Il Cammino degli Angeli - From Rome to Assisi on foot

One day, lacing up your boots in Piazza San Pietro and setting off along country lanes and paths to discover 200 kilometres of “minor” Italy, where seeing pilgrims with rucksacks on their backs has not yet become a habit.

From Rome to Assisi, only now and then retracing the ancient Ways, by now mostly turned into roaring four-lane roads, along a brand-new itinerary, revealed step by step over four long years, thanks to the patient work on the ground done by volunteers.

And along the Cammino you meet people, experiences, lives, very far from the values and the ways of this modernity, which we now know to be devastating; and extraordinary testimonies of art, nature, devotion and places of the Spirit linked to early Christianity, to the cult of St Michael and, once in Umbria, to the Franciscan memories; places still alive and pulsing, cut off from everything and yet within reach, in their being in the world but not of the world, for a journey ad limina Francisci, at once liberating and binding, on the Cammino degli Angeli, a pilgrimage for the Third Millennium.

On the meaning of setting out on foot, read also Il richiamo della strada by Sebastien Jallade.

Who this book is for

Marco Fazion's guide, published by Monte Meru Editrice, is meant for those who want to walk from Rome to Assisi on a new itinerary, away from the main roads and pieced together on the ground by volunteers. It is a slim volume with no photographs or illustrations: it is to be read as a travelling companion, not as a book to leaf through for the pictures.

It suits those looking for a multi-day walk in stages with a strong bond with places of spirituality, from the cult of St Michael to the Franciscan memories of Umbria, and those who prefer country lanes and little-trodden paths. Before setting off we recommend checking the state of the routes and of the places offering hospitality, which may have changed since the first edition. For other routes linked to the Franciscan memories see the Franciscan paths in the Casentino.