Author: Simona Spinola

Starting today, pilgrims on the Via Francigena will be able to use the services of FlixBus to move between more than 40 stages of the route, or return home at the end of the walk at a special price – with the possibility of also transporting their bicycles.

To take advantage of the discount it will be sufficient to have the Via Francigena credential, the official document that certifies, through stamps, the passage of the pilgrim through various stages of the route. By following the procedure indicated on the Association’s website, in just a few steps pilgrims will be able to obtain discounts dedicated to them for reservations through the free FlixBus app.

Thanks to the many intersections between FlixBus’s network and the Via Francigena, it will be possible to reach (or depart from) more than 40 stops along the route in Italy, Switzerland, France and England with the well-known green buses. Out of these, more than 30 stops are located in Italy, and include cities such as Rome, Turin, Bari, Parma, Siena and Matera, but also smaller, more remote locations such as Oulx, in Val di Susa, or Candela, in the area of Foggia. Those who travel the Via by bicycle will also benefit from the agreement, thanks to the extension of bike transportation to 75% of the FlixBus fleet.

The agreement between this operator and our Association aims to encourage green forms of tourism within the reach of all budgets, enhancing innovative itineraries to better promote the heritage along the route.

“This is an important collaboration that offers a useful service to the thousands of pilgrims who travel the Via Francigena. The connection between walking and public means of transportation makes it possible to provide travelers with different alternatives to reach their starting point, intermediate points or to return home at the end of the experience. This is a technical partnership based on sustainability and on care for the environment – elements that are closely linked to the philosophy of the Via Francigena“, said the Association’s President Massimo Tedeschi.

“We are happy to sign an agreement with the European Association of Via Francigena ways that we are certain will allow us to give a greater contribute to the relaunch of tourism in Italy in a sustainable perspective“, said Andrea Incondi, managing Director of FlixBus Italia. “We want to persist in doing our part to connect people with the territory and with the priceless heritage offered by our country, enhancing the areas which are normally less attended by tourist flows: in this way, the potential of our hidden treasures will not remain unexpressed“.

One year after ‘Via Francigena. Road to Rome 2021. Start Again!‘, the 3,200 km relay march we covered last summer, the journey has become a docufilm. The movie collects stories of travellers along the epic voyage from Canterbury to Rome, up to the “Finibus terrae” of Santa Maria di Leuca, in Apulia, but it also highlights ongoing projects that enhance territories along the Via.

The European march led indeed to the production of a docufilm paying tribute to the memorable four months walking through England, France, Switzerland and Italy along Sigeric’s historic route, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the European Association of Via Francigena ways.

Do you want to watch the docufilm?

Register to watch it now by CLICKING HERE

If you are a public administration or an association and wanto to organize a screening of the docufilm SEND YOUR REQUEST

“Last year, with this great crossing of over 3,000 kilometres – two thirds of which in Italy – we bet on the relaunch of slow tourism: data confirm that the ‘start again!’ – slogan of the initiative – was a good omen. The number of people walking along the Via Francigena, in Italy and in other countries, confirmed this. The actions supporting the candidature of the Via Francigena as a UNESCO World Heritage Site have also achieved important results“, said Massimo Tedeschi.

More than 3,500 travellers followed the Road to Rome on foot together with 28 bloggers, 11 video-makers and dozens of journalists together with Tik Tok influencers, youtubers and Instagrammers. As a result, we created 16 regional videos, 55 reels, 1000 high-resolution photographs, 117 blog articles in English, Italian and French, 117 podcasts, a magazine entirely dedicated to the event, and 500 articles published across the international press.

Human paths were revolutionised within the journey, said Myra Stals, the face of Road to Rome who walked the entire journey, describing it as ‘an experience that involved my whole body and head, because walking every day through 16 regions and 638 municipalities was an experience moved by the heart. I call forth the willingness of all young people to find the space and the desire to set out on their own personal journey’.

Compared to 2019, there is an evident increase in the number of young people who decide to walk the Via Francigena: those under 17 make up for 5% (2% in 2019), while 13% are in the 18-24 age group. The highest percentage is in the 45-54 range (21%). The presence of young people on the route is an element of great importance that testifies to the attractiveness of this experiential and cultural journey, even for a target group that was little present on the Via until now. The itinerary is already being visited by 80 countries around the world: a success in which the growing presence of women was decisive, with the extra gear of an unprecedented Literary Pilgrim Relay from the Ilaria Canali “Girls in Gamba” community.

The docufilm ‘Road to Rome’, presented in Rome at the ENIT – Italian Tourism Agency headquarters, was attended by the Italian Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia, ENIT’s Director Roberta Garibaldi, ENIT Marketing and Promotion Director Maria Elena Rossi, together with Massimo Tedeschi, EAVF’s President, Sergio Valzania, writer and historian, and Myra Stals, EAVF’s social media manager.

“Paths that transform travelling into widespread places. A fil rouge, a storytelling made of people who meet along the way marking a return to authentic experiences. The trip charged us with expectations and emotions that have been enhanced with the arrival in Italy of the “Road to Rome” relay that had a tangible impact on all the Peninsula and all its unique cultures and lifestyles” declares ENIT’s Director Roberta Garibaldi.

Intesa Sanpaolo, the project’s main partner, also supported the presentation. Intesa Sanpaolo has in fact enthusiastically supported this exciting journey to discover enchanting places and villages, convinced that the promotion of cultural and sustainable tourism, which enhances the artistic and cultural heritage of territories, can also have important returns in favor of communities and geographical areas that are sometimes less well-known to the general public but no less interesting – and rich in opportunities.

Road to Rome was possible thanks to main sponsors and partners such as ENIT, Intesa Sanpaolo, SNAM and Puglia Promozione, as well as the valuable support of regions, administrations, local associations and numerous gold, silver, bronze and technical partners.

Discover the official partners of the project

The docufilm will be available to all members of the European Association of Via Francigena ways (municipalities and local associations) and to project partners. It will soon be on the official channels of www.viefrancigene.org with the three versions in Italian, French and English.

The EAVF took part in the first post-pandemic Training Academy on Cultural Routes, organised by the European Institute of Cultural Routes and hosted by the Impressionisms Routes in cooperation with the District of Seine-et-Marne and the Ministry of Culture of France. The event took place on 31 May – 3 June in Fontainebleau, France and gathered 37 cultural routes with representatives from 17 European countries. 

The 9th edition of this training was focused on cultural tourism and explored the topics of innovative emerging trends and strategies, especially in the post-Covid environment. Elena Dubinina and Jacques Chevin from EAVF presented the Road to Rome 2021 initiative and the European project rurAllure in informal workshops on cooperation and visibility during the event. They highlighted the importance of joint actions among the routes and local stakeholders to enhance visibility of the cultural routes brand.

The region of Fontainebleau is a crossroad of cultures and routes, as it connects the routes of Impressionisms, Stevenson, Napoleon and D’Artagnan, which the participants had a chance to experience on guided tours to Barbizon, hike through the Fontainebleau Forest, visit to the Castle and watch a performance of local theatre.  

Conclusions of the Training Academy focused on enhancement of cooperation and brand visibility as well as creation of national working groups on cultural routes will be presented at the annual forum on cultural routes, which will take place in Crete on 5 – 7 October 2022.  

On Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May, more than 50 people joined rurAllure to walk along stages 31 and 36 of the Via Francigena in Tuscany to explore the known and lesser-known treasures of these territories.

The European project rurAllure, of which the European Association of Vie Francigene is a member, has a founding objectives in enhancing the thermal heritage along the ‘Roman’ itineraries, i.e. those leading from all over Europe to Rome. Precisely with this focus, it organised two events open to the public and with free participation to promote the thermal territories along the Francigena in Tuscany.

As rurAllure’s press release declairs, it has been ‘two days of beauty, including history, nature, culture and wine and food tastings to savour with all five senses the richness of the stages linking San Quirico to Castiglione d’Orcia and the one connecting Gambassi Terme to San Gimignano‘.

EAVF joined the group for the entire weekend, visiting the Parco dei Mulini, the water square of Bagno Vignoni and the hypothermal springs of I Bollori e Putizza, along the banks of Rio Casciani, near Gambassi Terme. In addition to us, institutions, mayors and local councillors joined the group, as well as journalists and bloggers who shared the story of these two hikes through their communication channels.

The two walks were organised in collaboration with the municipalities of Castiglione d’Orcia, Gambassi Terme, San Gimignano and San Quirico d’Orcia, but also with the valuable support of Proloco Gambassi Terme and The Gambassi Experience.

‘The Municipality of San Gimignano continues to believe in the Via Francigena, which represents our history and allows us to encourage healthy forms of tourism, made of people who walk and engage in outdoor activities to learn about our history and our culture‘, commented Carolina Taddei, Councillor for Culture and Education, Enhancement and Promotion of the Territory, Tourist Reception, International Relations, Image Protection, Twinning.

Paolo Campinoti, Mayor of Gambassi Terme, emphasised the importance of the Via Francigena, defining it as a ‘great opportunity for all territories not known to mass tourism to offer alternatives in the sphere of slow and sustainable tourism‘, while Claudio Galletti, Mayor of Castiglione d’Orcia, pointed out how the Via represents ‘an extraordinary vehicle for promoting tourism, which in recent years has contributed to increasing the visibility of Castiglione d’Orcia, playing an important role in increasing tourist presences‘.

The rurAllure project has developed a platform that offers pilgrims an overview of the best cultural locations along the route, including those that involve short diversions and that walkers would otherwise not be aware of.

Click here to discover all the stops and plan your visits

During the morning of 19 May, an informal technical meeting was held in Florence, at the headquarters of the Region of Tuscany, to discuss the project of the candidacy of the Via Francigena as a World Heritage Site. It was an operational meeting organised by EAVF to plan future actions following the European thematic study which has already been carried out.

The day continued with a round table, also organised by EAVF, focusing on the Thermal Via Francigena project and the sharing of activities within the European rurAllure project. One of the research areas of rurAllure sheds light precisely on the thermal heritage which is touched by the Tuscan Francigena route. Research partners University of Bologna, University of Padua, Iuav Venice, UAM Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and the Homo Viator Foundation are actively contributing together with EAVF. Elena Dubinina, international relations manager, Simona Spinola, communication manager, and Nicole Franciolini, project assistant, took part in the presentation.

The meeting was also an important opportunity to talk about environmental education, sustainable tourism, the involvement of local communities, the maintenance of the route, its usability through enhancement of public transports and, last but not least, all aspects connected to the promotion of the itinerary.

Taking part in the round table were Federico Eligi, Councillor at the Cabinet Office of the Region of Tuscany; Carolina Taddei, Councillor for Culture in San Gimignano; Marco Bartoli, Deputy Mayor of San Quirico d’Orcia; Erica Formichi, Municipal Councillor of Castiglione d’Orcia; and Paolo Campinotti, Mayor of Gambassi Terme. President Massimo Tedeschi and Director Luca Bruschi were present for EAVF.

“Thermal springs become a richness within the local tourist offer and therefore make the Via Francigena more attractive, offering even more to its pilgrims. The Via is thus stronger if it is linked to thermal tourism. This is exactly the aim of rurAllure project“, emphasised EAVF’s President Massimo Tedeschi. 

Among the proposed ideas is the ‘I love Francigena Termale by rurAllure‘ event, a two-day walking tour (28 and 29 May) in which participants will discover on foot the thermal and cultural heritage located along the stages connecting San Quirico to Castiglione d’Orcia and San Gimignano to Gambassi Terme. This initiative is free of charge and open to everybody: the first of a long series of events to enhance an area that is so rich in opportunities.

Fill the form to participate

Spring is back and with it come the walks organised by our Association, free of charge, to discover villages, heritage and territories crossed by the Via Francigena at a slow pace.

The next appointments will be on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 May in Tuscany, to discover on foot the thermal heritage locations mapped thanks to the European project rurAllure along the stages linking San Quirico to Castiglione d’Orcia and Gambassi Terme to San Gimignano. This two-day event, entitled “I love Francigena termale by rurAllure” (see the programme in English here), will allow participants to immerge in the uniqueness of two stages bound by nature, history, art and gastronomy – with a special focus on the thermal sites located near the route, which have Etruscan and Roman origins. 

The Parco dei Mulini, where the energy produced by the water flow of the thermal springs was exploited until the end of the 19th century; the unique water square of Bagno Vignoni; the hypothermal spring of I Bollori and Putizza along the banks of Rio Casciani, near Gambassi Terme; these are just some of the most important stops on our programme. A certified guide will lead the group and we will have no lack of refreshment moments at many of the stopping points.

Pilgrims and enthusiast walkers will be joined on foot by the staff of rurAllure and the EAVF, local institutions and associations actively promoting slow tourism along the Via Francigena, and actors who are regularly verifying the state of the paths and the effectiveness of signposting. It will be an important moment for sharing and exchanging knowledge, with compulsory registration and free of charge participation.

☞ Want to join us? Follow these 3 simple steps:

◆ Check out the programme at this link ◆

◆ Choose the stage and fill the form to make sure you’re on board ◆

◆ Find out how well you know the Via Francigena by taking our quiz ◆

The event is possible thanks to the collaboration of the Municipality of Castiglione d’Orcia, the Municipality of Gambassi Terme, the Municipality of San Gimignano, the Municipality of San Quirico d’Orcia, Proloco Gambassi Terme and The Gambassi Experience.

How to become an “I love Francigena” partner

• If you are a pilgrim, you can participate in all excursions both by staying connected to the EAVF channels (website, social media, newsletter) and rurAllure.eu, by following us with the hashtag #ILoveFrancigena. 
• If you are a local authority, Region or private partner, you can participate in the co-organisation of the event by contacting us at the following email: segreteria@viefrancigene.org

“Thanks for allowing me to discover the Via Francigena” is the phrase with which the presenter Alessandro Cattelan and the Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino salute each other after a conversation on the relationship between happiness and religion. In the background stands the Tuscan countryside along the Via Francigena, while some passing pilgrims stop to say hello.

The historic route defined by Sigeric was, in fact, the location chosen by the film-makers to record the second episode of “Una semplice domanda“, a mini-series already available on Netflix since 18 March which is quickly climbing the top of the charts. It develops in six episodes with speakers that are famous in Italy and abroad, exploring the meaning of happiness, but above all where to search it and where to find it.

“Does belief make us happy?” is the question that allows us to relate to the director from a new, particular standpoint, discovering memories of his grandparents and great-grandparents, Fellini-style reminiscences, rules and prohibitions, rituals, and the lifetime that flows past each of us in those last moments of existence. 

“I am a moderate walker, just as I am in everything else“, says Sorrentino as the video shots from above show us cypress trees, blue skies and puffy clouds – which take us back to the marvelous stages we covered in Tuscany last summer, during the relay march “Via Francigena. Road to Rome 2021”. If you want to jump back into those memories with us, just take a look at our photogallery.

Interaction, connection, sharing, experience, discovery, and opportunity: these are the key ideas that emerged on 24 February during the Virtual World Cafè organised by MOHU – Centre for Advanced Studies in Mobility & Humanities at the University of Padova.

A brainstorming session with students of the Master program in Mobility Studies, divided in 5 groups, who shared their ideas with 5 experts coming from the most various work fields. 

Among them was Simona Spinola, EAVF’s communication officer, who led her audience on a discovery of cultural itineraries in their various forms and structures, to reflect with the group on how walking mobility generates opportunities. From the discovery of cultural heritage to the promotion of small villages far from the main tourist circuits, slow tourism is an inexhaustible source of discovery for those who choose mobility on foot or on two wheels. The Via Francigena is tangible proof of this, as it has been connecting municipalities, institutions and local associations for years to create a shared European identity.

The virtual classrooms, moderated by lecturers from the Department of History, Geography and Antiquity, offered an interactive afternoon of enriching exchange for all parties involved. In addition to slow tourism and cultural itineraries, participants spoke with Christophe Gay from the Mobile Lives Forum about mobility and the sustainable transition as a new implementable lifestyle. They spoke with Elena Muscarella, from Fondazione Acra, about the experience of Migrantour, an intercultural urban walk that compares tourism with migration trends. With Laura Ronzon, from the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology, students reflected on the role of scientific and technological heritage, and with Kirsten Rüther, Senior Lecturer in the Mobile Cultural Studies doctoral programme at the University of Vienna, they analysed the implications of mobility in today’s society.

We wish to thank all participants and, in particular, Chiara Rabbiosi, researcher and expert on the geography of consumption and tourism, for involving the EAVF. Mobility is a value to carry forward, step by step – above all along the Via Francigena.

On 18 February, the European Association of Via Francigena ways (EAVF) took part in an international conference in Venice regarding Italian cultural routes of the Council of Europe.

The meeting was organized by the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and by the Italian representation of the Council based in Venice, headed by Luisella Pavan-Woolfe, former ambassador of the European Union in Strasbourg.

Institutions, authorities and representatives of cultural routes attended the event with the common objective of analysing challenges and opportunities of cultural routes that cross Europe, defined as “tangible solutions for the tourism sector, compromised by the pandemic” by Filippo Maria Carnici, Vice-President of the Ateneo Veneto that hosted the conference.

Sustainable development and the recovery of tourism in the post-covid phase are the issues highlighted by Stefano Dominioni, Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes. He recalled how “the Council of Europe can reaffirm the values of public participation and democratic citizenship within a shared Europe that belongs to everyone: an illustrious example is the Via Francigena, which, through the joint work of authorities, municipalities and territories, contributes to the shaping of a common European identity“.

This was confirmed by Massimo Tedeschi, EAVF’s President, who recalled, during the session dedicated to European heritage and history, how the historic journey undertaken by Sigeric to reach Rome is a continuous opportunity to break down stereotypes and create a sense of common belonging: “relaunch, Europe and tangible and intangible heritage, as in people and their ideas. These were the cornerstones of the event Via Francigena. Road to Rome 2021 – the European relay race with which we celebrated the Association’s 20th anniversary“.

The Cultural Routes programme, launched by the Council of Europe in 1987 with the Declaration of Santiago, is a warranty of excellence that offers a model for transnational cultural and tourism management, fostering synergies between authorities and stakeholders at the European level and contributing to the creation of a community spirit. Out of the 45 certified itineraries, 29 pass through Italy, as the director of Venice’s Office Luisella Pavan-Woolfe reminded; she also highlighted the importance of Venice, an academic center and important cultural hub recognized on the European level. The city is actively involved in the Council of Europe’s activities related to the promotion of cultural heritage and freedom of expression. “Cultural routes can create and spread continuous exchanges of ideas and best practices also thanks to European funds, as witnessed by the European project “rurAllure” financed by Horizon 2020, born with the aim of enhancing the rural heritage of European routes“.

European identity, memory and heritage were the three key words of the day, which featured the Via Francigena and the Way of St James alongside the Phoenicians’ Route, the Via Romea Germanica, Atrium – dedicated to the architecture of Totalitarian Regimes – the European Mozart Routes, the Jewish Heritage Route and the Route of Historic Thermal Towns, as well as the Route of the Liberation of Europe and the Route of Historic Gardens. Roberta Alberotanza, member of the Task Force for the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, concluded the conference by saying that “it would take a lifetime to travel across all the itineraries presented today“. She then led the participants on a tour of the movable exhibition dedicated to the 29 Council of Europe itineraries with Italian network members.

The international meeting of rurAllure took place in Padua and Montegrotto on 27 – 29 January 2022. This Horizon 2020 European project is focused to the development of innovative digital tools for promotion of heritage in the vicinity of cultural routes.