One week to departure!

In less than one week I join the "Road to Rome 2021"!!! 

But, seeing as I like to go against the trend, I will join the "Road to Rome" project in Rome and start walking away from Rome - on the Via Francigena del Sud, towards Santa Maria di Leuca, at the southern tip of the heel of Italy!

The European Association of the Vie Francigene has organised "The Road to Rome 2021 - Start Again" to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its foundation while relaunching a sustainable form of tourism with an emphasis on nature, walking and cycling, and slow discovery of local communities with their local heritage, traditions and gastronomy. A group of walkers, the membership of which is constantly changing, has been on the road since June 16th to bring this message all the way along this great cultural route connecting the north with the south of Europe: from Canterbury, across the Channel, along the entire length of France from north to south, through Switzerland, over the Alps and through northern and central Italy. They are due to arrive in Rome on September 10, where they will spend a couple of days resting and celebrating their arrival in the city of St. Peter. I will join them there on September 12 and walk out of Rome on the Appian Way towards the south of Italy!

A word on the origins of the Via Francigena & the Via Francigena del Sud 

The Via Francigena is a walking route from Canterbury to Rome and on to Santa Maria Leuca, on the southernmost tip of the heel of Italy. The route was already used in medieval times to travel between northern Europe and Rome, not only by pilgrims to the tomb of Saint Peter but by merchants and other travelers too. The first use of the name "Via Francigena" is recorded in the 8th century, but it is actually more accurate to speak of "Vie Francigene" in the plural, as there were many different routes - as they say, all roads lead to Rome! The itinerary of the modern Via Francigena is based on the route taken by Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, who kept a record of the 80 places where he stopped overnight on his way back to Canterbury from Rome in the year 990.  

The manuscript of the Itinerarium Sigerici

The route of the Via Francigena del Sud has even older roots, for it has been reconstructed on the basis of the Itinerarium Burdigalense: a record of the journey of an anonymous pilgrim of Bordeaux on the way back from the Holy Land in the year 333 AD. Written only 21 years after the Emperor Constantine legalised Christianity in the Roman Empire, it is the earliest account we have of a Christian pilgrimage. This pioneering pilgrim did not leave us a detailed account of his (or her?) trip, just a list of the localities where the party stopped to rest or to change horses.     

The first page of the manuscript of the Itinerarium Burdigalense

Here is the list of overnight halts, recorded as the pilgrim proceeds back up the peninsula from Otranto in Puglia to Rome: 

Crossing the sea, a thousand stadia, which makes a hundred miles, you come to Hydrontum (Hydruntum, Otranto), and halt a mile farther.

Change at the twelfth milestone Halt at Clipeae (Lupiae, Lecce) - miles xiii.
Change at Valentia (Baletium, Baleso) - miles xiii.
City of Brindisium (Brundisium, Brindisi) - miles xi.
Halt at Spilenees (Speluncae) - miles xiv.
Change at the tenth milestone (Pto. Villa Nova) - miles xi.
City of Leonatia (Gnatia, Egnatia, Agnazzo) - miles x.
Change at Turres Aurilianae (San Vito) - miles xv.
Change at Turres Julianae - miles ix.
City of Beroes (Barium, Bari) - miles xi.
Change at Butontones (Butuntum, Bitonto) - miles xi.
City of Rubi (Ruvo) - miles xi.
Change at the fifteenth milestone - miles xv.
City of Canusium (Canosa) - miles xv.
Change at the eleventh milestone - miles xi.
City of Serdonis (Herdonea, Ordona) - miles xv.
City of Aecae (Troja) - miles xviii.
Change at Aquilo - miles x.

Frontier of Apulia and Campania.

Halt at Equus Magnus (Equus Tuticus, S. Eleuterio) - miles viii.
Change at the village of Fornum Novum (Forum Novum, Buonalbergo) - miles xii.
City of Beneventum (Benevento) - miles x.
City and halt at Claudii (Caudium, Casta Cauda) - miles xii.
Change at Novae - miles ix.
City of Capua (Capua) - miles xii.

Total from Aulon (Valona) to Capua 289 miles, 25 changes, 13 halts.

Change at the eighth milestone - miles viii.
Change at Pons Campanus (over the Savone River) - miles ix.
City of Sonuessa (Sinuessa, Mondragone) - miles ix.
City of Menturnae (Minturnae, on the Liris) - miles ix.
City of Formi (Mola di Gaeta) - miles ix.
City of Fundi (Fondi) - miles xii.
City of Tarracina (Terracina) - miles xiii.
Change at Mediae (Posta di Mesa) - miles x.
Change at Forum Appi (Foro Appio) - miles ix.
Change at Sponsae - miles vii.
City of Aricia (Ariccia) and Albona (Albanum, Albano) - miles xvi
Change at the ninth milestone - miles vii.
To the city of Rome - miles ix.

Total from Capua to the city of Rome 136 miles, 14 changes, 9 halts.

Total from Heraclea (Eregli) through Aulon (Valona) to the city of Rome 1,113 miles, 117 changes, 46 halts.

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20080511162235/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pilgr/bord/10Bord10Valona.html

Note: 1 Roman Mile = 1450 metres