Little Green Tracs

Via Francigena in Italy

Historically the Via Francigena was a broad network of trails originating in ancient Francia (now France and western Germany), an ever-changing backbone of Roman and medieval roads leading to Rome. It also served as a pilgrim route as far away as Canterbury in England and in a sense it is the "mother road" for Christian pilgrims in Europe. For almost two thousand years, pilgrims from across Europe would trek across the Alps using the famous Saint Bernard Passes on their way to the pilgrim churches of Rome.

In the year 990, the English Archbishop, Sigeric the Serious of Canterbury, went to Rome to receive the pallium from Pope John XV. On his return trip to England, he recorded the route he took, providing the first written documentation of the Via Francigena.

The official route in Italy is also known as Sigeric’s route. Variations of the official route exist (namely the Abbott’s Way from Pavia to Pontremoli and through southern Tuscany) and plans are in place to expand these alternative routes. 

Officially, the Via Francigena starts in Italy at Great St. Bernard Pass at the Swiss/Italian border high in the Alps. From here it is approximately 1020 km (44 -48 stages) before you reach Rome Italy taking 6-7 weeks to complete

Pilgrim hikers from can also choose to start in Fidenza (home to the official association in Italy) or Parma: 636 km or 27-31 stages, or from San Miniato (just south of Lucca): 375 km or 16-18 stages. Many hikers just walk from Acquapendente to Rome in order to received their testimonium, a parchment in limited edition, available from the sacristy of St Peter's Basilica, to pilgrims who have walked at least from Acquapendente (130km) or cycled from Lucca (400km). 

Unlike the Camino in Spain, which sees approximately 150,000 people annually (250,000 in 2010) walking or biking the trail, the Via Francigena is barely discovered, an elusive and sometimes challenging trail to navigate. The result is approximately a thousand people have walked the entire route through Italy during the past decade. 

This said there is plenty of Etruscan, Roman and medieval history for the history buffs, a wonderful opportunity to witness Italian contemporary culture and bountiful sensual food and wine as the trail passes through half a dozen unique food and cultural regions.  

Guidebooks

LightFoot Guides to the Via Francigena 2010, 3rd Edition

Three Volumes covers the entire route from England, through France, Switzerland and Italy. Volumes 2&3 cover Switzerland and Italy

By Paul Chinn and Babette Gallard
Published March 2010
ISBN 9782917183120

This is the best guidebook and only English guide for the Via Francigena that includes detail maps, GPS points, updates, etc. Paul and Babette have biked, and by horse roade the VF twice and work closely with the Italian Ministry and various associations. http://www.pilgrimagepublications.com

Websites

Associazione Europea delle Vie Francigene

Key Italian Association based in Fidenza (nearby Parma)
This English and Italian site provides (dated) detailed daily stage information, and accommodation maps, news, etc. www.associazioneviafrancigena.com

FrancigenaLibrari

The official Italian government site that covers the route through Italy from Gran San Bernardo at the Swiss/Italian Alps, all the way to Rome.

The multiple language website includes the official route plans and road maps of the route through Italy. Hikers can download Road Books (in Italian only) that provide detailed stage information and maps, GPS points and Google Earth maps, news, etc. www.francigenalibrari.beniculturali.it/index_en.html

Chemin du Puy en Velay - France

The Chemin du Puy en Velay, also known as the Via Podiensis, is one of the four main Camino de Santiago pilgrim routes through France, used by French pilgrims but also by other pilgrims arriving from Switzerland and from points further east such as Germany, Austria, Poland and the Czech and Slovak republics. It joins the routes from Paris and Vézelay on the French side of the Pyrenees at Saint Jean Pie de Port and continues to Roncesvalles, Spain, where it meets the Camino Frances route.

The route is approx. 740km long that starts in Le Puy-en-Velay, and passes through the towns of Conques, Figeac, Cahors, Moissac, Aire-sur-l’Adour and Navarrenx before it reaches the border town of Saint Jean Pie de Port. It takes on average four to five weeks to walk the entire route.

The terrain is varied, strenuous and rarely flat. Hikers start in the volcanic Velay region, and face constant elevation changes, cross through the mountainous Aubrac plateau at 1300 metres and then descend to the abbey at Conques. They continue through the “causse” hilly limestone scrublands to Cahors and then through undulating farmland to Moissac, and then hrough the Basque country to the foothills of the Pyrenees and Spanish border.

Historically the route became important as a pilgrim route when in 950 AD, Bishop Godescalc, took the flight from the town of Le Puy-en-Velay, and traveled to Santiago de Compostela Spain. The bishop is the first non-Spanish pilgrim to perform the pilgrimage.

Today within France, the route is the most popular route and it follows the long distance walking path, the Grande Randonnee # 65. At Le Puy-en-Velay, the route joins the Via Gebennensis or Geneva Road. In the mid 1990s, the Association Rhône-Alpes des Amis de Saint-Jacques built the 350 km Via Gebennensis, a modern day extension of the GR #65, designed to connect town of Le Puy-en-Velay with Geneva Switzerland. Geneva is the finish point for other camino paths coming from Germany and Switzerland.

The best English guidebook is from Cicerone Press, recently published in July 2010. Details are below. There are numerous French guidebooks.

* Paperback: 224 pages
* Publisher: Cicerone Press Limited; 3 edition (July 1, 2010)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 1852846089
* ISBN-13: 978-1852846084

Websites
Three websites provide detailed information on the Chemin du Puy en Velay.
These include;

www.via-podiensis.com
French site that provides details of each stage along the route, accommodations, and other news
 
www.chemindecompostelle.com/Selection/CarteFrance.html
An another French site showing sectional stage maps that you can download as a PDF

www.godesalco.com/camino/podense
Spanish site with detailed sectional information and distance calculator

Via de la Plata in Spain

Originally, an ancient Roman road built to connect Mérida and Astorga and then utilized by the Moorish invaders of Spain as their main north-south route for the western part of the peninsular. The Mozarabic or Christian pilgrims later used it during the period of Muslim domination, and by all those coming from the south of Spain, including those who arrived in Seville by sea from North Africa and other parts of the Mediterranean. The trail was called the Camino Mozárabe de Santiago but today it is better known as the Via de la Plata.

The Roman road also served as a trade route in silver from the mines in the northern provinces of Spain, and thus sometimes referenced incorrectly as the Silver Route. However, the term “la Plata” is generally accepted as a corruption of the Arabic word “Bal’latta” or “paved way” because of the flagstone construction of the old Roman road.

There is further confusion over the naming of the Via de la Plata. Strictly speaking, the Via de la Plata was the Roman road from Mérida to Astorga (Iter ab Emérita Astvricam). But the term is also used for two branches from Zamora; the “Camino Sanabrés” and the “Bragança route” also known as the Camino Portugués de la Via de la Plata. And to confuse matters even further, the term “Camino Mozárabe” is used to describe the route that starts in Granada and joins the main route further north at Mérida.

Today is generally accepted that the modern day Via de la Plata starts in Seville and leads north via Mérida, Cáceres, Salamanca and Zamora. From Zamora, pilgrims can continue north to Astorga and continue to Santiago via the Camino francés or go northwest directly through Galicia via Pueblo de Sanabria and Ourense, along the Camino Sanabrés. A few choose to go through Portugal, via Camino Portugués de la Via de la Plata. In either case, the distance is approximately 1,000 km and it takes an average six to seven weeks to walk from Seville to Santiago.

Websites

Amigos del Camino de Santiago - Via de la Plata from Seville

This is probably the only official association website on the Via de la Plata. It includes practical advice for pilgrims, information about the activities of the Association, and a news section which reports on various news and events related to the Via de la Plata. It includes a comprehensive list of available shelters, tips, current news, activities and photographs, etc. Includes a section done in Flash with maps of the stages and historical and cultural information of the places along the route
www.viaplata.org

Other sites

Godesalco.com
An excellent site that gives an overview of the route included detailed descriptions of the stages, accommodation, landscape, food, etc. It has a complete list of other websites guidebooks in other language. In Spanish only. www.godesalco.com/camino/plata

Mundicamino: Via de la Plata and Camino Sanabrés

This is another site with extensive information on all Spanish routes. There are two sections; the Via de la Plata (Sevilla - Astorga) and the Via Sanabrés (Zamora - Santiago) that provide a brief history and a tab for each of the stages of both routes. www.mundicamino.com

Gronze.com - Via de la Plata
Joan Fiol, author of a guide to the Camino de Santiago, has a great website with wide range of information on the Via de la Plata that includes a overall map, photographs of places and good introductory information leading to the route. www.gronze.com/camino-de-santiago/via-de-la-plata.htm

Books

Via de la Plata
By Alison Raju
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Cicerone Press Limited; 2 edition (January 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1852844442
ISBN-13: 978-1852844448
Can order directly from the publisher or online via Amazon