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Italy’s five great walking routes do not all tell the same story. The Via Francigena, the Romea Strata and the Via Romea Germanica approach Rome as historic European roads; the Way of Saint Francis and the Way of Saint Benedict lead instead into the spiritual interior of central Italy. Together, they form a map of Lazio that is less about postcard scenery than about how religious history settled into valleys, monasteries and small towns. This article follows the two routes shaped by figures many travelers might recognize — Francis of Assisi and Benedict of Nursia — and looks at the Lazio sections where their stories become most tangible.
Here’s what to know about the Lazio sections of the two routes, and why you’ll be mightily rewarded if you’re intrepid enough to walk them.
The Way of Saint Francis: the Rieti Holy Valley
The Way of Saint Francis is structured around two main routes that converge on Assisi. The Northern Way runs about 190 kilometers (118 miles) from the Sanctuary of La Verna, where Francis is said to have received the stigmata in 1224. The Southern Way runs around 300 kilometers (186 miles) in 13 stages from Rome to Assisi, and it spends the great majority of its length crossing Lazio — first through the Sabine countryside, then climbing into the Apennine valleys north of Rieti.
The heart of the southern itinerary is the Rieti Holy Valley, known in Italian as the Valle Santa Reatina. Within a small geographic area sit four sanctuaries linked to defining moments in the famed ascetic and animal lover’s life. At Greccio, in 1223, Francis is said to have staged what is considered the first nativity scene in history, using a real ox, a real donkey and local villagers in place of a manger and figurines. The Franciscan sanctuary that developed around the site sits against a vertical rock face and includes a small museum tracing the history of the nativity tradition. Just a short drive away is Fonte Colombo, where Francis dictated the Rule of the Order in 1223. La Foresta is associated with what’s known as the “miracle of the grapes,” while Poggio Bustone is where Francis is said to have received the revelation of the forgiveness of sins.
You’re bound to notice how compact and refreshingly uncommercialized the Rieti Holy Valley is. The four sanctuaries can be visited in a day, but the route through them — across forests, beech woods and old mule paths — invites you to move slowly. Rieti itself, the small city at the center of the valley, is a worthwhile stop: it preserves an underground layer of the Roman city beneath its medieval streets, which you can access through a guided visit.
From Rieti, the route climbs into the Valnerina and descends through the Spoleto Valley to Assisi. Once you complete the walk, you receive a certificate (known as the Testimonium) at the Basilica of Saint Francis.
The Way of Saint Benedict: from Subiaco to Montecassino
The Way of Saint Benedict connects the three foundational sites in the life of the founder of Western monasticism. Norcia, where he was born circa 480 CE, sits in southern Umbria. Subiaco and Montecassino are both in Lazio, and the Lazio leg of the route accounts for the majority of the trail’s roughly 300 kilometers and 16 stages.
Subiaco, in the upper Aniene Valley, is the most striking stop. Two monastic complexes here preserve the foundational moments of the Benedictine tradition. The Sacro Speco is built around the cave where Benedict lived as a hermit for more than 30 years, with frescoed chapels from the 12th to the 14th century arranged around the rock face. But don’t miss the nearby Abbey of Santa Scolastica, regarded as the birthplace of Italian printing — in 1465 it hosted the country’s first printing press, set up by the German printers Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, who used the abbey’s silence and resources to produce some of the earliest books printed on the peninsula. (Keep your sketchbook or journal handy here, as creative inspiration is likely to strike.)
From Subiaco the route works its way south through the Apennine valleys: Trevi nel Lazio at the foot of the Ernici Mountains; the Abbey of Casamari, one of the finest examples of Cistercian architecture in Italy, where the monks still celebrate the liturgy in Gregorian chant; Arpino, the birthplace of Cicero; Roccasecca, where Thomas Aquinas is said to have been born; and the Melfa Gorges, a dramatic limestone canyon. The route ends at Montecassino, on the summit of the mountain that bears its name, where around 529 CE, Benedict founded the abbey that remains the heart of the Benedictine Order. In this same spot, he wrote the Rule that went on to shape European monastic life for 15 centuries, and even died here in 547. The abbey was destroyed by Allied bombardment in February 1944 and rebuilt along its original lines after the war.
Benedict of Nursia has been recognized as Patron of Europe since 1964, when Pope Paul VI conferred the title in the apostolic letter Pacis nuntius.
Two routes, two readings
These two Lazio legs are incredibly distinct from one other, despite belonging to the same region. Where the Franciscan southern route is gentler — a route of small sanctuaries set in cultivated valleys — the Benedictine route is more austere and more vertical, set against Apennine ranges and built around large monastic complexes whose history extends across fifteen centuries.
You might interpret this difference spiritually, as many walkers do, thinking of the Franciscan focus on relationship and creation versus the Benedictine emphasis on the Rule, stability and the silent work of the monastery. Just as the respective spiritual traditions ask different things of the worshippers, the Lazio of Francis and the Lazio of Benedict ask different things of the walkers — and reward them differently, but memorably.
If you walk
You can walk either route in its entirety or in sections. Spring and fall are the most comfortable seasons; July and August are generally too hot in the lower valleys. There are plenty of simple, low-cost lodging options available along the routes, mainly in pilgrim hostels and sanctuary accommodations. If you want to receive the Testimonium at Assisi or the certificate of completion at Montecassino, you’ll need to get a pilgrim credential, which you can request through many churches and associations. Note that the Way of Saint Francis is more developed infrastructurally and better marked; the Way of Saint Benedict requires slightly more planning, particularly between Casamari and Montecassino, where stages can be longer. Find more information for planning your walk here.
