medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Prodi promises pilgrims progress
BBC News, Nov. 14, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4436294.stm
Italian opposition leader Romano Prodi says he hopes to revive the
medieval route that took Christian pilgrims from Canterbury to Rome.
The Via Francigena from Britain to Italy dates back to the 10th Century.
Correspondents say the plan is bound to go down well with the millions
of Roman Catholics among Italy's electorate.
Mr Prodi, formerly European Commission president, set out his proposals
in a book of interviews with politicians called Winners and Losers.
"If elected I would like to rebuild the big roads of the pilgrims, like
the Via Francigena," he told the book's author, journalist Bruno Vespa.
He said he would like to see the Italian routes used by pilgrims on
foot, bicycle or horse.
Canterbury's own fame as a pilgrim destination is immortalised by
Geoffrey Chaucer's account of 14th-Century pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales.
But it was also the starting point for an international journey of
religious devotion.
The 1,200-mile (1,944 km) Via Francigena, or Way of the Franks, was
founded after the 10th-Century Archbishop of Canterbury, Sigeric,
documented his journey to see the Pope - leaving Canterbury and crossing
France, Switzerland and Italy to Rome. [Times Online's story
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1870969,00.html) adds
detail: The Via Francigena runs from Canterbury through Calais, Rheims,
Besançon and Lausanne, crossing into Italy at the St Bernard Pass. It
then reaches Rome via Aosta, Piacenza, Fidenza, Parma, Lucca, Siena and
Viterbo. The 1,200 miles (1,931km) between Canterbury and Rome recently
took one modern-day pilgrim 10 weeks, or 70 days, to walk.]
His writings give a detailed account of his route, which became a key
path to one of the three important pilgrimage centres of the day - the
other two being Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.
Spain's Camino de Santiago, or Way of St James, from southern France to
Santiago de Compostela, still attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims
and tourists each year.
Interest in the Via Francigena has increased since it was designated a
cultural route by the Council of Europe in 1994.
Reports from pilgrims on the Association Via Francigena website suggest
the route is more evident on some parts of the journey than others.
Mr Prodi will challenge Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in next year's
election.
--
[Times Online has this additional note:
Signor Prodi also hopes to revive the Via Carolingia, by which
Charlemagne journeyed from Aachen to Rome to be crowned by Pope Leo III
on Christmas Day 800, passing through Strasbourg, Basle, Como, Bergamo,
Mantua, Ravenna, Ancona and Assisi. Signor Prodi also would like to
restore the Italian leg of the traditional Christian route to the Holy
Land, on which pilgrims embarked for Jaffa and Jerusalem at the port of
Brindisi.]
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