“Il Cammino di Francesco – Il Cammino della Luce” folds together scattered regional trails from six regions, all converging on Assisi, as the town prepares to mark eight centuries since the saint’s death.
Italy has launched a new long-distance pilgrimage route uniting the country’s scattered Franciscan trails into a single camino stretching more than 1,500 kilometres.
Titled Il Cammino di Francesco – Il Cammino della Luce (The Way of Francis – The Way of Light), the project was unveiled by Tourism Minister Gianmarco Mazzi at Rome’s Palazzo Chigi on 30th July.
A network built from existing trails
The new network crosses six regions — Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany and Umbria — folding in trails that have existed for years in various forms. It includes the roughly 110km stretch from Rimini to the mountain sanctuary of La Verna, where St Francis is said to have received the stigmata in the summer of 1224. That particular route was itself only established in 2013, to mark the 800th anniversary of Francis’s journey through the Valmarecchia valley.
Other existing routes being brought under the new umbrella include the roughly 290km Via di Francesco from Florence to Assisi, which passes through Camaldoli, La Verna and Gubbio. It continues from Assisi towards Rome for a further 300-plus kilometres, extending the pilgrimage as far as the Vatican for those who wish to continue. Every branch, variant and link road across the network converges on Assisi, the saint’s birthplace and final resting place, which organisers describe as the project’s ultimate destination.
Years of cross-regional cooperation
Franco Boarelli, president of the Vie e Cammini di Francesco association, which coordinated the initiative alongside the tourism and culture ministries, said the unified route had been a goal his organisation had pursued from the outset, built through years of cross-regional cooperation rather than being confined within local administrative boundaries.
The routes have been mapped and historically validated by the national anniversary committee, and are now listed on Italy’s official tourism platform, Italia.it, giving travellers access to maps, stage-by-stage itineraries and planning tools. Pilgrims completing at least 75km of the walk to Assisi can obtain a Testimonium Viae Francisci, a certificate of completion, provided they carry a stamped pilgrim credential along the way.
Watch our podcast on St Francis
A landmark year for Assisi
The launch comes as Assisi prepares for its most significant year in living memory. 3rd October 2026 marks 800 years since Francis died at the Portiuncula chapel just outside the town — an event Franciscans traditionally call the Transitus rather than his death. The anniversary, marked under the theme “San Francesco Vive” (“Saint Francis Lives On”), is expected to draw an extraordinary number of pilgrims to Assisi and Franciscan sites worldwide, with hundreds of thousands of bookings already made for the veneration events planned around the date.
Ahead of that milestone, Assisi will host the GO! Franciscan Youth Meeting from 3rd to 6th August, drawing more than 2,500 young people from across Europe and beyond for a programme of workshops, prayer and fellowship, culminating in an encounter with Pope Leo XIV. Organisers have likened the gathering to the Chapter of Mats of 1221, when thousands of friars are said to have converged on Assisi around Francis himself.
The momentum behind this year’s commemorations follows a decision by the Italian government last year to reinstate 4th October — the feast day of St Francis — as a national holiday.
