Starting the Via Francigena in Italy march 2013

[jp2speeds57]

Hello, After 7 caminos to Santiago since 2002, i move to the ones leading to Rome. I will walk the italian part of the Via Francigena next march, 875 km, from Great St Bernard pass to Rome. I heard and read that that part of the Via Francigena who goes through France and Switzerland from Canterburry in England, is more like the Santiago caminos in feelings. I look forward for that adventure.
If anyone has information or advice, please do.
See you along...
JPierre

 

[jirit]

Hello JPierre

I have done the Camino twice and along with walking through Austria and more recently France, my wife and I walked the Via Francigena in Italy back in 2008

The route through Italy is one of the three great European pilgrim routes, though today the Via Francgiena is more or less like the way the Camino France route was like say some 15-20 years ago. The number of people that walk the entire Italian section is a small fraction of those that walk the Camino in Spain. Pilgrim style accommodation is limited in places (but getting better), signage better but nowhere as good as the Camino in Spain. In many ways it is demanding route though not impossible to do. Plenty of people are tackling the route, many from Australia, the UK and USA and Canada, along with many from Italy itself. Many are single women.

This said the route passes some of the great historical sites of Europe, the culture and food and overall experience is special and unique, something you will not find on the camino. You will find many of fine and curious Italians that will be interested in what you are doing and may invite you into their homes for coffee, food and/or shelter.

I have included a link to some photos from this walk (along with some others) to give you a feel of the experience
https://picasaweb.google.com/113275942061875339803

Neville

 

[sillydoll]

You will find lots of information and advice on the Pilgrims to Rome website.
http://www.pilgrimstorome.org.uk

You can also join the VF forum at - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/via-francigena/
They have lots of information on accommodation, maps etc in their Files and Data pages.

You can download the daily stages, maps etc from this website - in Italian.
http://www.viafrancigena.eu/crea_itinerario_1.asp

Cristina Menghini, who marked the entire Italian official VF with red & white adhesive tape in 2011, compiled a list of all the difficulties on her website
http://www.viefrancigene.it/le-tappe/italia.html.

There will still be heavy snow in the Alps in March - the pass is only ploughed in the middle of June - so you might have to hire snowshoes!
Good luck!

 

[William Marques]

The people who have walked the Via Francigena in the last year have all commented on how much better the waymarking was than they expected. This is due to Christina and Alberto's efforts but there is no guarantee that the signs will remain as local politics can have its own priorities.

The numbers walking are still as Neville says negligible compared to the modern Camino Frances however the number of credentials issued this year compared to last by the CPR is 40% up so it is growing quickly.

Although the Italian section is less lonely than the sections to the North it is no Camino Frances.

 

[jp2speeds57]

Thank you for the information. Great links and pictures. I have talk with Cristina last winter when i thought i would walked the last 100 km to Rome after the El Salvador and primitivo caminos but instead decide to keep on going with my camino familia to Fistera and Muxia. So Cristina and friends have waymarked all the italian way to Rome last year. Hope it will still be good next year.

JPierre

 

[jl]

Hi JPierre, I returned from walking the VF (although sadly - due to injuries - I also caught the odd bus / train / hitched too) in July. I was surprised at how well it was waymarked in Italy - having read horror stories before going. There are a couple of places along the Valle de Aosta where the path was (in June) dangerous and had been diverted - so take care.

In Tuscany there is now a readily available map of the path, listing where there is pilgrim accomodation (from memory it cost about 15 Euros). There are pilgrim refuges at a reasonable distance all along this area - though when I say reasonable I am referring to about 20 - 25 kms. In between you would have to resort to other types of accomodation such as hotels etc. The path now goes through lots of villages and so it is reasonably easy to get food most days. The few pilgrims who were on the path when I was complained about how the path is very windy and not at all direct. This is so that you don't have to follow busy (and dangerous) highways, making the walking much more pleasant, though longer. Some of these people took the direct "road" route - whereas I took the off road route choosing the peace and quiet (and safety) of the quiet paths.

I did a blog of my journey if you want to check it out - it might be of some help to you:-

http://janetleitch.blogspot.com.au/

There were 2 other Autralian women on the way when I was and Netia kept a blog of her journey too - you might find that useful:-

http://wheresnetia.wordpress.com/

Cheers, Janet