THE VIA FRANCIGENA

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY

• Lucca
  The old town has preserved its Medieval appearance (due to its finely-worked architecture), ancient and numerous churches (Lucca is also called the “city of 100 churches”) and, thanks to its many towers, bell towers and monumental Renaissance palaces. Among the towers, the Clock Tower is the highest, at 164 ft; here you can admire the hand-wound clock mechanism and the internal wooden staircase, with its well-preserved 207 steps. The Torre Guinigi is one of the most representative monuments of Lucca, displaying a fan of holm oaks at its top. We see some of the city’s other charming piazzas: Piazza Anfiteatro, built on the ruins of the ancient Roman amphitheatre; Piazza San Michele, historic heart of the city; Piazza San Martino with the Duomo.

• St. Martin Cathedral of Lucca
  Construction began on this Catholic cathedral in 1063. Of the original structure, we can still admire the great apse and the bell tower. Inside, there’s the most precious relic in Lucca – the miraculous crucifix “Holy Face of Lucca” – and the funeral monument of Ilaria del Carretto, sculpted by Jacopo della Quercia and considered one of the best examples of Italian funerary sculpture of the fifteenth century. Lucca became one of the main “resting stations” for pilgrims on route to Rome, as it is evident in the crosses engraved by passing pilgrims on the walls of St. Martin’s arcade.

• Walk (11 km) from San Gimignano to Badia a Coneo

• San Gimignano
  The town’s main monuments are its walls, which still encircle it, and the famous “case-torre” (tower houses). Of the 72 tower houses that existed in the Middle Ages, only 15 remain, although it is easy to imagine them. The Duomo or Collegiate Church is a remarkable monument of Romanesque architecture in Tuscany and is famous for its murals and paintings, which include works of famous artists such as Taddeo di Bartolo, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Lippo Memmi.

• Overnight in San Gimignano

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY

• Duomo
  The Duomo in Siena lies in a piazza above the Piazza del Campo, a great Gothic building filled with treasures by Pisano, Donatello and Michelangelo as well as frescoes by Pinturicchio. The exterior and interiors are decorated in white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes, black and white being the symbolic colors of Siena. To the rear of the cathedral, an impressive staircase leads to the Baptistery of San Giovanni: he frescoes that completely decorate the magnificent vaults are the most extensive and articulated religious cycle of the Sienese Renaissance, and the splendid baptismal font by Jacopo della Quercia, Donatello and Lorenzo Ghiberti. Under the Baptistery, a crypt with 180 square meters of fully painted walls, was buffered and filled with debris It remained buried and hidden for about seven centuries and unexpectedly rediscovered during excavation work in 1999. The paintings, original colors, subjects and architectures give us important insight into the Sienese painting school of the thirteenth century.

• Church of St. Dominic
  St. Catherine lived not far from here. In the chapel “delle volte”, above the altar, is the only authentic portrait of Catherine by Andrea Vanni. In the chapel dedicated to her is the tabernacle where her head is preserved and frescoes by Sodoma depicting episodes from her life.

• Walk (10 km) from Isola d’Arbia to Quinciano

• Overnight in Montalcino

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY

• St. Christina’s Church in Bolsena
  The sanctuary of Saint Christina has three main buildings: the Chapel of the Miracle, the Basilica and the Grotto of Saint Christina, to which the Catacomb of Saint Christina is added. An extraordinary event occurred here in 1263: Peter, a priest from Prague in pilgrimage to Rome to find confirmation of his wavering and above all uncertain faith in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, stopped at the sanctuary to celebrate mass after having visited Saint Christina’s tomb. At the moment of consecration, blood seeped from the host and spurts stained his corporal: this was the sign that Peter desired, and this is the Eucharistic Miracle, or Corpus Christi, whose feast was instituted by Pope Urban the 4th on August 11, 1264. Peter’s corporal is preserved today in the cathedral of Orvieto; the altar on which the miracle occurred and the bloodstained slabs are instead preserved in Bolsena.

• Walk (11 km) from San Lorenzo Nuovo to Bolsena

• Viterbo
  The city’s golden hour culminated in the years between 1257 and 1281, when it was chosen as Papal See as an alternative to Rome. In the following centuries, especially during the Renaissance, Viterbo maintained its role of culturally lively city and preeminent centre along the road to Rome. The presence of the Sanctuary of Saint Rose made it a pilgrimage destination very frequented up to present times. The historic centre of the city is more or less intact and still surrounded by the medieval boundary walls, which are very well preserved.

• Overnight in Viterbo

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY

• Capranica
  Conquered by the Anguillaras, a baronal family of Latium, at the end of the 12th century, Capranica became the heart of their dominions until 1456, when the family came into conflict with Pope Pius the 2nd. From this moment Capranica passed under the direct control of the popes, who for centuries entrusted its government to a cardinal. Thus began a particularly fortunate period for the town: the town centre was enlarged with the building of the present Borgo Vittorio Veneto, and many cardinals commissioned works of art and important construction enterprises. With the end of the Papal State in 1870, Capranica, having lost the privileges of primary centre of the area north of Rome, entered a period of decline.

• Walk (8 km) from Capranica to Sutri

• Roman Amphitheatre (Sutri)
  The Amphitheatre was built during the Roman period, between the end of the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D., a period of great splendour for the ancient city of Sutri. Completely dug into the tuff, there is no external architectural structure to help identify its presence beyond the cliff overlooking the Via Cassia. At the time it was built, however, its top was crowned by a circle of columns and niches, of which little remains. The arena level, which lacks in basements, is just beyond the entrance; its elliptical layout is 49×40 metres. The podium runs all around the arena, and five doors per side open off of it. The cavea was divided into three orders of tiers that could seat up to nine thousand people and could be reached by a system of stairs and corridors, which are still walkable today.

• Church of Saint Mary with Child (Sutri)
  The church is built in a Mitreo (a temple dedicated to the God Mitra) transformed into a church in late medieval period. Prior to this the Mitreo had probably been used for human habitation. The entrance is through a vestibule decorated with frescoes. On the left is the Madonna with child between the patron saints of Sutri, Saint Dolcissima and Saint Liberato. On the right is Saint Christopher, protector of pilgrims and wayfarers. Placed centrally is what is perhaps the most fascinating painting of the entire cycle. It shows, on the right a man shooting arrows at a bull also to the right at the top of a hill. The archer is being struck by these same arrows which evidently are rebounding and wounding him. Above the man stands the Arch Angel Michael and all along the lower edge of the picture file a long line of pilgrims (recognizable for their attire) heading towards the hill. There is no shadow of doubt but that this picture recounts the tale of the bull that took refuge in a grotto and of the first of the three apparitions of the Arch Angel Michael on Mount Gargano in Puglia, events which gave rise to the founding of a sanctuary to the Arch Angel Michael there. Besides this the fresco is also tangible proof to the fact that Sutri was a centre for the worship of the Arch Angel Michael and an important stopping place for pilgrims travelling beyond Rome to the sanctuary in Puglia.

• Overnight in Rome

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY

• Rome
  We reach to Rome to venerate the tombs of St. Paul and St. Peter. Ever since, the St. Peter’s Basilica has been the center of Christianity and the Basilica of St. Paul’s outside the Walls, the burial place of Saint Paul.
  The Three Fountains Abbey comprises three churches that were built on the place of the martyrdom of Saint Paul. One of those churches is the San Paolo alle Tre Fontane (Saint Paul at Three Fountains) dates back to the 5th century but was completely modified in1599. Legend relates that, when St Paul was decapitated, his head bounced three times and three fountains miraculously gushed out, and thus the name “The Three Fountains”.