In April 2026, I continued my walk along the Via Francigena, walking 8 days, 250km from Sarzana to Pavia.  

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. I have now walked 753 of 2.230 kms.

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. 

This part of the Via Francigena took me over the Apennine mountains. If at all possible, the Apennines in April with their lush green slopes, are even more beautiful than Tuscany in September. In addition their are many historic town on the way, Fidenza, Pontremoli, Picenza and Pavia, to name a few.

Walking north, I was walking against the tide of walkers going south towards Rome, and it was really nice to stop and chat, even though they wouldn’t be people I would meet again, as they would if I was going south.

On the down side, there was no or very limited infrastructure on some of the stages, Italy, like the rest of Europe, is experiencing the closing down of shops and bars in smaller villages. Likewise the field upon field upon field in the Po valley, also became a little monotonous.

This walk was part a longer walk to Chur in Switzerland. From Pavia I followed the Via Francisca del Lucomagno, over the Lucomagno/Lukmanier pass.