Via Francigena was a major pilgrimage and communication corridor in medieval Western Europe used to reach Rome and Jerusalem through the port of Brindisi. Declared ‘Cultural Route of the Council of Europe’ in 1994, The Via Francigena is based on the travel of Sigeric ‘the Serious’, Archbishop of Canterbury who visited in 990. The route runs through the entire Italian peninsula, from lake Como to Brindisi, along the Sigeric corridor from Pavia to Rome. It goes through the Po river plain and crosses the Cisa Pass to Tuscany, and moving behind Rome, goes through the Southern Apennines up to the Adriatic Sea.
Note: For the time being, it is recommended to take the train to skip the Palagiano-Taranto section.
Natural Heritage
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Cultural Heritage
Culinary Delights
Maritime Heritage / The Rhine / The Meuse
Other Point of Interest
Bus station
Train station
Mobility info center
The Italian National EuroVelo Coordinator's website provides plenty of information about cycling in Italy. Further information on cycle tourism is provided on their 'Bicitalia' website. Italian only.
[email protected] +39 02 84073149
If a hotel, farmhouse, bed & breakfast or camp site is happy to accommodate cyclists, FIAB's Albergabici® service is the way to tell cyclists who are touring their area or just out for a day's excursion about their services. The website offers over 2000 places to stay, tailored for road bike, mtb or touring holidays and with e-maps to help you find accomodation along EuroVelo and national routes.
If you're interested in the network of Italian national long-distance routes, then this is the right site for you. The aim of the site is to provide online maps of the network of cycleways, together with information about places to stay in and points of interest. The Bicitalia network includes 20 national routes. Download the tracks under 'Routing/GPSx'!
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The tour offers the visit of the 3 UNESCO sites of Puglia and Basilicata: Castel del Monte, Matera and Alberobello, connected one to the next by very quiet country roads running along National or Regional Parks. The Greenway running along the Apulian Aqueduct is today open to the public in the first stretch, and offers the very best possible views of the landscape of valle d’Itria. Level of difficulty: medium (relaxed activity).
The Via Francigena cycling itinerary takes you from the snowy peaks of Grand St. Bernard then through the Apennines. The scenery varies among millenary churches, continuing on the iconic dirt roads of Siena crossing the Val d’Orcia. You will be amazed by the beauty of Lake Bolsena and by the ancient road of the Via Cassia, still intact after 2000 years. Surprises continue, from the Roman amphitheater of Sutri, to the beautiful cycle path until your destination St. Peter Square.
