CAMMINI APERTI 2025 – SPECIAL EDITION
The great success of “Cammini Aperti,” an initiative to enhance the value of the paths that involved the entire Italian territory in 2024, becoming the largest national event dedicated to Italian paths, paved the way for a new experience with the paths in Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany and Umbria at the center of the project.
This year’s focus is on Jubilee 2025, with a careful eye on the Franciscan centenaries in 2026. The paths at the center of the project are:
Ways and Paths of Francis: they cross the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Latium, Tuscany and Umbria, drawing altogether a network of hundreds of kilometers, dotted with ancient villages, significant places of worship and enchanting naturalistic views full of enchantment. Key points of the routes, the symbolic places of St. Francis, Patron Saint of Italy, with an evocative combination of well-known centers, such as Florence, Rimini, Rome and Assisi, and locations particularly significant for the Poverello’s life, such as, for example, the Holy Valley of Rieti; La Verna, in the province of Arezzo; the Umbrian Valnerina or Balze, a small village in Romagna at the foot of Mount Fumaiolo.
Vie e Cammini Lauretani: are a path of ancient Marian tradition that will symbolically unite the Shrine of the Holy House of Mary of Loreto in the Marche region, the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi in Umbria and the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, passing through villages and cities of strong spiritual value such as Macerata, Recanati, Camerino, Tolentino, Spoleto, Foligno, Civita Castellana and Narni. If the historical pilgrimage is oriented toward Rome, along the central-southern route, the events of Cammini Aperti will instead take place along the northwestern route, linking Marche, Umbria and Tuscany in the direction of Siena, until the meeting with Via Francigena. We will therefore walk on an axis that highlights the link between the Marian cult and the landscapes of central Italy, enhancing lesser-known but richly evocative spiritual, naturalistic and cultural stretches.
Cammino di San Benedetto: focuses on the territories linked to the life of the saint, founder of Western monasticism and Patron Saint of Europe: it runs between Umbria and Lazio, crossing the Sibillini Mountains, the Aniene Valley and the Liri Valley. The route covers about 300 kilometers, touching on abbeys with strong spirituality, hidden medieval villages and the three key points of the movement: Norcia, Subiaco and Montecassino.
THE SPECIAL EDITION 2025
The event, to be held on the weekend of May 10 and 11, 2025, each path will feature three representative hikes per region traversed, for a total of 27 events in the regions of Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany and Umbria
It is also intended to make it possible to visit symbolic places of great significance, both religiously and spiritually, throughout the journey traversed. These places, one for each Region, and usually closed to the public, will be specially opened on the occasion of the event.
To stay updated on the initiative and find out more about the paths featured in the event, please visit this link.
REFERENCE VALUES
Therefore, the goal of the project is to create a nationwide event that will allow people to discover and enhance the already mentioned paths as well as places of interest along them. Important to remember the values of walking, so the excursions will bring the walker and pilgrim to know one of the following themes: accessibility,spirituality and environmental sustainability.
Inextricably linked to the slowapproach of setting out and initiative, values such as accessibility, sustainability and spirituality. These principles will guide the different activities thanks also to the contribution of entities such as Fish (Italian Federation for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Families), the Italian Alpine Club and Federtrek.
Fish, active in disseminating the values associated with the initiative, offered valuable methodological support in defining accessibility requirements with which to identify hikes suitable for people with special needs. Also crucial was the provision of basic training for environmental hiking guides involved in conducting the walks, providing useful tools for welcoming and supporting walkers with disabilities.
The Italian Alpine Club, which has always been committed to the promotion of nature sports and the preservation of the mountain environment, supported Cammini Aperti again this year, enhancing the enjoyment of the natural environment through hikes in settings away from busy roads and surrounded by greenery.
Also very important to the values of the event is the contribution of FederTrek, which will ensure anexperience that respects the different needs of participants with disabilities, so that they can share with them the beauty and deep meaning of taking part in a walk.
“Cammini Aperti” initiative – Initiative financed by the Development and Cohesion Fund, Development and Cohesion Plan under the ownership of the Ministry of Culture, “The Religious Paths of St. Francis, St. Benedict and St. Scholastica – Transversal Actions” of which the Ministry of Tourism is a beneficiary.