The Walking Pilgrim

Sentieros Franciscanos
La Verna, Sansepolcro, Gubbio; Gubbio, Assisi; Montepaolo, La Verna; Firenze, La Verna; Nocera Umbra, Assisi; Spoleto, Assisi

There have been several developments related to St Francis and the main sites associated with him. The main one is the Via Francigena di San Francesco, Assisi-Rieti-Rome. This originates on the Tuscan/Umbrian border at Citerna, but also linking into Assisi are:

• the Sentiero Francescano della Pace, which links Assisi more directly with Valfabbrica and then follows the same route to Gubbio. See also description and mapping on CAI Gubbio
Two developments by the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) are also Assisi-related:
• CAI Foligno has created the Sentiero Francescano, marked as itinerary 51, which reconstructs the last journey of St Francis from Nocera Umbra. See guide on Assisi Online; see especially the note about the dangerous path on Monte Subasio
• as an alternative to the VFSF between Spoleto and Assisi, CAI Spoleto has created the Sentiero Francescano: Sentiero degli Ulivi which goes via the abbey at Sassovivo rather than Foligno

North of Gubbio, the link on the Tuscan side with La Verna is provided by the Cammino di Francesco. Several other sources describe routes via La Verna, though they do not all follow the same route:

• the Cammino di Assisi links the hermitage of Montepaolo near Forli, where Anthony of Padua lived, with La Verna and Assisi. It is planned eventually to link this path with Padova
• Di qui passò Francesco by Angela Maria Seracchioli describes a route from La Verna, via Gubbio, Assisi and Rieti, to Poggio Bustone; see the website for more details, including the pilgrim's credential and the refuge at Assisi. There is also a German version of the book, Der Franziskusweg von La Verna über Gubbio und Assisi bis Rieti: Auf den Spuren des Franz von Assisi
• Kees Roodenburg describes a route from Florence via Assisi to Rome in Een Franciscaanse Voetreis; there is now also a German version, Franziskusweg: Von Florenz über Assisi nach Rom, published by Conrad Stein

Finally, the Cammino di Francesco is a network of routes linking the Franciscan sites in the Valle Sacra around Rieti. And see also the Via dei Angeli.

Detailed mapping for sections (compare with list above):

• Gubbio-Assisi
• La Verna-Gubbio
• Montepaolo-La Verna

		km	cumul km	view on map
	FRANCESCANO	49.93	49.93
	Dovadola-Mte Marzanella	23.21	73.14
	Mte Marzanella-Premilcuore	20.13	93.27
	Premilcuore-Corniolo	15.03	108.30
	Corniolo-Camaldoli	24.37	132.67
	Camaldoli-Biforco	19.84	152.51
	Biforco-Caprese Michelangelo	24.68	177.19
	Caprese Michelangelo-Sansepolcro	26.06	203.25
	Sansepolcro-Citta di Castello	29.25	232.50
	Citta di Castello-Pietralunga	30.29	262.79
	Pietralunga-Gubbio	26.94	289.73

	Section overview	All sections	Individual section (select above) *
IGM (Italy)	view	view	view
OpenStreetMap	view	view	view
Bing maps	view	view	view
Google maps**	view	view	view

- opens in separate tab/window
- viewing all sections may take long time to load on slow lines and/or machines
- OpenStreetMap/Bing/Google cover all countries; national topo maps only sections in that country
- * display of individual section does not work in popup on route overview page
- ** initial load of Google maps takes longer

Id: francis

Links on this page are colour-coded: other page on this website, other website
Lines on map above are schematic and for overview only; they do not represent detailed line of route.
Sections in list at top with town names in italics are still under development.
Mapped section distances are the sum of geodesic length between each point plotted on the map, calculated using the Vincenty formula