Author: Simona Spinola

With the arrival of spring, the “I Love Francigena” hikes – a format including a series of free hikes open to all those who want to travel along the official route of the Via Francigena – are back. The initiative is supported by Coop, one of the leading brands in large-scale distribution and a partner of the EAVF since 2022, which also this year will accompany us in discovering Italy from north to south.

Involving its six million members, Coop aims to promote a healthy and sustainable lifestyle by organizing outdoor events with the EAVF to explore and rediscover our territories with their scenic, gastronomic, and cultural beauties.

In 2022, thanks to the partnership between Coop and the EAVF, the “Coop Outdoor” project was launched, consisting of 13 free excursions involving 291 participants in Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Tuscany, and Lazio. Last year, the renewal of the collaboration led to 16 Coop Outdoor events involving 415 hikers, with the addition of the Puglia region to the calendar. Furthermore, in 2023, some Coop stores also participated, offering refreshments to travelers at the end of the events. The 2024 edition will be part of the celebrations for the thirtieth anniversary of the certification of the Via Francigena as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, which took place in 1994.

◆ HERE IS THE HIKING CALENDAR 2024 ◆

Saturday 4 May – Piemonte, from Ivrea to Palazzo Canavese: sign up here

Sunday 5 May – Piemonte, from Palazzo Canavese to Viverone: sign up here

    Saturday 11 May – Lazio, from Montefiascone to Viterbo: sign up here

    Saturday 11 May – Lombardia, from Parco del Ticino to Pavia: sign up here

    Saturday 11 May – Emilia-Romagna (Via Romea Strata), from Bomporto to Nonantola: sign up here

Sunday 12 May – Emilia-Romagna, from Fidenza to Salsomaggiore: sign up here

Sunday 12 May – Veneto (Via Romea Strata), from Stra to Padova: sign up here

    Saturday 18 May – Emilia-Romagna, from Parco dei Boschi Carrega to Collecchio: sign up here

Saturday 18 May – Toscana, from Colle di Val d’Elsa to Poggibonsi: sign up here

Sunday 19 May – Emilia-Romagna, from Costamezzana to Medesano: sign up here

Saturday 25 May – Toscana, from Siena to Monteroni d’Arbia: sign up here

Saturday 8 June – Lazio, Via Appia: sign up here

Saturday 15 June – Piemonte, urban trekking in Susa: sign up here

Sunday 16 June – Piemonte from the Sacra San Michele to Avigliana: sign up here

   Saturday 7 September – Liguria, from Castelnuovo Magra to Sarzana: sign up here

Sunday 8 September – Emilia-Romagna, trekking urbano a Piacenza: sign up here

Saturday 14 September – Lombardia, urban trekking in Pavia: sign up here

Sunday 15 September – Liguria e Toscana, from Castelnuovo Magra to Avenza: sign up here

  Saturday 21 September – Puglia, from Polignano a Mare to Mola di Bari: sign up here

   Saturday 21 September – Lazio, from Abbazia di Fossanova to Priverno: sign up here

Saturday 21 September – Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Via Romea Strata), from Venzone to Gemona: sign up here

Sunday 22 September – da Tricase a Santa Maria di Leuca, Puglia: sign up here

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up!

The accessible tourism project by the Piedmont Region will be among the protagonists at the “Fa’ la cosa giusta” fair scheduled in Milan from March 22nd to 24th. A dedicated stand and a specific event will promote the “Via Francigena for All” project in Milan. This project was presented by the Piedmont Region in 2022 during a call for proposals from the Office of the Prime Minister on accessible and inclusive tourism for people with disabilities.

In particular, the talk-show scheduled for Sunday, March 24th at 3 p.m. in Piazza Terre di Mezzo will focus on the added value of training for tourism operators. This training enables visitors with disabilities to independently experience the Via Francigena through a range of services tailored to their specific needs. Speakers will include Franco Lepore, President of UICI Piedmont; Serafino Timeo, President of ENS Piedmont; Bruno Migliorati, President of CAI Piedmont, and an operator who participated in the training sessions. The journalist and writer Fabrizio Vespa will moderate the discussion.

The “Via Francigena for All” initiative, built around the historic route and cultural itinerary of the Council of Europe, concerns Via Francigena’s segments of the Canavese Ivrea-Viverone route and the Susa Valley variant Villar Focchiardo-Avigliana, along with neighboring territories. This initiative aims for innovation by embracing inclusive experiences from all angles. At the stand, visitors can obtain information about the cultural, naturalistic, sports, and gastronomic tourism offerings along the route, as well as updates on the project’s progress.

Numerous initiatives have been implemented or are underway: after making tourist offices accessible, training hospitality operators, and offering extracurricular internships in tourism for people with disabilities, the coming months will see the completion of green and accessible rest areas, the installation of multisensory panels along the routes and at 20 sacred sites (with visual, tactile, and Braille graphics, QR codes, NFC audio-video, and sign language in Italian and foreign languages). There will also be mapping of accessibility and usability of routes and tourist contexts for autistic adults. In May, there will be the “Walk in Blue” in support of Autism and the “I love Francigena” walk in collaboration with the European Association of the Via Francigena ways. In September, there will be the closing event.

For further details on project partners, updates on scheduled events, and ongoing developments, visit this link.

Walking along the Via Francigena is an experience that encompasses history, culture, and amazing landscapes. The European Association of the Via Francigena ways is taking significant steps to make this experience accessible to everyone, including those with motor, visual, and auditory disabilities.

In collaboration with AllTrails, an app specializing in mapping and tracking trails, the Association has conducted an in-depth mapping project along two segments of the Via Francigena in Piedmont: the Valsusino stretch from Villar Focchiardo to Avigliana, and the Canavese stretch from Ivrea to Viverone.

This project has been an integral part of the broader “Via Francigena for All” initiative, led by the Piedmont Region through the Regional Directorate for Coordination of European Policies and Funds – Tourism and Sport. Project partners include the Local Tourist Promotion and Welcome Agency Turismo Torino e Provincia, the Ecclesiastical Region of Piedmont with the Regional Consultation for Ecclesiastical Assets of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta, and the support of Visit Piemonte, a partner of EAVF.

The primary goal of the project was to assess the feasibility of inclusive use of the Via Francigena. The collaboration with AllTrails allowed for precise trail mapping, identification of challenges, and provision of useful information to hikers, regardless of their physical abilities.

The accurate mapping, carried out in close synergy with the B-Free Association, has identified solutions to make parts of the trail accessible that were previously considered challenging for people with disabilities. This targeted effort aims to open the doors of the journey to a wider audience, offering everyone the opportunity to experience the emotion of the Via Francigena.

The “Via Francigena for All” project not only aims to make tangible improvements to the accessibility of the trail but has also raised awareness within the community and among walkers about the importance of inclusivity in tourism.

The commitment of the European Association of the Via Francigena ways and the partnership with AllTrails represent a significant step towards a walking experience that embraces diversity and celebrates accessibility for all. The app is available with a 30% discount for Francigena pilgrims and allows access to over 200 guides for less than 2 euros per month. 👉 Click here to take advantage of the offer.

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Last November an agreement was signed between the European Association of the Via Francigena Ways and the European Federation of the Saint James Ways. This historic agreement initiated a collaboration between the two cultural routes recognised by the Council of Europe in 1994 and 1987 respectively, and travelled each year by thousands of pilgrims from all over the world.

The three-year collaboration includes among its main objectives the valorisation of slow and sustainable tourism and of the cultural heritage linked to pilgrimage routes; the dissemination of good practices; the joint creation of a network involving bodies and associations focused on responsible tourism; and the co-participation in actions, events and projects aimed at promoting European pilgrimage routes. The two pilgrimage routes have been investigated within the European Horizon 2020 project rurAllure (2021-2023), aimed at promoting the cultural heritage and the main European pilgrimage routes.

Thanks to this new agreement, the Presidents of the two itineraries Massimo Tedeschi and Ildefonso de la Campa Montenegro signed the commitment of the respective Associations they represent. An event that occurs in a particularly important three-year period for the world of walking: in addition to the Jubilee of 2025, in 2023 the French Way celebrates its 30th anniversary as a UNESCO heritage site, while in 2024 AEVF celebrates the 30th anniversary of the recognition of the Via Francigena as a Council of Europe cultural itinerary. “An agreement of enormous importance which sees the two most important European routes working side by side, with mutual benefits generated by this operational synergy. A first significant result will be the close relationship that can be established between the regions of Galicia and Lazio, crucial points of the Way of St. James and the Via Francigena” commented Massimo Tedeschi.

The municipality of Vetralla (province of Viterbo, Lazio) is located along the Via Francigena at 300 metres above sea level. Known for its characteristic medieval village and the woods of the Cimini mountains – the green lung of Tuscia – it is a land of important Etruscan, Roman, and Barbarian settlements and has a rich artistic and archaeological heritage.

In this borgo, along Via Francigena stage 42 Vetralla-Sutri, the mural ‘Il Cammino’ (The Way) created by painter Alessandro Ridolfi has just been completed. The artwork was realised on the initiative of a committee of local volunteers to enhance the places crossed by the Via Francigena in Vetralla.

The work depicts three different moments of the route travelled by the wayfarer, namely the departure from Canterbury, the first stage of the official itinerary, the stop in Vetralla, and the arrival in Rome, the final destination of the pilgrims on their way to the Vatican along the Italian section, before continuing on to Santa Maria di Leuca on the Via Francigena in Southern Italy.

The work was conceived in 2018 during a series of narrated walks by local committees along the Via Francigena, with the aim of raising awareness of the history of this important route of communications and cultural exchange. As stated in the press release, thanks to donations from participants and voluntary contributions, in 2020 it was possible to commit to Alessandro Ridolfi the first scene representing the arrival in Rome. In 2023, the donations needed to realise the other two scenes were collected, also thanks to the distribution of numbered postcards depicting the sketch of the painting.

Among the characters depicted are deceased friends who will thus continue to walk through the eyes of walkers and pilgrims from all over the world. Alongside the work, all the stages of the Francigena route from Canterbury to Rome have also been recorded. The names of the places were written by pilgrims and citizens who stopped to admire the mural during its creation, thus promoting the sense of involvement and belonging to the community that underlies the initiative.

(Photo of pilgrims from Andrea Natali’s Facebook profile)

After four months, the 2nd edition of the “Share your route” photo contest officially closed on 30 September 2023, with the participation of pilgrims, walkers and tourists from all over the world, sharing their slow adventures.  

The initiative, organized by the European project rurAllure, collected over 4,000 photos and videos; with over 1,700 of them from the Via Francigena. 

A great recognition for the route by those who travel it on foot or by bicycle every year: congratulations to all participants! 

Below are the names of the winners of the photo contest for the Via Francigena, who can request their prize by sending an email to contact@rurallure.eu: 

• 1st place: @denise_laspina_ 
• 2nd place: @incamminoconivan 
• 3rd place: @curiosita_randagia 

Congratulations to

• @myviafrancigena who won the prize for the most inspiring post
• @pizzetti_diego for the Bike category
• @mirkobellabarba for the best reel
• @ennio.cherubini for the best video
• @mik_hey_ for being the most active pilgrim, posting a total of 140 pictures and one reel

Consult all the winners at this link

Given the large number of photos received, the jury decided to award a special title of the Via Francigena Ambassador to those pilgrims who shared over 10 posts with us:

• @kat_womens
• @baudouin_bdl
• @marghe12345
• @eric_pelerin
• @traanvandezee
• @vegetable_go

Special thanks to our partners, among them Garmont®, Ferrino and Cicerone Press for the beautiful gifts. 

The European Association of Via Francigena ways took part in the 4th General Meeting of the European project rurAllure, dedicated to the enhancement of cultural heritage along the main cultural routes of Europe, together with the Way of St. James, the Via Romea Strata, the Romea Germanica, the Way of Mary and the Way of St. Olav.

It is a three-year project involving public and private partners and institutions from seven countries, financed by the European Commission and entirely focused on the potential of pilgrimages.

The project meeting was held on 5 and 6 September 2022 in Bratislava and Budapest, where the EAVF rurAllure team – consisting of Elena Dubinina, Simona Spinola and Nicole Franciolini – presented the status of the activities carried out since January 2021. The staff’s contribution is linked in particular to the promotion of rural heritage along the Council of Europe’s cultural routes – with a focus on mapping and dissemination activities for the main points of interest of the Via Francigena related to the thermal heritage of the three Ways to Rome addressed by the pilot project “Thermal heritage and others on the Ways to Rome“.

Completing the team’s activities are the development of a Via Francigena atlas and the organisation of events with free participation, aimed at spreading the message of an increasingly inclusive route. Among the best practices highlighted by the rurAllure Consortium are the weekend walks in Tuscany with free participation “I Love Francigena Termale“, organised in collaboration with the municipalities of Castiglione d’Orcia, Gambassi Terme, San Gimignano and San Quirico d’Orcia, but also with the precious support of Proloco Gambassi Terme and The Gambassi Experience. A moment of knowledge-sharing on the road, open to pilgrims and tourists discovering the Parco dei Mulini, the water square of Bagno Vignoni and the hypothermal springs of I Bollori and Putizza on the banks of Rio Casciani, in the surroundings of Gambassi Terme.

During the rurAllure meeting, the team of the Autonomous University of Madrid presented the workshop dedicated to blind people on the Via Francigena in Bagno Vignoni. The event, which happened last July, had the aim of bringing individuals with visual disabilities closer to the thermal heritage through a series of sensorial experiences on the field.

A workshop aimed at making the Via Francigena accessible to all, within the ‘Thermal Via Francigena‘ project of which the municipality of San Quirico d’Orcia is an official member. On the occasion of our walk, we were supported by relief maps and 3D models made by geologist Riccardo Rocca, which enabled participants to understand the geographical conformation and geological composition of the route, including height differences and indications in Braille.

On 5 – 9 September the EAVF takes part in the biannual General Meeting of the European Project rurAllure, the three-year project financed by the European Commission within the Horizon2020 programme, focused on the promotion of heritage located in the vicinity of the main European cultural routes.

The Via Francigena, the Way of Saint James, the Via Romea Germanica, the Romea Strata, the Way of Mary and that of Saint Olav will be the main itineraries of this intense four days of conferences and site inspections organized between Bratislava and Budapest from Stuba – Bratislava University of Technology and KIFU, the Hungarian government agency for technological development. 

Representatives from over 16 entities including cultural associations, cultural bodies and organizations will discuss the challenges and developments of the four pilots on which the project is based: from the thermal heritage of the three itineraries that lead to Rome, to the literary pilot of the Ways to Santiago de Compostela, passing through the ethnographic heritage of the Norwegian way to Trondheim up to the naturalistic variety of the Way of Mary. 

The agenda of the Meeting includes a follow-up on the technological platform and on the sustainability objectives of rurAllure. On 7 September the group will leave Bratislava to reach Budapest via Esztergom. The city is located on the right bank of the Danube on the border with Slovakia and will allow participants to explore some of the main points of interest on the Way of Mary. 

AEVF will be represented by Elena Dubinina, Simona Spinola and Nicole Franciolini: this is the fourth edition of the General Assembly of rurAllure, after the meetings in Padua along the Via Romea Strata in January 2022 and that of Vila do Conde in Portugal along the Way of Saint James held in September 2021, after a kick-off online meeting. 

This photo contest is for all pilgrims, walkers and tourists from all over Europe to share their experience on the Via Francigena and other routes! Participating is very simple! 

Just follow these few steps: 

1. Publish a post on your Instagram, Facebook or Twitter profile that speaks about your travel experience and the cultural heritage you have discovered along the route. 

2. Tag the location, @rurAllure (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and the page @ViaFrancigena (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) along with the hashtags #rurallure and #viafrancigena.  

Write a short text below your photos describing your experience, along with impressions, travel tips or whatever comes to mind. You have time until 31 October 2022. Don’t forget to keep your profile public, so that your post doesn’t escape us, that would be a real shame! 

On 7 November we will announce the winners of the competition: up for grabs many prizes kindly offered by our partners, including Ferrino, Garmont and many other brands – expert technical equipment for hiking. 

Furthermore, if you have traveled several routes and want to share other photos as well, you can post your shots following the same rules, tagging only the @rurAllure page and using the hashtag #rurallure.  

Here are all the other itineraries participating in the competition: 

• Via Francigena 
• Via Romea Strata  
• Via Romea Germanica 
• Cammino di Santiago/ Camino de Santiago   
• Sant Olav ways in Scandinavia    
• Ways to Csíksomlyó  / Way of Mary / Via Mariae / Mária út 

Too many photos to choose from? Problem solved, you can publish them all! A special category of is dedicated to the user who submits the most photos and to the author of the most interesting publication. 

For more information read the Terms and Conditions. 

Flyer 

The EAVF actively collaborates with the European project rurAllure linked to the enhancement of the heritage of the pilgrimage routes of all Europe, including the Via Francigena, focusing in particular on the mapping of the thermal heritage of Roman and Etruscan origin concentrated between Tuscany and Lazio. 

On Saturday 9 July, our Association organised a workshop dedicated to blind people in Bagno Vignoni, in the heart of the Val D’Orcia in Tuscany, to bring those with visual impairments closer to the thermal heritage through a series of sensory experiences developed for the occasion by a team of experts from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

The village of Bagno Vignoni, known for its 16th-century ‘water square’ in which 50-degree thermal water flows and for its rich thermal heritage, belongs to the ‘Thermal Via Francigena‘ project of which the municipality of San Quirico d’Orcia is an official member. The initiative was attended by Massimo Vita and Niccolò Zeppi, the presidents of the Siena and Florence sections respectively of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired, together with Stella Funduleit, a member of the association in Siena.

Welcoming the group were Marco Bartoli and Virginia Pecci, respectively Deputy Mayor and Head of Tourism of the Municipality of San Quirico d’Orcia, who kicked off the proceedings: “We believe it is fundamental to try to understand the needs of every type of audience because this landscape belongs to everyone, no one excluded“, said Bartoli. “Thanks to the meeting, it was possible to lay the foundations for a very interesting and forward-looking project, which allowed us to look at Bagno Vignoni from another point of view, optimising efforts so that our heritage is within everyone’s reach“. Starting from this, we went through a brief excursus on the history of the village and its central pool, which through the centuries has found water as an element of crucial importance – as confirmed by the inscriptions dedicated to pagan and then Christian deities. Circumnavigating the square, the group was guided by the sound of the water flowing from the central pool into the canal, now partly covered, and then gushing into the Parco dei Mulini.

Supporting the walk were some relief maps and 3D models made by geologist Riccardo Rocca, allowing participants to understand the geographical conformation and geological composition, including elevation differences and Braille indications.

“It was not a guided tour, but a shared moment where the feedback of those present had a fundamental weight in creating an itinerary that is increasingly accessible to those with visual disabilities and to anyone who wants to walk“, explained Simona Spinola, communications manager of viefrancigene.org. The itinerant workshop, with which the participating group was very satisfied, at the same time providing indications for the development of the project and pointing out the need for improvements to the path in the countryside, concluded with a “sensory tasting” of some water collected at thermal sites along the Francigena and others that can be bought at the supermarket, in order to understand their properties and characteristics through smells and taste.

The Spanish team, composed of archaeologist Silvia González Soutelo, geographer Laura García Juan and geologist Miguel Gómez-Heras, emphasised that inclusive knowledge is one important way to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: following the philosophy of ‘nothing done for us, without us’, people with disabilities are a fundamental part of the creation of inclusive dissemination content and not mere recipients.

The AllTrails app, partner of the Via Francigena, was also conceived with such inclusion in mind. It contributes to making the route practicable to all by providing pilgrims with information on the accessibility of the paths, the gradient, the type of surface, the presence of protective barriers and intersections with vehicle routes, also thanks to the contribution of its users who can share photos, reports and suggestions based on their own journey.

The initiative took place within the Horizon 2020 European project rurAllure, born to map out and disseminate rural heritage and sustainable tourism near major pilgrimage routes across Europe.