It was in 1994 that, following the presentation by the Italian Tourism Ministry, the Advisory Committee of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe decided to recommend the election of the Via Francigena as a theme.

As it was elected, the route follows an old pilgrimage way towards Rome, which reached its apogee in the 13th century. The Route starts in Canterbury to finish in Rome, while crossing France and Switzerland.

a historical pilgrim

developments

In the middle of the eighties, working groups were instituted by the Italian Tourism Ministry and various exhibitions and conferences took place. Such an initiative of course aimed at preparing a travel way before the Rome Jubilee in the year 2000. But well beyond the Jubilee, it was a question of suggesting to the Europeans of the 21st century to traverse historical roads, which have to enable them to understand better their predecessors' image of Europe, of its values and its cultures. The Tourism Ministry then turned to a more decentralised organisation of "tourist products", letting the local authorities act on their own.

The initiative to restart true co-operation all over Europe belongs to the Association Via Francigena, founded in 1997, which decided to take up the historical study of the Way and to provide pilgrims as well as tourists with indications about the best known paths. This association that gathers many "friends" publishes vademecums and concluded a partnership agreement with the Institute in 1999 to study the manner of restoring continuity between the countries and the communities involved in the whole route and to implement a policy of information and joint documentation.

Many university seminars and many scientific and tourist publications were carried out in Italy. For example, Associazione Lombarda di Studi Jacopei gathers academics interested in the Lombardic pilgrimage ways. One of the results of their research was a conference in Milan in 1996, whose proceedings were published with the assistance of Lombardy and the Commune of Milan. This research was the precondition for indicating the pilgrimage ways between Plaisance and Pavie, which the association carried out in 1998. It is also necessary to mention Centro di Studi Romei, exclusively devoted to research on the pilgrimage towards Rome. In 1995, a feasibility study of the route was commissioned to an architect from the University of Florence. This project envisages the creation of three discovery routes (by car, on foot, on horse or bicycle).

In 1999 the province commissioned to the same architect a study on the landscapes of Via Francigena in the Sienna territory. This report studies the importance of this way for the formation of the territory of Sienna, both in the rural and the urban environment. Its conclusions are based on a study of the landscape, the paintings of the Sienna School of the 13th and 14th centuries, and town planning. His project is under study. Research aiming at historical routes can be directed towards various subjects.