Author: Redazione AEVF

The combination of sustainable mobility and hiking is being strengthened along the Via Francigena.

The agreement with Trenitalia allows pilgrims travelling with the official European Association of the Vie Francigene Pilgrim Passport to benefit from a reduced ticket fare (a discount of 10%) on regional trains of the qualified Italian tract. 

The promotion has expanded with the addition of over 200 qualifying stations (list available on the EAVF website).  Among these stations are some those of large Italian cities from which a pilgrim can depart from or return to at the end of their Francigena experience.  

Said proposal is already looking towards the ‘2019 year of slow tourism‘, launched the 4th November by the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Dario Franceschini.

Negotiations are taking place for an agreement with TRENORD in order to add Lombard tracts to the offer; contact has been made with the regional Swiss lines, in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Railways.  

The first competition for the Paese-Cammini e Percorsi project has been launched.  To assign 43 public properties in free granting for 9 years, to businesses, cooperatives and associations established under 40 years ago, as projected by the D.L. Turismo e Cultura (D.L. 31.5.2014, n. 83).

It is the first time that the agency utilises the tool of free granting in order to support start-up businesses and the third sector with the goal to motivate innovative, social, cultural, creative and sporting initiatives.

up until the next 11th December it will be possible to consult the single national notice, the guide and all the information regarding the 30 state properties in the competition.  It involves road side houses, towers, ex-station houses and a variety of constructions spread around the national area.  Over the next few days the other local entities involved will publish the notices of their 13 properties also included in the initiative on their respective institutional websites.  

Sito dell’Agenzia del Demanio to refer to at the bottom of the page for more information.  

Starting in November, the portal of the Vie Fancigene will include another language: Spanish! The legs, routes, accommodation and news useful for the journey are now available in Spanish, to share the information along the European Via Francigena with the “official language” of the Cammino de Santiago.

There are three languages spoken in the countries of the Via Francigena: English, French and Italian, in that the route begins in Canterbury (Kent, England), crosses France (Hauts de France, Grand Est, Franche-Comté-Bourgogne, France), Switzerland (Vallese and Vaud cantons), and lastly crosses the Italian border at the Gran St Bernard Pass to proceed to Rome (Aosta Valley, Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio).

The web portal, the magazine and all our communication methods are produced in these three languages.  They are also the most common and spoken European working languages in European institutions.  The European Association of the Vie Francigene, réseau porteur of the Council of Europe since 2007, continues to invest energy and resources in translation, so the information, news and events are always punctually translated.

We may consider Spanish as the official language of the “mother” route, in other words the route which brings hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, which was certified by the Council of Europe in 1987.  

Many Spanish travellers have been attracted to the Via Francigena in recent years, whether to experience single tracts or the whole route.  Municipal projects are also under way to link Sigeric’s route to that of Santiago, the two routes are linked by their final goals of Santiago de Compostela and Rome.  

It’s for this reason that it seemed right to expand our site to include the Spanish language, especially for the articles that refer to practical information for pilgrims that are due to begin hiking.  From today therefore, we will be able to wish you a “Buon cammino”, “Bonne route”, Have a good trip”, and, lastly, “Ultreya! Buen camino”.

From the beginning of next year, the site will also be translated in German.

Luca Bruschi

The general assembly of European Association of the Vie Francigene (EAVF) is on its way to Canterbury.  The medieval British town, km zero point of the Via Francigena, has been suggested as the location for the 2019 assembly.  A plan that bears witness to our amicable relationship with Canterbury and Kent, where in 900, archbishop Sigeric began his journey to Rome.   

Canterbury is committed to the future of the European route as well as the UNESCO certification project.  Interest displayed directly to the EAVF president, Massimo Tedeschi, and director, Luca Bruschi, in the presence of Velia Coffey, deputy chief executive of Canterbury City Council and EAVF vice-president, during the recent meetings in Canterbury to strengthen the European network of the Vie Francigene. 

These meetings with the leader of Canterbury City Council, Simon Cook, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, comfirmed a shared understanding for the progress of the Via Francigena.  After the assembly planned in Champlitte, in France, for the 18th May 2018, the EAVF directs itself towards the United Kingdom for the 2019 general assembly.

“It would be the first time it has taken place in England, a great happening for the Francigena family – says president Tedeschi – left to decide is whether it will be in spring or autumn.  It will include a demonstration of the international magnitude of the Via Francigena and the EAVF network.  I would like to remind that in 2016, last year, an assembly took place in Aigle, Switzerland.  Next year we will be in France, in Champlitte – which is incidentally the EAVF headquarters in France – and in 2019, in Canterbury.”

To discover more on the meetings in Canterbury click here.  

Photos: EAVF and Canterbury authorities

 Silvia Iuliano