From the 16th to the 19th of September 2021, in Fidenza (Parma), the first edition of the Francigena Fidenza Festival will take place: an international event dedicated to the Via Francigena and to all walking routes in Italy and in Europe.
The festival’s calendar is rich with events and conferences held by historians, artists, famous walkers and journalists, but also exhibitions, hikes, guided tours, important institutional meetings, concerts and gastronomy events.
Fidenza is not only the EAVF’s headquarters location, but also the starting point of the Via Francigena candidacy to UNESCO World Heritage List; it is also exactly at the middle of the European itinerary, of its 3,200 km from Canterbury, km 0 of the route, to Santa Maria di Leuca, ending point of the southern section: such centrality is almost a vocation, and is the creative motor for this Festival!
Each year the Festival will have two ‘guest routes’, on top of the Francigena: one from the ‘Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe’ and one in Italy. For this edition, the selected routes are the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, in Spain – the most famous pilgrimage route in Europe, with 350 thousand walkers in 2019, celebrating its Holy Year this year; and, within Italy, protagonist of 2021 will be the Cammino nelle Terre Mutate, literally ‘route in the altered lands’, which has recently been recognized by institutions and has a very meaningful and emotional impact, as it crosses, from L’Aquila to Fabriano, the Italian lands of the Appennino which have been badly hit and ‘altered’ by earthquakes between 2009 and 2017.
The Festival is realized with the support of Regione Emilia-Romagna and Fondazione Cariparma, and sponsored by the Province of Parma. Radio Francigena is the official media partner.
On the website you can find the full calendar of events of the Festival, as well as insights about the Via Francigena, the town of Fidenza and about the other routes. All events will take place safely and in full respect of anti-Covid measures: it is required in fact to reserve online, through the website, in order to participate in single events and hikes. Reservations will open on Tuesday 24th of August. The core events of the festival will be broadcasted in real time on the website and on the dedicated Facebook page.
Visit the official website of the festival and follow the Facebook and Instagram pages to always be up to date.
Keep that weekend free: we’ll wait for you at the Francigena Fidenza Festival!
Source: Press Release ‘Dal 16 al 19 settembre a Fidenza la prima edizione del “Francigena Fidenza Festival”’.
