choices.
A moderate daily budget per person in double hotel rooms will look something like this:
Breakfast (incl. with room)
Lunch €6.00
Dinner €15.00
Overnight €30.00
Incidentals €5.00
Total €56.00
When it comes to cash, rather than bringing a large stash of Euros it’s easiest to have an ATM card with you to get cash from your bank account as needed. Check with your bank to see what the fees are, whether there’s a maximum daily withdrawal, and to make sure you’re getting a favorable exchange rate. It’s also a good idea to bring a second ATM card so you have a backup. A credit card is usually best for hotel reservations.
Post, phones and internet
Italy’s state-owned, public postal service, Poste Italiane, has offices in towns and cities throughout the country, usually with an ATM outside.
To make accommodation reservations in real time it’s very handy to have a telephone – and even more handy to have a smart phone with internet capability for email. If you have a smart phone, contact your carrier prior to departure to ask for an international voice and data plan. If this is too expensive – and if your smart phone is unlocked from your local carrier – you can purchase a pre-paid Italian SIM card on arrival in Italy at the office of one of the major carriers (TIM, Vodaphone, WIND, for example). The clerk will install a new card for you and offer you voice and data plans. Make certain to retain your old SIM card so you can use it back home when you return. For international calling remember Italy’s country code is +39.
If you do have a smart phone, you can save on the cost of cell-based data by using the wi-fi capability of your phone when wi-fi is available, as it frequently is in public establishments in cities and towns throughout Italy. Your smart phone can also allow you easily to use the GPS tracks available for this walk (see Maps, GPS and Way Marking below).
As with most of the world, Italian electricity operates at 220v. With the dawn of international electronic appliances, most phones, cameras and computers have a 110/220v transformer built into the ‘power brick’. This means that only a plug adapter is necessary for those coming to Italy from places that use 110v or non-Euro plugs.
Business hours and the riposo
Northern Europeans and Americans are often surprised to find Italian stores and businesses closed midday. This is the riposo, the mid-afternoon rest observed in much of Italy. If you live in Italy during the summer you’ll see the purpose of this custom – the Italian sun can be excruciatingly hot in the mid-afternoon. Businesses typically close around 1.30pm and reopen around 4.30–5.30pm, once the day has cooled off.
There is a sort of weekly riposo, too: stores often close on Saturday at noon and then won’t reopen until Monday afternoon or even Tuesday morning. In small towns and villages this can make it a challenge to find groceries on Sunday mornings, so be certain to plan ahead.
Laundry
In large cities there are almost always coin-operated laundromats. Ask the hotel or hostel clerk for the nearest location. Laundry is most reliably washed in the sink, so plan to have soap, clothespins and a clothesline with you.
Water fountains
Only occasionally are there water fountains in the middle of a stage and when there are, they are seldom marked for drinkability. Our maps show locations of water fountains that are confirmed as potable, but carrying a 2-liter water supply in fall and spring and a 3-liter supply in the summer is recommended.
Planning and training
Choosing a schedule
While the complete walk of 28 stages with the extra walking tour of Rome could be accomplished in 29 walking days, that’s not nearly enough time to enjoy and appreciate this important pilgrimage and its many wonders. Unless you have already toured Rome and Florence you would want to spend at least one or two extra days in each. You can’t enjoy Assisi in what’s left of the day it took to walk there, so add another day for St Francis’ home town. It’s good to allow for a day of rest every week anyway, so that means a realistic, complete itinerary would be in the realm of 35 days, not including travel to and from Italy.
If a journey of 35 days is unmanageable, the journey could be broken into several parts to be completed as time permits:
Florence to Assisi – 15 or more days
La Verna to Assisi – 9 or more days
Assisi to Rieti – 8 or more days
Assisi to Rome – 14 or more days
Training
It’s helpful to train in advance of the walk, and this should be part of your careful preparation. The often steep hills will challenge anyone who hasn’t trained adequately in advance, although almost anyone will find themselves stronger and fitter after walking for several days.
People who are significantly overweight and have a hard time climbing a stairway or hill will have a difficult time. Likewise, because of the frequent and sometimes steep hills, people with knee or hip problems will find this a difficult walk.
Most important in the training regime is having certainty that your feet and boots get along well with each other. You should plan to test your boot/sock combination with a few long walks before you leave, preferably in varied terrain, so blisters along the way won’t sideline you. Too many pilgrims try to push ahead with untested boots and socks and then develop agonizing blisters that can be serious enough to end their trip. Resolve boot and sock issues before you leave home.
Pilgrim credenziale and testimonium
As well as booking your travel arrangement to Italy it is important to secure your credential (or credenziale – a pilgrim ‘identity card’) within two months of your departure. (This is also a good time to reserve your overnight accommodation for the first couple of stages.)
Pilgrims need a credential to certify their status and to receive a testimonium completion certificate at the end of the walk. This guide recommends the credential of the Via di Francesco because of its many institutional sponsors. The credential is free, but a donation is requested to cover the cost of postage. Go to the website www.piccolaccoglienzagubbio.it/credenziale and fill out the form online.
This wonderful service is run by volunteers in Gubbio, Italy, and in the US through American Pilgrims to Italy, who send credentials out each week. Make sure to show your address exactly as it should appear to be correctly mailed by your national postal service. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.
It is also possible to secure a credential in person at the Pilgrim Office adjacent to the Lower Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi. Credentials are available in Florence at St James Episcopal Church (Via Rucellai 9, 055 294417).
Once you have your credential, keep it safe and dry while you are walking and have it stamped each day at the front desk where you spend the night or at a local church by the priest or staff member. Plan ahead carefully so there are adequate blank spots on the credential to last your entire walk.
