Via Francigena

Walking is the unit of measure by which man confronts the earth

It is thanks to a travelogue if today we can reconstruct the ancient route of the Via Francigena.

It was written by one Sigeric, an English abbot who, on his return from his pilgrimage to Rome-where he had been ordained no less than Archbishop of Canterbury-recorded the eighty refuges that gave him hospitality.

Written in 990, Sigeric’s diary is considered the most authoritative source today, the one that restores the most philological route of the Via Francigena.

Around the year 1000 BC.

At the turn of the year 1000, thousands of pilgrims took the road to the Holy Land. Western Christendom was making pilgrimages to Jerusalem and preparing to recapture it with the First Crusade of 1099. They were leaving for the remission of sins, leaving for the heavenly prize or more trivially for otherworldly financial gain.

The Via Francigena represented a strategic junction among the routes of the European faith. Pilgrims from the north followed it to reach Rome and then beyond to arrive at the ports of Puglia, to embarkation for the Holy Land.

Italian pilgrims traveled it northward to Luni, along the Tyrrhenian coast where they embarked for France and from there took the road to Santiago de Compostela, the other medieval pilgrimage destination.

In short, the Via Francigena was the first European interstate, an important communication medium where art, culture, trade and languages moved.

The Via Francigena today

Today, other wayfarers travel it: for some it is the journey of a lifetime, some follow it driven by faith or new forms of spirituality, some travel it to fill themselves with visions, encounters and memorable landscapes.

“Walking,” writes Rebecca Solnit, ‘is the unit of measure with which man confronts the earth ’but it is also a way to rediscover ourselves as human, together, rather than as individuals: every road keeps track of those who walk it and every road is an infinite constellation of variables, chance and will.

Along the Via Francigena all these constellations intertwine, transforming every pilgrim’s journey into an unforgettable experience.

Gambassi Terme straddles the 30th and 31st stages, between San Miniato and San Gimignano: 24 kilometers the first leg-with a rest stop and water fountain at the Pieve di Coiano-and 13 kilometers to San Gimignano, with a refreshment stop at the Sanctuary of Pancole