Little Green Tracs

Guidebooks on the Via Francigena - Updated List

Some time ago, we listed the number of guidebooks for the Via Francigena. Given the recent changes that have occurred with the official route, and given the increased interest in the Via Francigena, we decided it is time to update this list.

As before, if you do a Google search for guidebooks on the Via Francigena, you will discover a couple of things. First, for a relatively unknown pilgrim route, there is a fair bit of literature on it but granted most of it is in Italian. Most of the books cover a range of topics and many focus on just a single section or region along the Via Francigena.

For those hikers and pilgrims wanting to walk from Gran San Bernardo to Rome along the Via Francigena, here is the current and most up to date list of guidebooks.
 
English Guidebooks

LightFoot Guides

Paul Chinn and Babette Gallard own the Pilgrim Publications, publishers of the LightFoot series of guidebooks. They have traveled the Via Francigena numerous times and probably the best experts of the official route. Their LightFoot 3rd edition series of guidebooks are the best English guidebooks on the Via Francigena and their books cover the entire route from Canterbury to Rome divided into three parts.

The three parts include the following:

LightFoot Guide to the via Francigena Edition 3 - Canterbury to Besançon
ISBN-13: 978-2917183106

LightFoot Guide to the via Francigena Edition 3 - Besançon to Vercelli
ISBN-13: 978-2917183113

LightFoot Guide to the via Francigena Edition 3 - Vercelli to St Peter's Square, Rome
ISBN-13: 978-2917183120

You can order their books directly from Amazon or from their site Pilgrim Publications

French Guidebooks

La Via Francigena. Sur la trace des pèlerins de Canterbury à Rome

Lawyer, hiker, photographer and author Jean-Yves Grégoire walked the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome and wrote a guidebook for the route. He is author and co-author of at least twenty French language books cover various long distance hiking trails in Europe. This latest book on the Via Francigena covers the entire 1,900 km route from Canterbury to Rome in 12 sections focusing mostly on the historical elements of the trail. The book is available on Amazon. ISBN-13: 978-2737348815

Italian Guidebooks

Guida alla via Francigena. 900 chilometri a piedi sulle strade del pellegrinaggio verso Roma

Authors Monica D'Atti and Franco Cinti first published a guidebook on the Via Francigena back in 2006 and this is the second and latest edition published in 2010. The guidebook covers in 38 stages, the path of the Via Francigena from Montgenevre (the alternate route that originates from France) to Rome. The book is available on Amazon. ISBN-13: 978-8861891494

In addition, accompanying the guidebook, the same authors have published a series of maps that cover the exact same route: “The Francigena. 1:30,000 maps and GPS.” The package includes three large overview and 42 detailed map. The package unfortunately not available from Amazon but it can be ordered directly from the publisher, Terre di Mezzo. ISBN-13: 978-8861891319

German Guidebooks

Schweiz Italien, Via Francigena written by Ingrid Retterath and published by Conrad Verlag Stein, due out April 1 2011. ISBN-13: 9783866862814

This second edition is an update to the previous edition published in March 2007 Schweiz/Italien: Via Francigena written by Birgit Götzmann and in March 2007 (ISBN 978-3866862012)

The guide covers the distance from Lausanne to Rome and provides hikers with a cultural and historical overview of the route. The book describes in detail the route and gives practical information on places of interest, accommodation, and places to eat.

The Via Francigena and the Swiss Guards

January 22 1506 marks an important date in the life of the Via Francigena.

Back in the winter of 1505-1506 by request of then Pope Julius II, foot soldiers from Switzerland marched to Rome along the Via Francigena. On January 22 1506, 150 Swiss soldiers entered the Vatican and immediately began their service and became the first members of the Pontifical Swiss Guards. The group has remained present to this day and is now the oldest and maybe smallest standing army in the world.

Five hundred years later in 2006, approximately 80 former Swiss Guards reenacted a memorial march following the same route taken by their comrades from Switzerland to Rome 500 years earlier. On April 7, 2006, members of the Swiss Guards left Bellinzona, Switzerland, and retraced the route followed by the original members back in 1506. They arrived in Rome on May 6 in time for the annual ceremonies whereby new recruits of the Swiss Guards are sworn in at the Vatican. The Vatican military unit celebrates May 6 as the anniversary of the day when 147 members of the Swiss Guards died in a successful defense of the Pope during the sack of Rome in 1527. In 2006, the former guards took 28 days to cover the 720 km route, stopping 27 times, each stop representing one of the 27 cantons in Switzerland.

The guards left Bellinzona and crossed into Italy via Lago Maggiore. The narrow valley at Bellinzona played an important strategic role as far back as 15 BC at the time of the Roman Empire, because many pass trails converged here. The fortress of Castel Grande in Bellinzona built upon a ridge of rock in the 4th century AD today is used for training the Swiss Guards.

In the reenactment, the Guards first made their way to Milan, and continued south to Melegano. At Terme di Miradolo they met up with the Via Francigena and continued east to Fidenza and then south still following the Via Francigena, crossing the Apennines Mountains into Tuscany. From there they went south to Lazio and finally Rome.

Hiking & biking the Via Claudia Augusta - Germany to Italy

The Via Claudia Augusta is the name of the ancient imperial Road, built 1st century BC by the Roman General Drusus and then finished by his son, the Emperor Claudius, in order to connect the Po River and the Adriatic harbors with Rhaetia (modern Southern Germany) and the plains of the Danube River. The project consisted of converting and upgrading a simple pack-animal trail in order to accommodate wheeled vehicles of the Roman army. It was finished sixty years later in 46-47 AD.

Today the Via Claudia Augusta runs through some of the most beautiful landscapes of southern German Bavaria, Austria’s Tirol and Northern Italy. It is popular bicycle and hiking path, which starts in Germany at the town of Donauwörth and goes in southern direction to Augsburg. The path proceeds via Füssen and Reutte (Austrian Tyrol) onto the Fernpass. Further south the path passes Imst and Nauders and finally reaches its highest point at Passo Resia. The Via Claudia Augusta enters the Italian South Tyrolean territory and passes Merano, Bolzano and Trento. Here the path splits: one section heads south to Ostiglia, a harbour on the Po River, while the other heads east to Venice. The first is historically correct, the second more popular.

The total length of the cycle path Via Claudia Augusta, with the Venice as destination, is approximately 902 km. The actual biking and hiking trail to Ostiglia is approximately 550 km and it takes approximately 30 days to hike and about a week to cycle it.

The quality of the Via Claudia Augusta trail varies according to the region. Some sections of the path are well paved, suitable for all types of bikes, while other sections are more suitable for mountain bikes. The route is entirely flat from the Danube to Schongau and travels through slightly hill terrain in Allgäu (Germany).In Tyrol, from the border to Germany to Imst, the path includes agricultural roads, village roads and gravel paths. Starting from Imst the course runs along the Inn cycle path. From the Finstermünzpass to Nauders and on Passo Resia the course is rather difficult and steep. In Tirol, the trail has easy climbs and descents through Zwischentoren, Gurgl Valley and Inntal Valley. An optional and special bus shuttles cyclists and hikers across the Fern Pass (1,215 m) and Reschen Pass (1,450 m).

There are currently 170 guest-houses/hotels designed to meet the needs of cyclists and hikers. A full list of the accommodation is available here.

There are a number of bicycle guidebooks on the route, all in German, and all available at Amazon.de. The only hiking guidebook is:

Hikeline Wanderführer Via Claudia Augusta
Publisher: Esterbauer GmbH
Language: German
ISBN-13: 978-3850005104
August 2010 - 240 Pages

The same publisher sells the following bike guidebook:

Via Claudia Augusta: Von der Donau über die Alpen an die Adria. Ein original bikeline-Radtourenbuch
Publisher: Esterbauer, Edition: 4 completely revised edition. (1 July 2009)
Language: German
ISBN-13: 978-3850001311

For more information, please visit the following website:
http://www.viaclaudia.org/