Via Francigena

The travel guide to the oldest and most significant pilgrimage route in Europe: The Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome was the most important pilgrimage route in Europe centuries before the beginnings of the Camino de Santiago. In 1994, the Council of Europe designated the Via Francigena as a European Cultural Route. Since then, this route, also known as the Frankish Way, has experienced a tourist rediscovery, especially because it offers a more scenic and culturally rich alternative to the now overcrowded Camino de Santiago. Starting from the famous English pilgrimage city of Canterbury, the path leads over Calais into France. Passing through Arras and Laon, one reaches the magnificent Cathedral of Reims. South of Besançon, the route crosses the Jura and enters Switzerland. The stretch past Lake Geneva and over the Great St. Bernard Pass is surely a highlight of the journey. The onward path leads through Aosta.