Autore: Redazione AEVF

Many associations surrounding it animate The Via Francigena. Mediterraid Cammina proposes free hikes and a help service along the Lazio tract of Sigeric’s route, as well as other paths. 

Founded by Antonello Fratoddi and Monica Ardizzone in 2004, the association’s headquarters can be found in Campagnano di Roma, a rest-stop of the Via Francigena Viterbo Roma. A geographical feature, which in time became a true “mission” for its founders. 

From the Vie of the Mediterranean to the Francigena, in 2014 Mediterraid added the suffix ‘Cammina‘, dedicating itself to the ancient communication route, which unites Europe to Jerusalem. “Our association was founded with the aim to traverse the Vie of the Mediterranean and to contribute to a EuroMediterraenean dialogue, with meetings and sister-cities. – says Antonello Fratoddi – Since 2006 we have driven full circle around the Mediterranean five times, but the explosion of tension and rebellion in some countries in 2011 meant we were forced to abandon the project.“

With their passion and experience matured along the roads, routes and tracks of the Mediterranean, they came across the Via Francigena. “When we realised the Francigena was just down the street, we understood that it would be the key to our work,” confirms Antonello. From then on, the association has organised several day excursions along the Francigena, organising hospitality, offering aid and luggage transportation services, supervising the route from Viterbo to Rome in terms of signage, accessibility and cleanliness. 

“We propose hikes without guides, the Francigena is well signposted, and we supply assistance to all pilgrims, not just those registered for our proposal, we intervene in case of emergency with two off-road vehicles. – Explains Fratoddi – We began this initiative participating in an event organised by the region of Lazio, with the Viandante project. We are not paid for our work but we do it with great passion. With our initiatives, we can say we have contributed to making people aware that the pilgrim figure is an asset, we have helped make people aware of this kind of experience. We are working towards the appreciation of the Viterbo to Rome tract of the Francigena; some variants have recently been created that have made the last part of the Francigena very beautiful, on equal footing with the Tuscan tract.“

Mediterraid Cammina is also working on pilgrim hospitality: “Over time we have created a prevailing hostel, thanks to our friends who made room available in their own homes in Campagnano di Roma. It’s called Case nel Borgo, and in 2017 it was an accommodation benchmark for the 750 pilgrims we welcomed.“

 “The last kilometres of the Via Francigena will be the first in your heart”: reads the Via Francigena Viterbo Roma website. There is no alternative but to take to the road with Mediterraid Cammina 2018, along the Via Francigena in Lazio and Tuscany, as well as other routes near Lazio and in Sardinia. 

The next events are as follows: from 18th to 22nd April the Via Francigena from S.Quirico d’Orcia to Viterbo and from the 25th to the 29th April the last five rest-stops from Viterbo to Rome. Bed & breakfast accommodation, luggage transport services and aid all supplied by Associazione Mediterraid. 

For more info and the Miterraid calendar, please visit: http://www.viafrancigena-viterbo-roma.it/

The new walking season in Puglia is the fruit of teamwork. From Gargano to Salento, ancient trails and tracts are in the process of being enhanced thanks to the integrated works of Regione Puglia, associations and territories.

“Trails are to be walked” wrote Antonio Marchado, the Spanish poet. Thus, slow tourism has reignited activity along the routes of Puglia over the past few years, giving life to new proposals of recovery and development.

Angelofabio Attolico, president of In Itinere, worked on the front lines of “South Cultural Routes”, the enhancement project of the Salento tract of the Vie Francigene in the south, implemented by Regione Puglia, Puglia Promozione and Associazione Europea delle Vie Francigene (EAVF), in collaboration with Itineraria and Itinere, the Association “La casa delle comunità ospitanti degli Itinerari Francigeni della Puglia meridionale“, experts and scholars of the territory. 

“In close collaboration with the EAVF and Regione Puglia I supported the coordination of various pieces which worked on the project. At the end of February, in Lecce, we presented the results – says Angelo – We mapped and georeferenced all the Francigena route in the south, from Gargano to Santa Maria di Leuca, beginning in the summer of 2017.“

An intense job preceded by a research and study phase: “The VF in Puglia coincides with two historical routes, the Via Micaelica in Gargano and the Via Traiana in the rest of Puglia, two more routes have been added to these: the Via Leucadense and the Via Salentina – explains Attolico – horizontal and vertical signage is in the process of being placed in Gargano and Salento.“

After reconnaissance and direct checks in the field, followed by interaction with associations and residents of the rest-stop towns, the project was realised with vertical and “light” (stickers and paint) signage in accordance with the signage abacus of the European Association of the Vie Francigena. The region of Puglia is structuring the routes following the European standards of the Council of Europe.

“It is very satisfying because such an ordered action has never been found south of Rome. – says Attolico – Together with Luigi Del Prete and Michele De Giudice, we have been working on these tracts for years and preparation of the territory was necessary. Of course, there is still much to do, especially regarding hospitality, but we had to begin at some point and at last a project exists, a foundation to begin from“. A job that must obviously be networked with the regions and municipalities along the Via Francigena in the South for its certification as European.

A great result for pilgrims and archaeologists. After years as a researcher abroad, Attolico returned to Italy, transforming his passion for pilgrimage into work. A life choice which lead him to invest in the territory, in Puglia. “Two years ago I founded a cooperative society named “In Itinere”, returning has allowed me to see my role in the area” he explained.

Doctor of research in post-classic archaeology at the University of Bari, Angleo is an accredited archaeologist for MiBACT and also among the authors, in the field of cultural and environmental heritage, of the 2017-20 strategic plan of culture for the region of Puglia. Today he handles the design and development of slow and green cultural touristic products for public and private entities. With his cooperative he designed, planned and structured the Cammino Materano and the Via Traiana. He is the cofounder of the regional web of routes in Puglia as well as national routes in the south.

Attolico is an expert in on foot journeys. He has traversed many Spanish and Italian routes to then dedicate himself to routes in the latter. “Experiencing your own territory at 3.5km per half hour means rediscovering it – he says – Puglia is a land of routes. There is work in place, we invite hikers to come her with the spirit of pilgrimage. It’s important that everyone contributes with their own experience.“

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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