Italy
From spring 2024 to autumn 2026, I made 4 seperate trip to Italy.
In the spring of 2024 I walked from the French border at Menton to La Spezia in Cinque Terre.
In September 2025, I walked from La Spezia to Rome along the Via Francigena.
In the spring of 2026 I first walked from La Spezia to Pavia, along the Via Francigena, and then from Pavia to Chur in Switzerland along the Via Francisca del Lucomagno.
Finally in September 2026, I again walked the Via Francigena from Pavia to Lausanne, over the Grand Saint Bernard Pass, followed by completing the Via Francisca from Chur to Lake Constance.
Via della Costa
Spectacular villages nested on mountains or clinging to the coast, pastel coloured house, rugged coastlines, sandy beaches, high mounts and great food on top. What more could anybody setting off on a hike want?
I walked the Via della Costa in March 2024 plus three stages of the Via Aurelia in France. In total, I walked 412 kms from Roquefort near Grasse in France, to La Spezia, south of the Cinque Terre National Park, including 12.500m elevation.
I had next to no expectations to this trip, actually expecting it to be a bit boring. How wrong I was! I highly recommend the this beautiful hike through Liguria.
Via della Costa
Via Francigena
The Via Francigena is an historical pilgrims path, stretching 2.230 km from Canterbury to Rome, it crosses 5 countries, 16 regions, and over 600 municipalities, from plains to hills and mountain passes.
Over 3 trips between Rome and Lausanne, I have walked 1.135kms of the 2.230kms between Canterbury and Rome.
Known as a trading route since the middle ages, the route was in fact a multitude of routes leading to Rome. The current Via Francigena is accredited to Sigeric the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury, when he used the Via Francigena to travel to Rome for his consecration by Pope John XV. He recorded his return journey, and the places he stopped, in a document which is now held by the British Library, and is now the base for the path travelled by many pilgrims.
Via Francigena
Via Francisca del Lucomagno
The Via Francisca del Lucomagno is an ancient route - historically documented - which leads from Constance on the Swiss-German border in to Pavia in Italy.
In May 2026 I walked from Pavia to Chur in Switzerland and in September 2026 walked from Chur to Lake Constance.
The Via Francisca del Lucomagno is a walk in three parts, through the extremely flat Po Valley in Italy and over hills and mountains in Switzerland, and then following the Rhine Valley to Lake Constance.
This is an extremely beautiful walk, with fabulous scenery through northern Italy and southern Switzerland. Pavia, Varese's Sacra Monte, the Lucomagno climb, Chur are highlights, but the scenery is beyond doubt what stands out.
Via Francisca del Lucomagno