Why a pilgrimage ?
Some choose to spend their holidays as pilgrims for religious reasons, but more than half the people who follow the Compostela trail are not Catholics, not even believers
Then why ?
To many people, this is the beginning of a spiritual quest; others want to search their souls, to look inside themselves, to know themselves better in a natural and peaceful setting, in the silence of holy places, in the sharing with the others pilgrims.

Others have an historical or artistic interest; along the trails some of the most interesting Romanic churches and monasteries can be visited and hiking along the Francigena is like walking through a life-book of history.

Last, but not least, for some, this can be a test, a way to find out how far one can be pushed, how though and how adaptable one is. After all to walk 20 to 27 km every day for a number of days, rain or high heat is no easy deal !!!

A difficult undertaking

The 950 km that join the Grand San Bernardo Pass to Rome unfolds through very different landscapes, from alpine medows to dry “Crete” hills; from solitary valleys to large urban areas. You will have too brave tough uphills and long ribbons of asphalt, to endure high heat and strong rain. It is a major undertaking.

In the Middleages, Pilgrims used to carry just a rucksack and a woodden stick, living out of charity along the way. Today things have changed and although the undertaking may seem easier, this doesn't prove right most of the time.

However, not everybody is so daring as to buy an airplane ticket, grab his backpack, his sleeping bag and go, facing a foreign country, a foreign language and an unknown route.

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La Via Francigena