wednesday 26.08 // 9:30 – 12:00 in Châlons-en-Champagne (in partnership with the heritage revitalisation service of the city of Châlons-en-Champagne), in Duduchothèque.
– Thursday 27.08 // 9:30 – 12:00 in Châteauvillain (in partnership with the municipality of Châteauvillain), in the Celebration Hall.
– Friday 28.08 // 9:30 – 12:00 in Besançon (in partnership with the Doubs department), at the amphitheatre of Fort Griffon.
