Positive news for the Via Francigena and slow tourism comes from the approval of the 2024 budget law by the Italian government.

With reference to the revitalisation and tourist promotion of the ‘religious pilgrimage routes’, the fund for the infrastructure of the ‘walking routes system’ in Italy has been refinanced for 2024, 2025, and 2026 by a total of 15 million euros. With these resources, it will be possible to fund many projects that were admitted in the Italian Ministry of Tourism’s recent call for proposals.

Five projects on the Via Francigena had already been accepted for funding in 2023 within the walking routes fund. Beneficiaries were the Province of Siena (Tuscany), the municipalities of Saint-Oyen (Valle d’Aosta), Pontremoli (Tuscany) and Berceto (Emilia-Romagna), and the Diocese of Massa Carrara-Pontremoli (Tuscany). Thanks to this recent extension of the ministerial fund, other territories are also included in the list: municipalities of Campagnano (Lazio), Otranto and Poggiardo (Puglia), Donnas (Valle d’Aosta), Santo Stefano Magra (Liguria). (Link to the complete list: https://www.ministeroturismo.gov.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Cammini-religiosi_Graduatoria-delle-domande_v01.pdf).

The Jubilee of 2025 is also at the core of the manoeuvre: a fund of 75 million euro in the year 2024, 305 million euro in the year 2025 and 8 million euro in the year 2026 for the planning and implementation of works and interventions functional to the event has been established.