Magna Via Francigena Official Website Down?

Try this one: http://www.viefrancigenedisicilia.it/index.php

Dave

PaxTecvm said:

Good afternoon from Tallahassee, Florida!

I hope to make the Magna Via Francigena some time in 2024, but the official website -- [linked removed by moderator, as it is clearly wrong] -- appears to have been discontinued and converted into a website for trips to Aruba! Has the Magna Via Francigena experience (with official credential, pilgrim stops, entitlements, etc.) been discontinued? If not, how does one go about officially registering for the pilgrimage and availing himself of the benefits (e.g., lodging)? Is there an alternative official source to contact?

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I walked the first half - Palermo to Castronovo di Sicilia - this past November, on a last minute get out of NYC whim. Nothing is as simple or cheap as the Camino Frances. The stages are long with the Sicilian equivalent of the Alto del Perdon in the middle and a gorgeous Italian Hilltown perched up an impossible climb at the end. The walks are fabulous, especially if you have luck with the weather gods (I had nothing but sun and 60 degree days), but you need to love solitude or bring some friends, there are no intermediate stops on the stages for bite to eat and a chat, and it is just you and and the open road . I encountered just two fellow pilgrims in four days walking. The link mentioned elsewhere http://www.viefrancigenedisicilia.it/index.php is both frustrating and useful. If you are willing to open all the links and download the various PDFs while doing a mind meld with Google translate there is gold there. There is a click through form for the official Credenziale, which you then can pickup in Palermo, (I got mine at the Casa di Amici, you could perhaps contact them directly to obtain one). The Credenziale may get you the odd discount for accommodation, I was offered discounts if I booked by email and paid cash, but I ended up booking online with the usual suspects as I had to set the whole trip up with just a week lead time. The Vie Francigene site has a useful list of accommodations and baggage transfer operators, but caveat emptor on the prices as listed. After my first Alto del Perdon moment I booked baggage transfers, cold emailing all the listed transport contacts to set it up. No one seems to do the whole route, but literally every one seems to know every one else working on the Magna Via, and I was passed from one to the next with little problem and no hiccups. Insanely expensive, but if you have rain forecast during your walk, think about it, you'll be tramping up and down, and up again through vaguely marked farmland (download GPX!) and all those mud and dog stories you've probably read online indeed can come true. Emphatically not the Camino or even the via Francigena, but lovely in it's own way, I had a great time!