Maps, GPS and waymarking
It would be difficult if not impossible to source and then carry the paper maps required to cover the entire route. Detailed Italian hiking maps are hard to come by, and, besides, a comprehensive coverage would involve a great many individual sheets – too many, indeed, to make it a practical option.
Although walking directions are given in great detail in this guide, and each stage includes a 1:50,000 ‘overview’ map, it may ease worries to have a GPS or GPS-equipped smartphone application for additional help. GPX tracks for the entire walk can be downloaded at www.cicerone.co.uk. High-quality smartphone navigation apps like Guru Maps, Gaia GPS, AllTrails and others allow tracks to be easily downloaded onto your smartphone. When shopping for a GPS app, make sure to find one that allows downloadable maps so that it is not necessary to be connected to a cell service while hiking.
Italy has an extensive system of hiking trails, and often the route follows portions of this network. Maintained by volunteers of the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI), the trails are marked in horizontal red-and-white stripes, often with the trail number superimposed in black marker. In this book, all references to CAI trails in walking directions refer to the red-and-white striped markings. CAI trails are usually identified in Open Cycle Maps, which makes it an excellent base map resource for GPS users.
For details of the different pilgrimage waymarkers you will encounter along the Way, see ‘The modern Way of St Francis’, above.
Using this guide
The same pattern of information is given for each of the daily stages specified in this guide. The guide also shares brief information about cities, and stories from the life of St Francis relating to Franciscan sites you will encounter. The book’s print format has intentionally been kept very small in order to fit easily into a rucksack.
Fields of sunflowers on the way to Cittá di Castello (Stage 10)
Maps are provided for each stage, covering 20–30km in a small format – they are intended as overviews rather than step-by-step guidance. Also provided are elevation profiles, which have been generated using GPS information to provide a visual preview of the stage’s topography.
An information box at the start of each stage gives the day’s essential statistics: start and finish points, distance, total ascent and descent, difficulty rating, duration and any relevant notes. All distances, elevations and durations come from actual experience and were recorded by GPS to help walkers know their progress during the stage. Stages are rated as ‘Easy,’ ‘Moderate’, ‘Moderately Hard’ or ‘Hard’ based on a rating of climbs, descents and distance.
A brief introduction to the day’s walk is then given, and this is followed by a detailed route description, in which places along the way that are also shown on the stage maps are highlighted in bold to aid navigation. In most stages the walk directions are very specific because sometimes waymarks and signage are absent or poorly maintained.
Each daily stage features in its description at least 2–3 inexpensive accommodation options and a hostel where available. Telephone numbers are included for each, along with email addresses where possible.
At the end of the book, Appendix A provides a look-up table for the stages and distances of this 28-day itinerary; Appendix B comprises a list of contacts that may be of use and interest to visitors, both in planning and during the pilgrimage; and Appendix C gives some handy tips for understanding and being understood in Italian.
Entire books have been written about the sights that are described here in only a few sentences; the reader will hopefully understand that space limitations allow only brief summaries of what are the often quite complicated and profound sights on this walk. Appendix D contains a list of further reading that the pilgrim may find enlightening before, during and after their pilgrimage.
DISCOVERING FLORENCE
Birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence is one of the world’s most beloved cities. In the daytime it is filled with tourists from around the world who want to see Michelangelo’s ‘David’ and marvel at the dome of Brunelleschi. After dark, if you know where to go, Florence buzzes with nightlife. The town is worthy of several days’ discovery, but it’s also possible to enjoy its highlights in a very short time.
The center of Renaissance Florence is the Duomo. Starting from Santa Maria Novella train station, go south, keeping Santa Maria Novella Church on your right. Follow the Via Panzani and turn left on Via dei Cerretani. From here it is just three blocks to the Duomo complex, which includes the San Giovanni Baptistery, Giotto’s Tower (Campanile di Giotto), and the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore).
Begin at the 14th-century Giotto’s Tower where, in the ground floor gift shop, you can purchase a €10 ticket to visit all three adjacent monuments. Climb the steps to the top of the tower and enjoy the beautiful view as well as the tower’s set of enormous bells – the oldest of which was cast in 1705. Their melodious cacophony is most dramatic just before Sunday’s main mass and can be heard for many miles around.
The dome of the Duomo, as seen from the tower (Campanile di Giotto)
After the tower, visit the Duomo, Florence’s colorful cathedral, with Brunelleschi’s dome, an engineering marvel of the Renaissance. An interior stairwell allows hardy tourists to reach a spectacular view at the cupola level. The less ambitious can marvel at the frescoes in the ceiling of the dome, the centerpiece of an otherwise relatively plain interior. Arrive early (the Duomo is open 10.00am to 5.00pm except holidays) to avoid the long lines in tourist season, or plan to attend mass which is offered several times each day and allows free access via the south transept.
Across the narrow piazza is the octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni (built in the 11th–12th century), Florence’s oldest religious building and an important example of Florentine Romanesque style. Its bronze doors were added in the 14th–15th century (two sets by Ghiberti and one by Pisano) and are themselves prized art pieces. Michelangelo called Ghiberti’s east doors, ‘The Gates of Paradise’. The ceiling is adorned with a spectacular mosaic, the earliest portions of which are attributed to the artist Cimabue.
Standing between the Duomo and the Baptistery, head south along Via dei Calzaiuoli. In two blocks you can catch a view of the touristy Piazza della Republica on the right, and in another five blocks you arrive at the Piazza della Signoria, with its crenellated and towered Palazzo Vecchio – Florence’s town hall. A copy of Michelangelo’s ‘David’ stands in front of the palace, while other impressive but less famous Renaissance statues adorn the square.
Just past the Palazzo Vecchio is the renowned Uffizi Gallery, home to treasures of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. ‘Birth of Venus’ by Botticelli and ‘Doni Tondo’ (Holy Family) by Michelangelo stand out in the Uffizi’s elite collection.
The Uffizi’s southern walls face the Arno River; turn right along the river and walk three blocks to the beloved Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) with its glittering jewelry shops. If you have time, continue across the bridge onto Via de Guicciardini and walk two long blocks to the Pitti Palace, which features paintings of Rafael, or turn right across from the palace on Sdrucciolo de Pitti and walk four blocks to the domed Church of Santo Spirito. Enjoy a quiet lunch or dinner in the Piazza Santo Spirito, where you can find a hint of less-touristic Florentine life.
Return to central Florence by the Ponte Vecchio and just after the bridge turn right onto the promenade along the Arno. After eight blocks turn left at the next bridge and then right again on Borgo Santa Croce.