• For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

Live and alive on the Via Francigena

MichaelSG

Retired member
Time of past OR future Camino
Not enough
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Hi Michael

Your blog entries brings back memories of our walk done a few years ago.
 
Michael

Thank you for taking the time to post your blog. I'm pleased your walking pole was returned safely, the little twists of life can be so rewarding.

Please lets have some more blogs.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
Michael

Thank you for taking the time to post your blog. I'm pleased your walking pole was returned safely, the little twists of life can be so rewarding.

Please lets have some more blogs.
I'm still trying to figure out how I dropped it without noticing, but more importantly, how could a farmer be passing by in that very short time frame, how on earth did the farmer see it, what possessed him to retrieve it, and how is it possible that we stopped at that moment and place, that allowed him to catch us before he would have likely just turned into his field for work. God works in really mysterious ways.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Hello Michael,

Thanks for blogging ! Brings back lots of memories, including Carla, Robbio police station backyard...

I concur with you : you need a GPS (phone, tablet, dedicated unit...) to find your way along the rice fields.

Buon cammino !
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Any minute now you'll be in San Gimignano!!! ... I played a Mozartian flourish for a bride as she hiked the grand staircase to the Duomo. A crowd of tourists was seated on the ancient steps applauding the family and guests as they arrived...Bella, bellisimo, molto bella Italia!
 
Last edited:
I'll be in San Gimignano in about 14 hours! Our walk today to Gambassi was incredibly gorgeous and I can see San Gimignano from our doorstep. Lucca was stunning. It was raining and sunny today - at the same time - most of today! And yes, there was a fair bit of road walking in the Po valley but I am still greatly enjoying this walk.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
The section south from Lucca in my humble opinion is the highlight of the entire walk, though some longish sections south of Sienna before you reach Lazio
 
Just think we did this route nearly 8 years ago using home made poorly translated guidebooks and even worse rough crude paper maps. We relied on old fashioned phone booths and a calling card to call ahead and reserve beds.

Pretty low tech

Reading your blog, I have come to the conclusion you need both a good set if guidebooks and maps and better still a GPS? And a mobile phone?
 
Just think we did this route nearly 8 years ago using home made poorly translated guidebooks and even worse rough crude paper maps. We relied on old fashioned phone booths and a calling card to call ahead and reserve beds.
?
...phone booths and a calling card? Now why didn't I think of that?
 
Last edited:
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
Hi there, MichaelSG.
San Quirico D'orcia, that's where I turned left and hi-tailed it across to Perugia & Assisi... I'm looking forward to what comes next in your blog.
 
Last edited:
Hi there, MichaelSG.
San Quirico D'orcia, that's where I turned left and hi-tailed it cross-country to Perugia & Assisi... I'm looking forward to what comes next in your blog.

That is the neat thing about this region of Tuscany, is that there a series of interconnecting regional trails you can take like the Sienna series. I believe the number 2 trail goes due south from Sienna and connects with the number 6 which you can take east to Montepulciano and further east to Umbria.
 
That is the neat thing about this region of Tuscany, is that there a series of interconnecting regional trails you can take like the Sienna series. I believe the number 2 trail goes due south from Sienna and connects with the number 6 which you can take east to Montepulciano and further east to Umbria.
...I agree. This region is full of lovely trails. I met a couple of girls who'd walked through the forests from Gubbio to Sienna. That's how I knew it was possible to cut across to Assisi. There is a day walk from San Quirico d'Orcia to Pienza, a magnificent hilltop village. From there I followed the Sentiero No. 6 to Montepulciano picking up No. 50 somewhere after Castiglione del Lago on the way to Perugia...
 
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
...I agree. This region is full of lovely trails. I met a couple of girls who'd walked through the forests from Gubbio to Sienna. That's how I knew it was possible to cut across to Assisi. There is a day walk from San Quirico d'Orcia to Pienza, a magnificent hilltop village. From there I followed the Sentiero No. 6 to Montepulciano picking up No. 50 somewhere after Castiglione del Lago on the way to Perugia...

That is what I thought you did. Have to try this myself someday
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Just think we did this route nearly 8 years ago using home made poorly translated guidebooks and even worse rough crude paper maps. We relied on old fashioned phone booths and a calling card to call ahead and reserve beds.

Pretty low tech

Reading your blog, I have come to the conclusion you need both a good set if guidebooks and maps and better still a GPS? And a mobile phone?
The maps, GPS and mobile phone are all the same thing for me and I am glad I have it although it is not 100% required. The guidebook, IMHO, is not worth the weight and cost. It is possible just to follow the signs but sometimes it is nice to have confirmation. We also needed to call ahead for a bed in the earlier days but we don't really need to now. I haven't seen a phone booth for a while.... maybe for the past eight years. :p
 
The maps, GPS and mobile phone are all the same thing for me and I am glad I have it although it is not 100% required. The guidebook, IMHO, is not worth the weight and cost. It is possible just to follow the signs but sometimes it is nice to have confirmation. We also needed to call ahead for a bed in the earlier days but we don't really need to now. I haven't seen a phone booth for a while.... maybe for the past eight years. :p

Nice to read that the signage has improved. The guidebook we had was homemade since no English guidebooks were not available. Phone booths we hard to find back then to but I agree calling ahead was necessary, required in many cases if you wanted an affordable bed for the night.

Really enjoying seeing the photos - the countryside through this part of Tuscany at this time of year is beautiful.
 
Last edited:
The signage is actually extremely good and, IMHO, better than the Camino routes in Spain, except for the Camino Frances. It is almost possible to go without maps, GPS and certainly a guidebook.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
... Phone booths we hard to find back then to but I agree calling ahead was necessary, required in many cases if you wanted an affordable bed for the night...
... necessary? @jirit, I slept inside every night without calling ahead. The beds, floors, stacks of cardboard, old curtains and jumble were all quite affordable on my non-budget...

Buongiorno, @MichaelSG. Come stai?
 
Last edited:
pps....
sorry, @jirit. my last message sounded braggish. I'm astonished, that's all. I should be honouring those who sheltered me. Their kindness was a wonder....
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
We wanted neither the palace or the "stacks of cardboards ie the box tent" :).

What we wanted when possible was the spend the night in the various monasteries or convents that lined the way. When I put together our homemade accommodation guide for this route, we purposely documented places like monasteries churches, convents, etc. Not all towns had such a place so the back up was the local pension, if there was one.

More often this required a phone call ahead usually the morning of the day of arrival, to ensure that somebody would be there to greet us, open the door and show us to our beds, etc. No phone call, no person, no bed - and this was the case often and maybe still even today.

If we were traveling with an unlimited budget then we could simply sauntered up to the next pension or hotel ( but not all towns had a hotel or pension ) and grab a double bed room that usually came with an ensuite bathroom :). We did this a few times.

Or like yourself we could have rolled out the sleeping bags, grabbed a sheets of cardboard and call this home for night. But we didn't :)
 
Last edited:
Or like yourself we could have rolled out the sleeping bags... :)
...I didn't have a sleeping bag or mat. They were too much for me to carry...I earnt precious little as a street musician so had to ask and keep on asking, knock and keep on knocking until eventually somewhere a door opened...
 
...I didn't have a sleeping bag or mat. They were too much for me to carry...I earnt precious little as a street musician so had to ask and keep on asking, knock and keep on knocking until eventually somewhere a door opened...

I have plenty of admiration for you - you are obviously wandering gypsy - a real pilgrim :)

You remind me of a woman we met while walking the Via Francigens named Maria.
 
Last edited:
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
I see Micheal you are one day away from Rome. I am not sure if you saw this post about the new alternate route into Rome

WALKING FROM LA STORTA TO ROME

One route is on the busy road with lots of pollution and the other, 2km longer, through mostly green areas.

Start from the Chapel of the Vision near the cathedral of La Storta. Follow the via Cassia north, away from Rome for 200m. Take a road to the left slightly uphill. When on the bridge over the railway line, take a right on a road downhill to reach the main road, the Cassia Braccianese (very fast traffic). Turn left here going south then pass thought two tunnels and reach the via Cassia. Shortly afterwards turn right passing under a railway tunnel (Via Torre Spizzichino) then go left to the Via Cavina and the Via Casale Castelluccia in a very elegant area of villas and gardens, At Luxus Relay Hotel follow the way turning to the left and a further turn to the right. You are now in the countryside.

Reach a very large road with fast traffic. Continue, ignoring a tunnel on the left and walk either on the right side of the road or on the grit; cross the main road and walk in the same direction through a neglected grassy field towards a railway station. At the end of the grassy field you have to walk very carefully on a stretch of road about 200m on the main road with traffic, this is the most critical part of the stage, and reach the station parking area. Continue in the same direction to a traffic light. Cross a main road to reach the Via Canossiane which is for pedestrians only and turn left into Via Stazione (in front of the Stazzione Ottavia there is a bar and several shops.) Take the station underpass to Via Trionfale then turn right. After passing under a bridge cross the Via Trionfale to the Via Silvio Antoniano (a fruit market here) Go to the end of the short alley, passing a Mercedes Benz depot. On the left take a narrow path downhill. (This is 6, 5 km from the start).

Soon you are in a country environment with plenty of unspoiled vegetation and wild fauna. Follow the path, ignoring a side path to the right at 90° with our path and a second one of 45°. In a large open area the major path continues straight but you take a path to the right (about 90°). After 100 m a low barrier stops vehicles from entering but not pedestrians. There are tall houses high up on the hill at right. Reach Via Conti steeply uphill. Turn left some stairs into Via Vegerio, go down Via Teverna continue right to the Via Forte Trionfale, along the Via Pieve di Cadforem Piazza Passo Pordoi, the institute, school and hotel Don Orione (take the left gate). Here there is a bar. (12km from the start)

After the gate continue for about 200 m to the Mont Mario Park. Go right on the large path and soon you will have a magnificent view over Rome. Continue till you reach the park gate on Via Amicus. Cross carefully and go downhill. Soon you enter a gate of another part of the Monte Mario park. Go uphill to a splendid view. Follow the path at first downhill then up. Then it narrows and bends to the right with some power meters on the right; small cottages with veg gardens to the left. Continue to a paved road. This goes to the right, with schools behind the fence on the left. Go down Via Parco Vittorie then left to the Via Trionfale.

Shortly afterwards, enter a large vaulted gate with steps leading to a pine wood. Continue turning slightly to the right and arrive at the place where you (as pilgrims did for a thousand years) will see the cupola of St peters for the first time. Here a prayer of thanks is due.

Continue downhill on Via Trionfale. Go downhill watching out carefully for the traffic. This area is urban Rome with large buildings. Take two stairs, short-cutting the u-bends of the road. (Note that at the end of the downhill section of the left there is the Via Borgo S Lazarro, a small alley with a historical little church – St Lazzaro of the Lepers.) Continue on Via Trionfale, the Largo Trionfale then turn right into the Via Leone 1Vand reach the walls of the Vatican.
 
Ta da. It's been a very hot last few days but we have arrived in Rome, 846km and by foot every step of the way from Vercelli. The walk into Rome is a whole lot better along the new route that we got lucky in discovering today. If I had seen your post earlier, Jirit, less luck would have been involved! No dangerous main roads. Thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way or in the planning stages. Your advice and encouragement were invaluable

http://memismsitaliancammino.blogspot.com/2016/05/day-36-la-storta-to-rome-210km-55hrs-28.html
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
Ta da. It's been a very hot last few days but we have arrived in Rome, 846km and by foot every step of the way from Vercelli. The walk into Rome is a whole lot better along the new route that we got lucky in discovering today. If I had seen your post earlier, Jirit, less luck would have been involved! No dangerous main roads. Thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way or in the planning stages. Your advice and encouragement were invaluable

http://memismsitaliancammino.blogspot.com/2016/05/day-36-la-storta-to-rome-210km-55hrs-28.html

Glad to read that it all worked out well and better still that this new alternate (lets just it the new official route) into Rome is both well signed and passable
 
And congratulations of the completion of your Camino - I am sure it will be one you won't forget
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
While things are still somewhat fresh in my mind, but not as current as when I wrote the daily blogs, let me summarise my thoughts on the Via Francigena:

It really is a fantastic walk, at least where I started from in Vercelli. I am very, very happy we did this one. I needed at least the first week to be somewhat easy and the flat lands from Vercelli to Fidenza provided that.

A local phone is VERY useful in those first two weeks. You need to call a day in advance to make sure you have a bed and someone to give you access to it.

Wi-fi is not always findable in many towns north of Lucca.

Tuscany is extremely gorgeous to walk through but do not count on places to stop along the way. Most days, you leave in the morning and you probably won't see a place to eat / drink / sit on a toilet until your final destination.

We stayed in a mix of ostellos, affittacamere, hotels and albergos but we stopped staying in ostellos on day 24 when it started to look like the Camino Frances' bed race.

We walked with only a few pilgrims and some of the days and some of the kms. It was pretty rare to see other pilgrims on the trail until south of Siena. We did meet up with some at night time though, after the first week.

There were lovely people we met all along the way, both pilgrims and local Italians. As I sit here, all I can remember are the many fantastic people but also one single pair of women who ran the Covento di San Francesco ostello who I did not enjoy meeting at all (really, you should avoid that dump aloughth, to be fair, two friends stayed their and survived) and the daughter of the woman running the ostello in some little town whose name escapes me now.

Learn some Italian before you go. It will make life much easier and more rewarding. At minimum, make sure you can make reservations for rooms over the telephone. That's a bare minimum. I used Duolingo for a couple of months and enjoyed having small conversations with people.

Italian breakfast is always a pastry and a coffee. If you want more than that, you'll need to make it yourself. I think I had more than that at a handful of B&Bs, but not much more. I haven't seen an egg, strip of bacon or sausage since leaving Singapore.

Some stages are long but there are often work arounds. Get GPS / offline maps on a smartphone. Maps.me worked perfect. The GPS tracks I downloaded from the Via Francigena website were not always the most recent but that's okay. Every tiny track is in maps.me and its easy to find your own way.

The route is signposted very, very well. It's not 100% perfect but second only to the Camino Frances that I know of. That said, because some paths are long with no marking other than the first one saying to enter it, it can be reassuring to confirm your route on the GPS.

Plan your walk so that you go from Fiorenzuola d'Arda to Fidenza on a weekend or school holiday. Stop in to say hello to Massimo and Claudia. Don't shortcut and miss their house. Also, take the ferry across the river after Orio Litta with Danilo. You won't regret it. Sigeric spoke so highly of Danilo that we had to do it. He is a legend but he needs at least 24 hours notice and he won't speak on the phone in anything but Italian.

Expect B&Bs to only serve breakfast before 8:00am by bribing them. Except dinner in a rest arrant no earlier than 7:30pm. Carry some food with you all the time. We had too many days where a single croissant needed to last us until 3:00pm. BTW, one day like that is too much for me. After three hours without food, I'm the kind of guy whose body will think I'm on a hunger strike.

Pilgrims meals don't really exist except in a very few towns. Normal for us was a ham sandwich and lemon soda for lunch and a dinner of pasta then a shared main course and salad. With a second breakfast when we were lucky to nave a town nearby the 1-2 hour mark, meals cost the two of us a total 50-70€ per day.

Either bring euros with you or have a bank card where you can withdraw money from local banks. We happened to have US$ sitting around so we brought them to change to euros. The very few money changers we have seen (and we looked) were in Pisa and Rome. With commissions, they were stealing about 6-9%. ATMs worked flawlessly 10 times so far and they are taking 4% from the interbank rates.

Rome is a big tourist town. Mass with 10,000 people today at St. Peter's Square was awesome. Seeing the Trevi Foutain on Sunday afternoon with 10,000 tourist sucked.

Other than the other pilgrims that you may run into on the hill overlooking Rome, no one else in the Eternal City cares that you walked 2,000km, 850km, 100km or twenty meters. This isn't Santiago. Revel in your own accomplishment silently otherwise people with think you really are crazy.

We were blessed with great weather and I say this despite the very cold rain when crossing the mountains and the hailstorm in Radicofani. The last three days were burning hot with an energy sapping sun and that is what most of our walk was supposed to be. I can't imagine 36 days of that.

Join the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome and download their accommodation list. It's rarely up to date on prices but I found it extremely useful, more so than the LightFoot guide. That guide was borderline worth the carrying weight.

Once again, the most useful thing we brought was a parachord clothesline, 20 small paper binder clips and a drybag for washing clothes without getting water and suds everywhere. The least useful things I brought were a small torch, an Italian phrase book and set of hair curlers. I'm kidding about one of those. The curlers were actually quite handy.

I can't think of anything else now but holler if you have questions.
 
Oops. In my last blog post, I had said "For those following us, you can no longer get a Testamonium at the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi."

We found out that this is not true. We went there on Saturday and several ladies behind the counter clearly said that they no longer issued testamoniums there. The conversations were in Italian with one person and English with two others. I don't think it was a language issue but we happened to stop by again on Monday and there they were, handing out the testamoniums to two Italian pilgrims. I haven't a clue what happened on Saturday but we proceeded to get ours too.
 
One more piece of information that may help people in planning.... I finally got around to figuring out what we spent. That's probably not a great idea but...

This isn't exactly a cheap walk but it didn't have to be an overly expensive one either. We stayed mostly in B&Bs or affitacamere but also in some ostellos and hotels too. On average, our lodging cost us 58euros for the two of us. If you were staying only at available ostellos, I'm sure you could get that to around 15-20euros per person but for the savings of 18-28euros, we were happy with normally having an en-suite room to ourselves. The good sleep and privacy made it worthwhile.

For meals, we averaged 56euros a day and I am not sure that could be reduced much below 20euros per person, if even that low. Our usual day was coffee or juice and a croissant for breakfast (good luck getting anything else!) and if there was a bar or cafe open along the way, we often stopped in for a lemon soda and maybe another pastry. Lunch was usually a lemon soda and a shared sandwich. Dinner was usually a pasta for each of us, and then we shared a main course and mixed salad. I lost 6 kgs so we weren't overeating, I reckon.

Finally, incidentals were 6.50euros and that included purchases at grocery stores for nuts, fruit and dried fruit, at pharmacies for sun cream, unused bug spray, etc. as well as a couple of laundry runs, trains to Milan, Vercelli, Pisa, Danillo's Ferry and other little bits.

I hope this helps someone figuring out whether to walk it or not, or help with budgeting. Despite the higher costs compared to Spain - particularly the French route - I still think it was a great walk.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-

Most read last week in this forum

The official Via Francigena site has published a list of free walks ** happening in 2024. If you happen to be passing through you might want to take part - or avoid that section that day. (**...

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top