Italy?

[rlewis33]

Someone mentioned to me that there is an Italy route?? I'm not sure about that. Any information on that? I would love to know where it starts and ends.

 

[ksam]

Do you mean ending in Santiago de Compostela or the Via Francigena...which ends in Rome?

 

[rlewis33]

I'm guessing it would not go to Santiago. My friend was telling me that it was part of the Camino de Santiago. But I hadn't heard of it. That's what I was wondering. Is it a completely different thing?

 

[Doogman]

The Via Francigena starts in Canterbury, England and runs through France, Switzerland and Italy, ending in Rome. The Italian section is the most popular. I just completed the section from Siena to Rome. It traces an old pilgrimmage route to Rome. There is a sub-section on this forum for it and lots of information elsewhere.

There is also a route in Italy to Assissi, but I do not have any information on that.

It is also possible to connect a number of trails and walk from Italy to Santiago.

 

[Bradypus]

There are many walking routes in Italy. As others have mentioned the Via Francigena is probably the most popular. You can find a lot of information on Italian trails here: http://www.turismo.beniculturali.it/en/cammini/

 

[MichaelC]

The names of all the routes in Italy get very confusing, as some of them have merged and changed names over the years! There's a route from Chiusi della Verna to Assisi to Rome that's currently called the Cammino di Assisi, or the Via di Francesco. There's a really nice Facebook group that pilgrims currently on the trail are posting to.

The impression I get is that it's more rugged and challenging than the various caminos to Santiago, and that there are far fewer pilgrims. But also, it looks beautiful and amazing. It's on my bucket list!

 

[Harington]

I'm guessing it would not go to Santiago. My friend was telling me that it was part of the Camino de Santiago. But I hadn't heard of it. That's what I was wondering. Is it a completely different thing?

The Via Postumia is the Italian part of the Camino de Santiago, and is waymarked as such. try this site http://viapostumia.eu/

 

[carryoncouple]

Someone mentioned to me that there is an Italy route?? I'm not sure about that. Any information on that? I would love to know where it starts and ends.

There are many routes in Italy. We walked the Way of St. Francis this spring from Tuscany to the Vatican. It was difficult, but beautiful. We used Sandy Brown’s guidebook and GPS. We blogged about it on carryoncouple.com if you want to see photos etc.

Best wishes!

 

[Jim]

Someone mentioned to me that there is an Italy route?? I'm not sure about that. Any information on that? I would love to know where it starts and ends.

Having walked both— I will tell you that parts of the Via Francigena connect with the Arles route across the southern part of France which in turn connects with the Camino France’s route at Puente de la Reina (just past Pamplona). I walked in Italy from Tuscany down to Rome and met several pilgrims at different times who were walking in the opposite direction toward either the St. Bernard Pass or a more southernly route that would go through Arles. It is one long haul — there are many start points in Italy- Rome is popular but possible to walk from Puglia (the Italian peninsula’s “heel”) all the way in. Blessings to you on whatever route you choose to use! There are some guidebooks on the Italian routes. Sandy Brown is an author who wrote about it in English. A word of caution— do not expect to find anywhere near the infracture build up in the way of albergues. So it will be far more expensive for you to walk in Italy! And like the Jesus Trail in Israel, there are some small sections of the trail that are downright unsafe! I’m talking about a rickety board across a fast moving stream and similar. Most of the trail conditions in Italy are very similar to Spain, however, and I do remember that one does have alternative trails if feeling unsteady.

 

[AlwynWellington]

The Via Francigena ... traces an old pilgrimmage route to Rome.

It is my understanding this route was for ecclesistical diplomatic couriers with branches to other church "capitals" in northern Europe.

And no doubt pilgrims, whether to the shrines of the martyrs Saint Peter in Rome or Saint Thomas in Canterbury, used it also.

 

[kmrice]

I've walked the Cammino di Assisi twice, and loved it. Starts in Davadola, northeast of Florence, and runs through Assisi to Rome, focusing on places of particular interest to lovers of St. Francis. The official site, which has detailed route and accomodations information as well as GPS tracks is at http://www.camminodiassisi.it/. There are english pages at the site, but last time I looked you needed to go into the Italian pages to get the GPS tracks. The first few days are pretty tough, harder than anything on the Camino de Santiago, but the rest is not too difficult. Arriving in Rome as a pilgrim was, for us, very moving.

Sandy Brown's route is very similar, but starts in Florence, which avoids the hardest section of the Cammino di Assisi. His book, The Way of Saint Francis, is great, as is his website at: https://caminoist.org/. Getting his book in the Kindle edition lets you keep it on your phone.

The Italian section of the Via Francigena looks great, too. I may be walking the section from Siena to Rome in September. There are lots of posts about this in the this forum at: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/forums/via-francigena-to-rome.132/. There is an app with maps, which can be downloaded to your phone for use when cellular service is not available. More information is available at https://www.viefrancigene.org/en/app/.

 

[rlewis33]

Having walked both— I will tell you that parts of the Via Francigena connect with the Arles route across the southern part of France which in turn connects with the Camino France’s route at Puente de la Reina (just past Pamplona). I walked in Italy from Tuscany down to Rome and met several pilgrims at different times who were walking in the opposite direction toward either the St. Bernard Pass or a more southernly route that would go through Arles. It is one long haul — there are many start points in Italy- Rome is popular but possible to walk from Puglia (the Italian peninsula’s “heel”) all the way in. Blessings to you on whatever route you choose to use! There are some guidebooks on the Italian routes. Sandy Brown is an author who wrote about it in English. A word of caution— do not expect to find anywhere near the infracture build up in the way of albergues. So it will be far more expensive for you to walk in Italy! And like the Jesus Trail in Israel, there are some small sections of the trail that are downright unsafe! I’m talking about a rickety board across a fast moving stream and similar. Most of the trail conditions in Italy are very similar to Spain, however, and I do remember that one does have alternative trails if feeling unsteady.

Thank you for the info. I really appreciate it.