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Italy’s great walking routes don’t all approach Rome in the same way. The Via Francigena, the Way of Saint Francis, the Way of Saint Benedict, the Romea Strata and the Via Romea Germanica each carry a different idea of pilgrimage: some lead through Franciscan sanctuaries or Benedictine monasteries, while others follow medieval roads that once drew travelers from across Europe to the Eternal City. But the three certified Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe — the Via Francigena, the Via Romea Germanica and the Romea Strata — have final stretches that run through much of Lazio before reaching Rome. Three different European gateways, one shared landscape: the Tuscia of Viterbo, and the last slow miles to St. Peter’s Basilica.
It is precisely this last section — the part that runs through Lazio — where the routes get really interesting. The landscapes turn slower and stranger; the villages are built of tufa rock; the route enters Rome on foot rather than arriving in it. Here’s a short guide to each of the three routes, and a glimmer of what their Lazio sections will show you.
Via Francigena
This is the most internationally recognized of the three; it was certified as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe in 1994 — the same year as the Routes of Santiago de Compostela. It’s based on the travel diary of Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, who in 990 CE recorded the 79 stages of his return from Rome in a manuscript that today is preserved at the British Library.
The Italian section runs about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) in 45 stages, from the Great St. Bernard Pass to Rome. Its Lazio leg is widely considered the most evocative of the entire itinerary. The route enters the region at Acquapendente, on the shores of Lake Bolsena, and threads through the Tuscia of Viterbo — a landscape of tufa villages, papal fortresses and Etruscan rock-cut tombs. In Bolsena, the Basilica of Santa Cristina marks the site of the 1263 Eucharistic miracle that inspired the feast of Corpus Christi. Montefiascone offers the Rocca dei Papi, the papal fortress where popes resided on and off for nearly four centuries, and an arch marking 100 kilometers (62 miles) to Rome — a small psychological landmark walkers tend to remember. Viterbo, a former papal seat, is home to one of the largest preserved medieval quarters in Italy at San Pellegrino. Next up are Vetralla; Sutri, an Etruscan town with a Roman amphitheater carved entirely into the tufa rock; Campagnano; and La Storta, the last stop before St. Peter’s.
Via Romea Germanica
Though it took a little longer to earn its certification as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe (2020), this one holds equally impressive historical weight. The modern itinerary is based on the journey described by Abbot Albert of Stade in his Annales Stadenses of 1236 — a dialogue between two friars debating the possible roads to Rome that ended up becoming one of medieval Europe's most precise travel records.
The full itinerary runs about 2,200 kilometers (1367 miles) from Stade, in Lower Saxony, to Rome, with the Italian section measuring roughly 1,050 kilometers (652 miles) from the Brenner Pass to the Eternal City. For most walkers, however, the route becomes a different experience once it enters Lazio: at Montefiascone it joins the Via Francigena, and from that point on the two routes share the Tuscia of Viterbo and the descent into Rome. The Lazio leg passes Bolsena, Viterbo — with its elaborate Macchina di Santa Rosa ritual, recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Heritage of Humanity — Vetralla, Sutri, the Veio Regional Nature Park and La Storta. A northern variant in Lazio also touches Civita di Bagnoregio, the “dying” city set on a tufa pinnacle in the heart of the Tuscia. It may be among Italy’s most photographed places, but it’s altogether different when you reach it on foot.
Romea Strata
This is the most recent of the three routes to be certified as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, receiving the designation on June 17, 2025. It reconstructs the medieval network that brought pilgrims to Rome from central-eastern and Baltic Europe — more than 4,700 kilometers (2,920 miles) across seven countries, with 245 stages and more than 50 UNESCO sites.
Its main Italian section runs for about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), touching places in Lazio such as Bolsena, Montefiascone, Viterbo and San Martino al Cimino before reaching Rome as the culmination of the journey. Since 2024, the final stretch no longer rejoins the Via Francigena, thanks to meticulous remapping carried out by a network of volunteers, which has given the route a distinct identity and a new way into Rome. For walkers arriving from Estonia, Lithuania, Poland or the Czech Republic, the Lazio leg becomes the final convergence of a vast European journey: a passage through the landscapes of central Italy towards the city that has drawn pilgrims for centuries.
One destination, one Tuscia
These three routes share much more than a destination. What binds them together is the same Lazio landscape that unfolds across each of their final stretches — the same tufa villages, the same approach to St. Peter’s, the same slow descent through the Tuscia. Whether you set out from Canterbury, from Stade or from Tarvisio, you meet other walkers here, in a region most international travelers think of as a transit zone between Tuscany and Rome (if they even think of it at all).
Whether you walk a few stages or the full Italian section, the experience condenses into the last days: the lake, the medieval cities, the gradual approach to the dome of St. Peter’s seen from a hilltop. For best results, let the route itself set the pace.
If you walk
All three routes are walkable in their entirety or in sections; the Lazio legs are particularly accessible from Rome and well served by regional rail. Spring and fall are the most comfortable seasons, and pilgrim hostels and sanctuary accommodations along the routes offer simple, low-cost lodging. You’ll need to get a pilgrim credential if you wish to receive the Testimonium at St. Peter's Basilica; it’s available to those who have walked the final 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the Via Francigena. Find more information for planning your walk here.
