Month: March 2018

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people hike along the Camino de Santiago following the yellow arrows, which indicate the way to Compostela. However, those who want to walk in the other direction find it difficult with no signposts. 

Movimento Lento, the association which for years has worked towards the promotion of the route on foot and by bike, has launched SantiaGoToRome, an innovative project which will allow hikers to walk “the wrong way” along the Spanish route, encouraging them to continue through France, over the alps to Rome along a marvellous route: the Via Francigena. 

To do just this, Sara, a young member of Movimento Lento, left 20th March from Muxia, on the Atlantic Ocean, for a long hike “in a tenacious and backwards direction”. She will travel for at least five weeks along the Spanish tract of the Camino de Santiago, and will place over 3000 adhesive “SantiaGoToRome” signs as she goes, which will mark the road to Rome.

In the meantime, Movimento Lento has launched a collection of funds on the Ulule platform, to support the project and develop an app which allows orientation travelling east through Spain and France, to the beginning of the Via to Rome. 

“We don’t have the ability to install complete and perfect signage”, explains Alberto Conte, president of Movimento Lento, “but we want to inform the pilgrims which crowd to route that they could choose Italy for their next journey. The Via Francigena is a stunning route but still little known to the east, there isn’t an easier way to promote it than to inform those who, having completed the Camino de Santiago, are looking for a new route and new target.” The European Association of the Vie Francigene is a main partner of a project, which could bring thousands of new travellers to Italy. 

Sara’s journey will be documented daily on the project Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/santiagotorome/,

To support the project please visit: the Ulule platform: https://it.ulule.com/santiagotorome/ , the official site: www.santiagotorome.org.

Watch the video presenting the project

Tourism as an instrument for mutual understanding and sustainable development is at the centre of the international university project “The Value of Human Rights on the Camino de Santiago: Harnessing the Power of Tourism to Promote Cross-Cultural Dialogue and the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals”. Over five days, students specializing in a variety of fields, from twenty universities in 13 countries, will travel 100 km on different routes of the Camino de Santiago, putting into practice the principles of sustainable tourism they have previously analysed.

The project, organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in collaboration with the Helsinki España University Network and the Compostela Group of Universities, identifies the Camino de Santiago as a prime example that embodies the values that arise from sustainable tourism and dialogue between cultures. “The Value of Human Rights on the Camino de Santiago” brings together students from universities in Spain, Poland, Sudan, Mexico and the United States, among many others. This cultural diversity gathered along a cultural route with a common goal highlights the potential of tourism for cross-cultural understanding and sustainable development.

“From increasing equality and protecting communities to sustainable land use, cultural routes can be a catalyst for improving sustainability in our sector,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said in a message addressed to the participants. “Throughout the Camino, you will see how tourism can transform communities, generating income and preserving local heritage and culture,” he added.

Between January and March, the participants worked on an online study focusing on the key principles and requirements for the development of sustainable tourism, as well as ethical principles and responsibility on the Camino de Santiago. From March 17 to 22, the Project moves on to the practical phase. The idea is to walk the talk: divided into four groups, the participants walk for five days covering a distance of 100 km on four different routes of the Camino de Santiago, finishing their journey in Santiago de Compostela. The objective is to compare the sustainability challenges studied previously with the reality along the Camino, in order to make necessary adjustments or to identify new sustainable tourism products.

As one of the emblematic cultural routes of the world, the Camino de Santiago is positioned as a vehicle for mutual understanding through the practice of sustainable tourism and endows the project with the necessary international relevance in order to replicate it and train tourism professionals in different parts of the world.

The Project will culminate with an International University Forum in Santiago de Compostela, at which the conclusions of the online work and the tourism products will be presented, and which will approve the Declaration of Rectors on the Value of Human Rights on the Camino de Santiago.

Links: 

The Project

Structure and timeline

On Thursday 5th and Friday 6th April, the managers of over twenty cultural routes will meet in Piacenza, at the headquarters of the Politecnico.

An event organised in collaboration with the municipality of Piacenza and the European Association of the Vie Francigene, the latter’s headquarters can be found in the Palazzo Farnese.

Two days of exchanges and comparison of the management of cultural routes which range from Mozart to Vikings, from the Hanseatic to Phoenix courses, from Hebrew heritage to that of Art Nouveau and thermal historic towns, to pilgrimage routes such as the Via Francigena, the Camino de Santiago and of Saint Olav. A guided visit has been planned to discover the historic, architectural and cultural wonders of the city.

Once again, international attention has been brought to Piacenza thanks to the Francigena becoming ever more important in the fields of sustainable tourism and appreciation of historical and cultural heritage on a local and international level, as well as European; and the municipalities in particular are at the centre of this project.

The territorial interest, on a local and European level, in the programme of Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe is indeed great, and the Francigena is a very active leader in this captivating cultural panorama of Europe.

“Piacenza is the chosen headquarters for the European Association of the Vie Francigene. Europe has been built around these pilgrimage routes. Encounters took place along these routes, and languages and cultures were exchanged, as well as hostels and convents being established. Welcome!” assessor of Tourism, Culture, Sport and Family of the municipality of Piacenza. 

1987-2018: over thirty years of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Programme.

In Lucca, September 2017, 30 years of the programme were celebrated with a great international Forum for all those involved. The Council of Europe launched the programme to create routes which give everyone the possibility to learn about historical and cultural heritage in Europe. The main aim of the programme is promotion of the awareness of a common identity and European citizens; another is the promotion of intercultural dialogue through the reading of European history; the safeguarding of cultural heritage and natural and landscape heritage, as well as the creation of sustainable tourism programmes. This began with the Camino de Santiago of Compostela; and today, 32 certified routes exist, such as the Francigena (certified in 1994), which exist in over 50 European countries with over 800 million inhabitants. 

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Hiking the Via Francigena for children with cancer: the pilgrimage of Raphaël Farquet, ex Swiss Guard who is traversing the Italian tract of Sigeric’s route. 

His is a special journey, which began in July 2017 in Switzerland, few km from home, in Sion, capital of the Valles canton. He will arrive in Rome in October 2019 after having walked the two legs in two years.

Raphaël’s pilgrimage unites work, family and social obligations. The Swiss pilgrim is walking for the ARFEC (Association Romande des Familles d’Enfants atteints d’un Cancer), an association with its headquarters in Lausanne which helps families with children who have cancer.

“When this illness comes life suddenly changes. For 31 years this association offers activities to support families with economic aid, holiday camps, meetings and company – says Raphaël – various people I know have fought this battle. The abbot, Joseph Roduit, of the St Maurice abbey (among those interviewed for the “I volti della Via Francigena” documentary film by Fabio Dipinto) offered a lot of support for the Francigena, in 2015 he died of cancer.

Raphaël’s hike is one of charity told on Facebook too, on the “Via Francigena pour l’Arfec” page. The main aim is to collect donations for the association, but for the Swiss pilgrim the Francigena has a second meaning: “I chose this route to celebrate twenty years since I swore my oath. I served in Rome for twenty years and now I live in Switzerland with my family – adds Raphaël – unable to leave home for many weeks I decided to complete the legs of the Francigena over two years.”

In August 2017, he completed the Swiss side, crossing the Great St Bernard, walking along the route tract in Valle d’Aosta and Piedmont. In January, he returned and journeyed from Vercelli to Piacenza, and over the past few days returned once more to Italy to continue to Fidenza, where he was welcomed by the staff of the European Association of the Vie Francigene 
(EAVF) as well as the president, Massimo Tedeschi. A friendly encounter, which united the Swiss Francigena with the Italian, thanks to the work of EAVF vice-president Gaëtan Tornay (Région Bas-Valais).

“I will take on the Passo della Cisa in the next few months. I tried to cross the Sarzana to Massa tract over these past days and would have liked to continue to Lucca/San Gimignano but, due to the impracticability of some tracts, I decided to stop and postpone that part of the route,” explains the pilgrim. The bad weather of these weeks created various criticalities along some legs, especially between Emilia Romagna and Tuscany. Despite difficulties and deviations along the course, the Swiss pilgrim continues along his journey with great enthusiasm.

The flag of the association he is walking for continues to wave from his backpack. It is his motivation for this adventure, which will take him to Rome by 2019. “Despite having constantly wet shoes, I like this route – Raphaël says jokingly – finding oneself alone is fantastic, it’s an experience which makes you reflect on life. I am also doing it as a Christian Catholic pilgrim who should go, at least once in their life, from home to Rome. I do it above all, however, for the families who have children with cancer.”

Silvia Iuliano

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