Via francigena how many days

After a short walk in the countryside, continue along the banks of the river Sesia. The itinerary becomes wooded as you cross the border between Piedmont and Lombardy. Near Palestro, you will leave the river to reach Robbio, an important agricultural and industrial centre on the Pavese plain. From here we recommend you continue by train to Tromello to reduce the length of this long stage. Height at arrival: 93 m a.

The area, the first regional park in Italy created in , can be visited by foot, by bike, by horse or with a canoe and is an area of monasteries, abbeys, convents and basilicas. The stage ends in Pavia, one of the major halts on the Via Francigena. Today we follow the river Ticino, that shortly enters the river Po. The itinerary continues parallel to the main road to Cremona, but you may walk across the countryside in the surroundings of Pavia among fields and woods.

The itinerary continues across fields close to the hills to Chignolo Po Castle, place of rest for pilgrims on the Francigena Way since the Middle Ages. The castle, built in , is impressive as result of numerous refurbishments over the centuries. Finally, Lambrina, a village taking its name from the River Lambro. If you do not want take the ferry or if the ferry is not available, the itinerary continues along the north bank of the river and arrives at Piacenza. In the centre of Piacenza is a big square, Piazza dei Cavalli, overlooked by the gothic Public Palace, dating back to Worth visiting is the Romanesque basilica of S.

Antonio founded in the IV century, the Romanesque cathedral and the Romanesque Church of San Savino, consecrated in , with wonderful mosaics representing the months of the year and the zodiac. To avoid the busy Via Emilia, the itinerary takes you across the relaxing landscape of the plain. Pleasant stage on secondary roads and tracks. You pass the wonderful Abbey of Chiaravalle, a Cistercian abbey founded in , the main part of which is the basilica and the beautiful XIV cloister.

The walking itinerary ends in Fidenza. Height at arrival: 57 m a. This slightly hilly stage, among fields, vineyards and farms ends in Fornovo di Taro, an important junction of communication of Celtic origin that became a merchant and religious centre in the Roman era. Short transfer to Sivizzano from where you start the ascent to the Cisa Pass. This is a fairly strenuous day but there is much to enjoy — the landscape, and the charming parishes of Bardone and Terenzo.

Arrival in Cassio, with its centre paved in local stone and its Church of Maria Assunta among its ancient houses. The itinerary continues and ends in Berceto, a little town but important communications centre because it is situated on the Via Romea. The Romanesque Duomo is worth a visit and also the Sanctuary of Madonna delle Grazie in baroque style with neoclassic details. Today you leave Emilia Romagna to enter Tuscany.

This part of the itinerary gives some of the most beautiful landscapes of the whole Via Francigena and at the top of Mount Valoria, the panorama ranges between the Taro and Magra Valleys.

From the Cisa Pass you see Tuscany, down the steep slope covered in beech and chestnuts trees. Overnight in Montelungo. Walking on, you will note the crosses and carvings that mark the stations of the Via Crucis.

After Arzeglio you reach Pontremoli, whose fortress from AD is the seat of the museum of the mysterious statue-stones. Outside Pontremoli come to the Santissima Annunziata, built in the 15th century on the place where the Virgin appeared to a shepherdess. From Villafranca in Lunigiana continue toward Virgoletta and through woods and fields you come to Aulla, arising from the abbey of San Caprasio founded in Castello di Bibola — Vecchietto — Ponzano Superiore — Castello della Brina ruins — SarzanaLeaving Aulla, in the shadow of imposing Brunella fortress, walk the last slopes of the Appennine mountains for a first glimpse of the sea.

It is not an easy day as we are still in the mountains. Bibola is our first stop, then the ruins of the Brina castle before starting the descent towards Sarzana. Wide views over the river Magra gorges. NOTE: Partly secondary asphalt, partly trails. Day Camaiore — Lucca. Distance: 29km or 22km by using public bus. Highest point m, altitude up: — down: m.

For those who prefer to avoid this, we advise you to spend a longer time in Lucca and catch a train only 15 minutes ride to Altopascio. Details: No altitude gains, the highest point is 30m. Pass the Capannori and the Badia di Pozzeveri. Distance: 23,3 km. Highest point m.

NOTE: a short part on original medieval pavement, half trail and half on secondary asphalt. After the first 6 km of trafficless asphalt, the whole itinerary is on unpaved roads or trails. The oak woods of the initial part give away to vineyards in the second part. Along the road you can visit two interesting churches, Pieve di Coiano and S.

Maria a Chianni just before arriving in Gambassi. A short day to allow time in San Gimignano. A detour allows the visit of a very interesting place : the Jerusalem of Tuscany. A group of small chapels represent the Holy land and Pilgrims visited this place at a time when the real Jerusalem was dangerous to reach being under Turkish control. A fairly long day across lovely countryside — rolling hills, covered by the Chianti vineyards. The XI century San Salvatore church in Abbadia Isola is worth visiting while an ancient military post with its perfectly round walls is a unique sight.

Overnight in Monteriggioni or nearby. While walking the entire Via Francigena, he wrote a detailed diary about the stages where he stopped during his journey. If you are planning your route along the Via Francigena and want to know what you should bring with you check our post! If you have any question, feel free to contact us to plan your adventure.

What would it cost approx for 1 person, leaving June, from Canterbury, arriving in Rome, mid-September. Least expensive rooms along way. Than You,. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

In total, the Via Francigena route, is more than 2, kms long and half of them are crossing the Italian Peninsula 1, km. The Via Francigena: how long is it? Leave a Reply Cancel Reply. Get a Quote. Travel Date approx. Number of people? But you have to dig around a bit to find it! It is an activity centre for primary school children with a huge pilgrim welcome. And yes indeed there is quite a good network of Tourist Offices in France too, which are most helpful too.

And the Mairie in any small town will also help. Turonensis New Member. William Marques said:. Last edited: Nov 16, Turonensis said:. I have walked the Camino de Santiago from various starting points - including London to Compostela - and never in any great hurry.

However, I did Canterbury to Rome just once by bicycle, as I had to be there for a particular date. It took me just two weeks. Lightly packed De Rosa steel frame racing bike, Campagnolo gears, seat pin rack with 8kg bag including 1kg sleeping bag and 1kg tent. That's half the time suggested above. I was not racing - and if you are a pilgrim you maybe want to linger - but it seems a bit strange that you would take 28 days on this route?

How could you spin out the journey by that much? I did mostly the flat route through northern France Dieppe then keeping south of Paris on river and canal routes then up through Saint-Ursanne following the River Doubs, into Switzerland to Lucerne and over the St Gotthard pass.

If you are fit and have a good bike, this is an easy route in 14 days and doesn't pose any great challenge. That would give you a week's break in the Alps and another week's break to look around Florence! Pilgrim Pouch. Fine for a cyclist on a racing bike who does not want to stop and visit the many places worth seeing Cliff Active Member.

I started walking the canal network in Calais. Not a single 'canal path' but a series of canal sections linked by stages on minor road. Is it possible to obtain canal maps?

Would you recommend I carry a tent? Thank You for your reply Cliff. What are ING maps Most all Camino authors have decided to use guides for , with free PDF files with updates coming in the spring. Get yours today. Give back to the Camino. Peaceable Projects Inc. Cliff said:. If you intend to walk the canal routes I would strongly recommend bringing a tent. You will spend a lot of time off the main VF route and therefore away from the pilgrim infrastructure. You should also be prepared to wild-camp on occasion rather than using official campsites which are not always available at convenient distances.

This is not something that everyone is comfortable with. VNF have redesigned their website and I can no longer find the online schematic maps which I used in The mobile version of their website is especially helpful. For most of my navigation in France and Switzerland I simply used pages cut from a detailed road atlas and referred to Google Maps and the IGN maps in larger towns or where navigation proved complicated.

Once in Italy the official VF mapping was adequate in all except the largest of towns. John R McLean Member. John R McLean said:. Yes, I can confirm that I stayed with her this summer. Wonderful and extremely helpful woman.

I encountered so much kindness along the way. He passed away on Sept 14th. I will be returning next Sept to complete my journey. I have not been participating in any if the forums or FB pages for a while since I've got back home.

It's been a sad struggle but things are looking up and I'm just getting going on "replanning" Take Care John. Camino Cups. Oh very sad to hear that John. Good that you were able to get home. Take your time. Do you live in Scotland? My wife and I are going this MAY, for couple of weeks. We may walk West Highland Way If not we'll travel around Scotland Had my DNA done Kind of having second thoughts on VF , saw utube video I only speak English, so could be complicated I have time to decide.

May just walk Camino Northe instead Or start close to Bernard Pass. Seems like it could be less complicated , Thank You for your advice, Cliff. AlwynWellington Veteran Member. Past OR future Camino please see signature. The most selling Camino Guide is shipping November 1st. Get your today and start planning. Avromal Member. AlwynWellington said:. In September I walked from Canterbury to Chaumont-en-haut-France and covered nearly km in 19 days walking and two rest days. This was about km more than I expected to do.

I am currently booked to re-start in early April with about 7 days to the Swiss Border and about the same in Switzerland, busing under the pass. After Aosta, I intend to rubberneck in Turin and Milan travelling by bus. After returning to the route south of Milan I will divert to Florence.

I have allowed up to three months for this adventure.