Via Francigena
In medieval times, north-south roads through Italy, particularly those from the western Alps, were often referred to as 'French road' or 'road from France', in Latin a phrase such as 'Via Francesca' or 'Via Francigena' (cf 'Camino Francés' in Spain). These roads were obviously much used by medieval pilgrims from the north and west to Rome. At different times these names were applied to a variety of roads: the first record of 'Via Francesca' is from 876, a document from the abbey of San Salvatore on Monte Amiata; 'Via Francigena' in 1024 from Troia, on the road southeast from Rome to Apulia.
In the 20th century, when interest arose in reviving pilgrim roads in Italy, the name Via Francigena was adopted. The earliest detailed account of a journey between Rome and the western Alps was that of Sigeric, a 10th-century archbishop of Canterbury, and so the name was applied to his route, from Rome via Siena and the Cisa pass to the Po valley.
Sigeric's journey took the Via Poenina over the Gt St Bernard pass, but the modern development includes two other major roads from the western Alps: the Via Domitia from the Montgenèvre pass (the road from the Mont Cenis pass joins this at Susa), which joins at Vercelli, and the coastal Via Aurelia, which joins at Sarzana/Luni.
Because Sigeric carried on to the English Channel, the term 'Via Francigena' is also being applied to his continuation route via Lausanne, Besançon and Reims. This is of course not really correct, firstly as this is not the main 'road from France', which would have been the Mont Cenis pass, and secondly, in France itself, no-one would have called their local road 'the road from France', though there are records of northern sections being called the 'Chemin des Anglois'. As far as I'm aware, there are no records of any road north of the Alps being called 'Via Francigena'.
It is also being used for the road from Canterbury to the Channel though, if this was a 'road from France', it would have been the road from France to Canterbury, not Rome; Canterbury pilgrims on this road would have far outnumbered pilgrims to Rome.
In addition, the road(s) south from Rome to the Apulian ports are being called the 'Via Francigena del Sud'.
For the purposes of this website, and to make it easier to include on the maps, I handle the different branches of what is currently being called 'Via Francigena' in different pages:
- all those in modern Italy north of Rome, i.e. the sections south/east of the western Alps
- Via Francigena del Sud
- Via Francigena in Switzerland
- Sigeric's route in France
- for the roads on the western side of the other main passes, see Via Domitia, and Via Aurelia; there is currently no marked route along the Maurienne to the Mont Cenis pass
- for Canterbury-Dover, see Pilgrims Way
Id: francigena