The Via Francigena is an ancient road between Rome and Canterbury, passing through England, France, Switzerland and Italy. In mediaeval times it was an important road and pilgrimage route. To pilgrims headed south, it was the Via Romea; to those headed north, the Via Francigena.

The Via Francigena was the major medieval pilgrimage route to Rome from the north; even today pilgrims travel this route, but in far fewer numbers than the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago). The route was first documented as the "Lombard Way", and was first called the "Frankish Route", the Iter Francorum, in the Itinerarium sancti Willibaldi of 725, recording the travels of Willibald, bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria. The Via Francigena is first mentioned in the Actum Clusio, a parchment of 876 in the Abbey of San Salvatore al Monte Amiata (Tuscany). At the end of the 10th century Sigeric the Serious, the Archbishop of Canterbury, used the Via Francigena to and from Rome to be consecrated by the Pope;[2] he recorded his route and his stops on the return journey,[3] but nothing in the document suggests that the route was then new. Other itineraries include those of the Icelandic traveller Nikolás Bergsson (in 1154) and Philip Augustus of France (in 1191).[4] Two somewhat differing maps of the route appear in manuscripts of Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum, from the 13th century.

The Via Francigena was not a single road, like a Roman road, paved with stone blocks and provided at intervals with a change of horses for official travellers. Rather, it comprised several possible routes that changed over the centuries as trade and pilgrimage developed and waned. Depending on the time of year, political situation, and relative popularity of the shrines of saints along the route, travellers may have used any of three or four crossings of the Alps and the Apennines. The Lombards financed the maintenance and defence of the section of road through their territories as a trading route to the north from Rome, avoiding enemy-held cities such as Florence. Unlike Roman roads, the Via Francigena did not connect cities, but relied more on abbeys.

The Via Francigena or Via Romea was first documented in 990 by Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, in his diary describing the places he passed through as he returned to Canterbury after receiving his cope and pallium, a circular band of white wool with pendants, worn by archbishops over the chasuble, from the Pope. The roads that Sigeric followed became known as the Via Francigena (the road to France) or "Via Romea" (the road to Rome) and for centuries were used by merchants, prelates, soldiers and pilgrims travelling back and forth from the north of Europe to Rome and Jerusalem.

The 80 stages in Sigeric's itinerary averaged about 20 km a day, covering some 1700 km; they have helped to identify the route.

Having crossed the English Channel to Calais, or, following Sigeric's example to Wissant, still called Sumeran (Sombres) by Sigeric, a pilgrim bound for Rome might stay in Gisne (Guines), Teranburh Thérouanne, Bruaei (Bruay), Atherats (Arras), Reims, Châlons-sur-Marne, Bar-sur-Aube, Langres, Besançon, Pontarlier, Lausanne and Saint-Maurice, then travel over the Great St. Bernard Pass to Aosta, Ivrea, Vercelli, Pavia, Fidenza, Aulla, Luni, Lucca, Poggibonsi, Siena, San Quirico, Bolsena, Viterbo and Sutri before reaching Rome. One of the best-known places on the Via Francigena is the Passum Padi in the municipality of Senna Lodigiana, where Sigeric crossed the Po River.

Today the Via Francigena enters Tuscany at the Cisa Pass in the area called Lunigiana north of Pontremoli and heads south toward Acquapendente in Latium passing through Lucca and Sienna. It is still possible to follow approximately the ancient road and to find refuge in most of the same villages mentioned by Sigeric. The route passes through four distinct geographical areas where the landscape, the building materials and the gastronomic traditions follow their own local traditions, occasionally still reflecting mediaeval influences.

From Avenza to Pietrasanta - 27,8 km
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