All roads lead to Rome, but there is one road that will allow you to discover much more during your journey, more to see, touch and feel. It is the Via Francigena, a very ancient pilgrims' and crusaders' road, whose existence and significance has been confirmed on a parchment back in 876 year.

Even today, thousands of people still have strong desire to undertake the journey of their life along these paths that are going through the countryside, forests, snowy ramparts, cultivated fields, hills, riverbanks, wilderness, places that are bright and placid and rich in beauty and history. This road is able to give travellers an unforgettable experience.

The road more than a “thousand years long”

The Via Francigena is not really a street, but rather a bundle of streets, a road system with numerous alternatives. The point of arrival is, of course, Rome. From the various parts of Europe there are different routes that lead to the Alps and, from here, to the centre of Christianity.

The journey of Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, is the oldest and consists of 79 stages accurately described in a travel diary dated to the year 990.

Nikulás' journey from Munkaþverá, an Icelandic Benedictine abbot, dates back to the year 1154. This journey after Rome, continues with the embarkation from the Apulian ports and goes on to the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Matthew Paris, an English monk, miniaturist and cartographer, is the author of a guide for pilgrims written in 1273 and kept in the British Library. Oddone di Rigaud, Franciscan archbishop and professor of theology at the University of Paris, kept a diary of his pastoral visits and his pilgrimage to Rome along the Via Francigena dated back to the year 1253.

The Via Francigena today

Today the Via Francigena welcomes vast amount of public that is becoming more and more international, aged between 16 and 75 years, and has the importance of encouraging dialogue between territories and at the same time stimulating the sense of belonging of local communities.

The main motivation of those who set out on the Via Francigena is the path and journey itself, even before the destination. Spirituality, self-consciousness and an intimate search for a transformed relationship in harmony with nature and the surrounding environment are the values that travellers carry along the way.

The credential

It is a document certifying that the person in possession of it is on a pilgrimage to any place of worship. A kind of "identity card" that the pilgrim must complete during his journey, as proof and memory of the Path completed, and that serves to identify the pilgrim, to ensure the authenticity of the pilgrimage and to allow him access to the facilities that welcomes the pilgrims.