Milan, 18 April 2009 – On the road again…or soon to be. On May 1, three friends and I will begin walking what is referred to as the Via Francigena del Sud. In the Middle Ages, and then for centuries afterwards, pilgrims trekked to Rome. After doing the pilgrim thing in the city of Popes they moved on towards Jerusalem along the Via Francigena del Sud.

While we have an almost official version of the Via Francigena – which Sigeric, the archbishop of Canterbury, took 1,000 years ago when he was returning home after having come to Rome to see the Pope – the same cannot be said for the Via Francigena del Sud. People argue today, sometimes quite animatedly, about the exact route Sigeric took, but we know for certain where he started and ended his 80 days of walking.

The situation with the Via Francigena Sud is entirely different. There are no documents showing the route pilgrims walked as they worked their way to Puglia from where they got boats across to what is now Albania before continuing on the way to Jerusalem. We do know that the jumping off point for that trip across the Adriatic Sea tended to be either Bari, Brindisi or Otranto.

So that leaves intrepid 21st Century pilgrims with the job of finding a route to follow from Rome to Puglia that will keep them as much as possible off of busy roads. Monica D’Atti and her husband Franco Cinti, who wrote a guidebook for the Italian portion of the Via Francigena that I used two years ago, have very nicely given me the information I need to follow the route that they have identified and walked in 2007. In return, I will be gathering some fresh information they can use in the eventual publication of a guidebook for the Via Francigena del Sud.

Carl, who walked a good portion of the Via Francigena with me two years ago, will join me from the start this time as will two new entries, Sam and Elina. Sam (an Aussie) and Elina (a Finn) are two friends of mine living here in Milan who were recently married. Sam has set up a website where you can make a donation to an excellent charity called Cricket Without Boundaries that uses the sport (which, btw, being from the States I have never really understood, but that’s okay cause the rest of the world loves it) to help educate and develop communities in poor countries. It’s a great cause so please check it out and be kind with the donations, ever little bit helps: www.justgiving.com/ilcammino.

Sam and Elina will be joining me until Bari (a bit over 500 kilometers) while Carl and I  will continue on to Otranto (another 200 kilometers).

I will be posting everyday with text, photos and videos during the walk so be sure to have a look every once in a while to see how we are doing. There will also be guest posts from Sam, Elina and Carl so stay tuned.