(photo P Volker)
Yea, Pilgrim Farmer John was off and running at the blog yesterday separating the sheep from the goats. He is really taken with this idea of walking the Via Francigena that is the setting of this book that I am head over heels about, A Pilgrimage To Eternity. Maybe I’m more on sitting on the couch and reading about it than he is.
One of my Camino friends Lucia from Sicily was big on this. She had done stretches of it in Italy which sounds pretty much like heaven to me. Maybe I will try and contact her and see if there is anything new that she can tell us. One thing that I know because I have been following this story for a while is that the trail is a real thing in Italy. What I mean is that it has real accommodations and signage. And the trail gets more primitive or really nonexistent as you look northward.
I know that doesn’t sound right to have a trail that isn’t real in places but that is the story. It is being reclaimed from the overlay centuries of civilization. It’s been largely built on and crisscrossed by all manner of mankindness since Sergeric the Serious traveled it and documented it in early nine something. His writings are being used as a blueprint in this reconstruction. How fun!
So it doesn’t really exist as any more that an idea in it’s more northern reaches. But that has a sort of appeal to it too for some guys and girls. It’s the modern version of pioneer trail breaking maybe.
Early on when millions of pilgrims per year trekked the trail and the accommodations did exist and that is part of the history that is so rich in these places that it travels through. There was a whole system of monasteries and abbeys that sheltered, tended and fed the wayfarers.
This is the original way it was done. Or maybe not the original but the high point of the situation. So today this only exists as an idea, far away from our reality. But they are working on it.
So maybe more to come on this topic in the future. I will check with friend Lucia for anything I can glean. So stay tuned!
Time to prepare dinner. We have venison barbecue on the menu for tonight. Walk tomorrow at 1530. Maybe see ya.
dreaming of pilgrimage loves, Felipé.
Felipe,
I always enjoy the guest posts as well as learning about other Camino trails. Last year I had plans to do a portion of this Camino path in Italy but due to an injury and my aunt Charlotte living with us, I had to postpone my trip. As of this writing I am once again working towards walking from Assisi to Greccio in September of this year.
I hope the BBQ was a good one!
Rho
Rho ~ hey hi! I hope that you get to do this. I am thinking that maybe we could walk the Italian portion of the trail here at Phil’s Camino. I need a map or guide. Any suggestions? Remember, I think you have next Friday post. Thanks, Felipé.x
Felipe,
Yep already started working in the blog post as I don’t want to resort to an emergency poem again. 😉
I don’t have a good map of that area yet. The man leading out pilgrimage is about to put out a book on the Assisi to Greccio portion but it isn’t available. I will invite you to his FB page.
Rho ~ OK, great! Just wanted to remind you as long as I had you. I will find some guide here somewhere to use to help out with mapping. Well, we are on the downhill side to August. Almost corn planting time. Felipé.x
Always good to me reminded Felipe as the time really passes quickly between these guest post rotations.
I invited you to two FB groups for this Camino route. The group with Bret Thoman is the one I am planning to travel with this fall.
Hi Felipe and all:
I belong to various pilgrim groups on Facebook. I read awhile back of a someone who walked the Italian Way starting in Florence then on to Assisi and then all the way down to Rome. This was a route made famous by St. Francis of Assisi, who was said to have traveled up and down it regularly! Wouldn’t that be so awe inspiring to walk the same path he did? From what I remember reading from this pilgrim’s account is it was very hot (summer time obviously) and that the terrain is rugged and mountainous, but exceedingly beautiful and somewhat remote in places. Accommodations can be found, but the infrastructure is not what it is in Spain. They are working on the Via Francigena right now. There are several Facebook groups of pilgrims planning to walk or who have walked. Just type in Via Francigena and you will read loads about it and it’s current offerings! This has been on my radar for some time and definitely a plan.
Carol ~ sounds intriguing. I have to do some more research. Thanks! Hope everything is well with you, Felipé.x