2024 will be a crucial year for the world of pilgrimages. On the one hand, the Via Francigena celebrates the 30th anniversary of its certification as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe in 1994. On the other, it is the year before the Jubilee 2025, in view of which there are numerous initiatives linked to religious and cultural tourism. These include the ‘1 billion steps for peace’ project, which our Association has decided to join. This is an international initiative in which one hundred European pilgrims’ paths will organise a few days of pilgrimage with hundreds of participants!

The initiative stems from the conviction that walking routes constitute an international community of peace, protection of nature, and brotherhood of peoples. And what better occasion than the eve of the 2025 Jubilee, which will officially begin on 24 December 2024 bringing a large influx of pilgrims to Rome as early as the end of this year?

In addition to the Via Francigena, the participating routes include the Romea Strata and the Via Romea Germanica (our Association has been collaborating with them for the last three years in a project for the valorisation of the thermal heritage within the Horizon 2020 European project rurAllure), the Via degli Dei, the Cammino Celeste, the Cammino di Sant’Antonio, the Via di Francesco, the Cammino Francescano della Marca, the Cammino Minerario di Santa Barbara, to name but a few.

To celebrate the closing of the initiative, a walk of brotherhood will take place in 2025, and a concert will be held with the handing over to the Holy Father of the ‘Declaration of the Paths of Peace’ signed by the adhering paths. To receive all the updates on upcoming initiatives, we recommend subscribing to the AEVF monthly newsletter.