Author: Redazione AEVF

Move your first step towards the East, towards the boarding harbours for the Holy Land, on the straight line of the Ancient Appian Way, shady with old pine trees. Leave behind your back the colonnade by Bernini and St. Peter and start a journey through history, following the stones placed over two thousand years ago. Cross the monumental graves, the ruins of the Imperial culture, then Rome and its suburbs will already be a memory. The elevation of the Alban Hills are already standing out on the horizon. The vineyards, the gentle hills and the view on the lakes Nemi and Albano will guide you towards the second stage.

Admire silently the cloister of Valvisciolo Abbey, explore the streets of the medieval village of Sermoneta, stop under the high vaults of Fossanova Abbey, at the edge of Pontine Marshes, where the dialect reminds you that Campania is drawing near.

Moving along the Ausoni Mountains, you will find the memory of the ancient Rome in Terracina, overlooking the sea. You will also find the Appian Way again, which will lead you, through intact segments of flagstones, to Formia, in between olive tree groves at the foot of the Aurunci Mountains, and then – always following the footsteps of the roman legions – to Santa Maria Capua Vetere.

The vast conurbation between Capua and Maddaloni will reward your efforts with the sight of the luxurious Palace of Caserta, but the fertile valley of Campania Felix will soon leave space to the first elevations of the Apennines. From Benevento you will leave the Appian Way towards the Via Traiana. On rural paths you will find silence, walking on the sheep tracks of the Dauni Mountains, and the Adriatic sea will appear in the distance while you get closer to Troy. Its Cathedral is a masterpiece of Romanesque art.

Roman bridges, milestones, the flagstones of the Via Traiana lost in the yellow colour of wheat, the manor farms that dot the countryside as far as the eye can see, they all fill your walk on the Tavoliere, where the roads seem to head towards the Infinite. Instead, the goal is by now near, even if Brindisi was only a stage of passage for the medieval pilgrim, a keystone of the journey, because you could embark from its harbour to face another journey, full of uncertainties and dangers. The final destination was beyond the sea, it was the East, the Holy Land, where everything began.

Go to the paths

You just left behind your back the Jura Mountains, at the slopes of which lies Besançon, to go however towards new mountains. The cowbells will welcome you into the first Swiss village, Sainte-Croix, in the Vaud canton. You are following an ancient path, already used by the Romans during their movements towards the North of the continent; nowadays it is an excursionist itinerary marked as Route 70 and identified as official route of the Via Francigena.

We don’t know if the territory of the Lavaux district, exposed on the Lemano Lake, was already cultivated with terraced vineyards (today, a UNESCO World Heritage Site) at the time of Sigerico. It is however sure that the archbishop stopped in Lausanne, a city laid on the sunny side of the Lake, where you should stop as well, even just for a quick visit to the beautiful gothic cathedral.

Enter the groove of the Rhône valley and leave the coast of the lake, with its famous touristic and social places, Vevey and Montreaux. The landscape becomes solemn and you will be able to find quiet and solitude in the great Saint-Maurice abbey: it was founded in the 6^th century and it is now a fixed destination for pilgrims who want to see the remains of the saints. Stay the night in the abbey: it is an unforgettable experience.

The last two stages will be memorable, and not just for the ascent that from Martigny is sometime steep. You will reach the top of the hill, which with its 2000 meters of height is the highest point of the itinerary, and breathe the thin air of the mountain. Then you will arrive at the majestic hostel of the pass, which was founded around the year 1100 by Bernard of Menthon. Your great journey is now at a central point: from the Italian side, rivers – and roads – head towards the Mediterranean.

Maps e GPS tracks

While crossing the English Channel, direct your gaze behind you and admire the cliffs of Dover: try to imagine the feeling that the medieval pilgrim felt looking at the isle getting distant while he faced a journey full of mysteries.

You will see the sea again after a month of walk and it will be the Mediterranean. In the meantime, walk quickly on the marked paths of GR145®, which have been indicated by the Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre as the official route of the Via Francigena in the French territory.

The conurbation of Calais will soon be a memory and you will find yourself in the calm Picardy countryside, on rural roads with unimportant differences in height. The first important destination you will encounter, by now in the region of Champagne-Ardenne, is Reims with its gothic Cathedral where almost all kings in France have been crowned.

Your walk continues in the wonderful landscape of the vineyards of Champagne, where other inventive gothic cathedrals are waiting for you, with their sparkling glass walls, in Châlons-en-Champagne that Sigerico mentioned as Chateluns. Follow the flow of the Marne, which will lead you to a place that is special for the history of all Europe. In Clairvaux, between Champagne and Borgogna, Bernard of Clairvaux founded the first Cistercian abbey: the stamp of the mother house will be one of the most precious for your credential.

The horizon of hills and cultivated fields looks never ending, however another important city awaits you. That is Besançon, that Sigerico recalls as Bysiceon. It is arranged on seven hills, as a sort of anticipation of Rome, your final destination. Leave the capital of Franche-Comté behind, in order to venture into the landscape of the Alps which will lead you to the Swiss valleys and to the alpine passes.

Maps e GPS tracks

What better way to start your journey on the Via Francigena – on the footsteps of archbishop Sigerico – than to have as starting point of the travel the exact Episcopal location of the faraway British Isles, from which the most celebrated pilgrim left in 990.

Take some time to visit the Cathedral, an amazing masterpiece of gothic art, which was built a few centuries after Sigerico came back safe and sound to his domicile, fresh from the long and strenuous journey to the capital of Christianity. On such return he left us the list of 79 stages, described as accurately as possible, of the modern path you are going to take.

Next to the south porch of the Canterbury Cathedral there is the stone that indicates the starting point (kilometer zero) of the itinerary. The first steps will lead you to the Christchurch door and then to St Augustine Abbey along the Pilgrim’s Way, in which Sigerico was an abbot for 10 years.

And then you will leave the city on the North Downs Way, the excursion path which coincides with the layout of the Via Francigena and you will lose yourself in the British countryside, dotted by farms and villages. Kent has been described as “the Garden of England” for its vegetable gardens and for the beauty of its rural landscape. Only two stages – easy and relaxing – will lead you to the sea of Dover. However, you will have time to experience the British reception in the stop-over of Sheperdswell, a calm village in which a pub is the main grouping place, where you can drink to the first day of walk.

Maps e GPS tracks