There were three important destinations for them: Rome, where St. Peter and St. Paul died, the Holy Land with the places of Christ’s passion and Santiago of Compostela, in Spain, where the Apostle St.James chose to rest in peace.

The access to Rome was provided by the most important road of the time, the via Francigena, so called because its origin was from France, or Romea, because it went to Rome, starting from the Western Alps and the regions of the Rhine.

Today, we can rebuild this itinerary through a document that Sigeric, archbishop of Canterbury, wrote in 994 A.D.: he came to Rome and wrote a diary of his journey.

The Via Francigena crossed the Alps in the Aosta valley and went down from the regions of Piemonte and Lombardia to the plain of the river Po, went through the Appennines, crossed Tuscany and Latium to reach Rome.

Pilgrims chose to stop in particular places, described by Sigeric in his diary, to visit a famous church or to pray before a renowned relic.

The road described by Sigeric is the most direct and crowded, but it isn’t the only one that connected the coasts of the English Channel to Italy: there were many that crossed the San Bernardo and the Moncenisio passes.