Published on: 12 February 2015  | Last updated: 7 January 2020

The Via Francigena is the tradi­tional pilgrimage route that runs from Canterbury in south-east England to Rome. The route was taken by Sigeric the Serious walked to Rome to meet the Pope in 990 following his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury. Sigeric’s travel journal is the first record of the route. 

The nearest equivalent to the Via Francigena is another great pilgrimage route, the Camino Frances to Santiago di Compostela. If you are looking for a great cycling exper­ience and if you are travelling light and staying in pilgrims’ hostels, then this could be a great choice. On the other hand, if you are simply looking for a convenient route to Rome then the Via Francigena routes may not be the best choice.

According to the viafrancigena.bike website, 30 per cent of the Italian part of the route is on unsur­faced roads or tracks. It’s also fairly challenging. 

The Via Francigena and eurovelo 5 in Italy

There are three variants of the route:

• the viafrancigena.bike is the closest to the via Francigena hiking route, crossing into Italy at the Colle di Gran San Bernardo (Gran St Bernard Pass) (2469m) (famous for the dogs);
• the Ciclovia Francigena is the name for the Italian section of the eurovelo 5. The eurovelo 5 follows the Swiss national route 3 from Basel to Chiasso in Italy taking the Gotthard pass (2107m);
• there’s also the Moncenisio variant of the Ciclovia Francigena, which starts at the Col du Mont Cenis (2083m).

Variants of the via Francigena and eurovelo 5 in Italy. Click on the lines for more inform­ation and links.   |  Show map in overlay    |    Show map in new window 

The ev5/Ciclovia Francigena meets up with the Bike Francigena route at Pavia on the Po and then pretty much together they head for Piacenza and Fidenza before following the valley of the river Taro and crossing over the Apennines at the Passo della Cisa (1039m).

The Moncenisio variant on the other hand swings south of Torino and crosses the Apennines with the highest point at the Passo la Colla - or you can do what I did, and branch off at Scofera (654m). It then continues through Liguria towards La Spezia and meets up with the main route at the mouth of the Magra river and near where the now-abandoned city of Luni. Abandoned due to the combined effects of malaria and pirate raids, Luni was once an important centre and an oblig­atory stopping point for Sigeric.

The two routes part company for a short stretch with the Via Francigena Bike heading inland while the ev5/ciclovia Francigena follows the coast. They join up again at Pietrasanta before heading for Lucca.

From Lucca onwards the two routes more or less coincide and stick fairly closely to the historic Via Francigena. They take in San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, and Siena before heading for the Val d’Orcia and Radicofani an important landmark on the route and gateway to the final section through Lazio.

Unfortunately the Ciclovia Francigena has only been mapped as far as Acquapendente, so from here on the main option is the Via Francigena Bike. This takes you from the Lago di Bolsena to Viterbo and Sutri and from there to the Lago di Bracciano practically at the gates of Rome.

Note that from Lucca onwards the route mainly follows strade bianche - unsur­faced roads. This is an enjoyable option, but also the most challenging and roundabout.

Map and altitude profile for the Via Francigena

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tips for using the map

Distances

Distances - viafrancigena.bike
Colle del Gran San Bernardo-Aosta	41.5kms
Aosta-Viverone	101kms
Viverone-Vercelli	41kms
Vercelli-Pavia	80kms
Pavia-Fiorenzuola d’Arda	108kms
Fiorenzuola d’Arda-Berceto	85kms
Berceto-Marina di Massa	100kms
Marina di Massa-Lucca	52kms
Lucca-San Gimignano	89kms
San Gimignano-Siena	51kms
Siena-Radicofani	90kms
Radicofani-Bolsena	52kms
Bolsena-Sutri	71kms
Sutri-Rome	68kms
Total	1029.5

Signposting

In Italy, the Via Francigena hiking route is well signposted, and in places I have seen cycling signs, but it will be important to know when you can follow the signs and when you can’t. I would defin­itely recommend carrying a gps with detailed OSM mapping is - the excellent viafrancigena.bike website has gps tracks and also gives you the option to download maps for printing or viewing on a tablet.

Maps and gps tracks

If you want maps for printing or viewing on a tablet, then your best choice is the excellent viafrancigena.bike. It also has gps tracks to download. 

The different variants of the Ciclovia Francigena/ev5 are shown on Open Cycle Map digital maps, but if you’re looking for gps files for the route then the official versions are available from the bicitalia.org (bicitalia.org: BI3 Ciclovia Francigena). There don’t seem to be downloads for the Moncenisio or Sigerico variants.

If you want maps and tracks for the Swiss Nord-Süd route (National Route 3) then head over to veloland.ch

Credentials

The creden­ziale is the document you carry with you and get stamped at tourist offices, bars, hostels, etc along the way. It’s a very useful document in that some accom­mod­ation is only open to pilgrims, and others offer special rates, and of course, it grows into a unique souvenir of your journey. 

When you get St Peter’s you can also get a testi­monium - provided you have at least travelled from Lucca to Rome. For more inform­ation on how to get one see pilgrimstorome.org.uk: Testimonium.

Credentials are also available by post, or on the route - (list of places where you can get a creden­ziale).You can order a creden­ziale online from sloways.shop: Pilgrim’s Passport.

Resources and links

Websites for the whole eurovelo 5 or Via Francigena

If you’re planning to follow the eurovelo 5 then eurovelo.com may be your best starting point it has a section on the eurovelo 5 that has links to resources for individual country sections:

• viefrancigene.org (it/en/fr/es) is the major site dedicated to the Via Francigena. Aimed mainly at walkers but with lots of inform­ation useful to cyclists following the via Francigena. It includes Via Francigena in Switzerland
• urcamino.com is a site that covers a number of european pilgrimage routes and has a very good section on the via Francigena urcamino.com: via-francigena

Websites for the Via Francigena and eurovelo 5 in Italy

viafrancigena.bike (it/en) is by far and away the best resource for cyclists wanting to follow the Via Francigena - there’s a guide to each section with maps and gps files.

For Ciclovia Francigena, the Italian section of the eurovelo 5, there’s the bicitalia.org website (it) which offers inform­ation, and gps files for part of the route. There’s also inform­ation about the Moncenisio variant.

Regional websites

There are a number of excellent websites from Italian local and regional tourist inform­ation bodies:

• piemonteitalia.eu: Via Francigena Medievale about the via Francigena in Piemonte
• turismotorino.org: Francigena Routes in Piemonte (it/en/fr/es/de) - a section of the website turismotorino.org covers most of the route through Piemonte
• Via Francigena Pavese
• appenninoeverde.it: La Via Francigena in the Piacenza area and appenninoeverde.it: La Via Francigena in the Parma area (it/en/de/fr/pl)
• visittuscany.com: Via Francigena by bicycle - about the Via Francigena in Toscana. The site has lots of other articles about the Via Francigena go to: visittuscany.com: Via Francigena and Spiritual routes (or use the site’s search facility) 
• francigenalazio.it (it/en) site devoted to the Via Francigena in Lazio.

Books and guides

The only guidebook specifically aimed at cyclists is the Guida alla Via Francigena in Bici (amazon.it: Guida alla Via Francigena in Bici by Camilla Torelli - the second edition was updated in 2013). Download a sample chapter .

For a compre­hensive list of books (mainly in Italian) see viefrancigene.it: libri e guide.

Places to stay

viefrancigene.com has an accom­mod­ation section: viefrancigene.com: accoglienza. The site also offers downloadable pdf accom­mod­ation lists:

• ‘tourist’ accom­mod­ation list 
• ‘pilgrim’ accom­mod­ation 
• inter­active map showing accom­mod­ation options

Other accom­mod­ation direct­ories and lists:

• the turismotorino.org website includes four guides to the Francigena routes in Piemonte, each with an accom­mod­ation listing and map. the start page is: turismotorino.org: Francigena Routes in Piedmont
• camminafrancigena.it: accoglienza
• camminafrancigena.it: accom­mod­ation list 
• Spedale della Provvidenza di San Giacomo e San Benedetto Labre

Tour operators

sloways.eu: cycling sloways.eu is the tour operator arm of the movimentolento self-guided packages with accom­mod­ation in *** hotels and B&B with breakfast, luggage trans­port­ation from hotel to hotel, maps and detailed description of the itinerary, travel insurance and phone assistance in case of emergency. Bike hire and transfers available as extras.