What can a medieval saint teach us about the way we travel today? Along the Way of St Francis, walking becomes an opportunity to rediscover the value of nature, simplicity and the small details we often overlook.
You don't have to be religious to find something meaningful in the story of St Francis of Assisi. More than eight centuries after his lifetime, his relationship with nature, his appreciation of simplicity and his belief in the importance of human connection still feel remarkably relevant. Perhaps even more so in a world where we're constantly encouraged to move faster, experience more and fill every available moment.
Walking in the footsteps of St Francis offers an opportunity to explore these ideas in the very landscapes that helped shape them. The Cammino di San Francesco, or Via di Francesco, follows a network of ancient paths through Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio, connecting forests, medieval villages, monasteries and places associated with the saint's life.
For some, it's a pilgrimage rooted in religious faith. For others, it's a walking holiday through one of Italy's most beautiful and culturally rich regions. But whatever brings you here, the journey offers something that can be surprisingly difficult to find in everyday life: the time and space to pay attention.
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Born in Assisi in the late 12th century, Francis grew up in a wealthy merchant family before turning away from the comfortable life that had been expected of him. He chose instead to embrace poverty, simplicity and a life devoted to faith, travelling and preaching throughout central Italy.
His decision was radical for its time, but what makes his story particularly compelling today is not simply his rejection of material wealth. It is the way he understood the relationship between people, the natural world and the things we genuinely need to live well.
Francis regarded animals, plants and the elements of nature as part of a shared creation, deserving of respect and care. His famous Canticle of the Creatures, composed towards the end of his life, celebrates the sun, moon, wind, water and earth as members of one great family.
This vision was deeply religious, of course, but it also expresses something that remains accessible beyond religious belief: the idea that nature isn't simply a backdrop to human life, but something we belong to and have a responsibility towards.
Today, as conversations around sustainability, responsible tourism and our relationship with the environment become increasingly important, Francis's perspective offers an interesting point of reflection. Not because a medieval saint anticipated modern environmentalism in its contemporary form, but because his understanding of the natural world encourages an attitude of humility and attention that still has much to offer.
And there may be no better way to explore that perspective than by walking through the landscapes he knew.
One of the most distinctive aspects of the Way of St Francis is the close relationship between the route and the surrounding landscape.
From the forests around the Sanctuary of La Verna to the hills and olive groves of Umbria, the trail crosses places where nature is not merely something to admire from a distance. It is an essential part of the walking experience.
You notice the temperature changing as you enter a forest. You become familiar with the sound of your footsteps on different surfaces, the movement of leaves in the wind and the particular light of the countryside at different times of day. A climb that seemed endless suddenly opens onto a valley, while a quiet woodland path leads towards a village that has stood on the same hillside for centuries.
These are small observations, but they're also part of what makes walking such a distinctive way of travelling.
Unlike a journey by car or train, where landscapes often pass before you have time to register them, travelling on foot allows you to experience a place gradually. You notice the transitions between environments, the changing vegetation, the way villages relate to the surrounding countryside.
Along the Via di Francesco, this physical closeness to the landscape acquires an additional cultural dimension. The forests, mountains and valleys are not simply beautiful places: they are also connected to stories, traditions and episodes from the life of Francis.
The Sanctuary of La Verna, for example, stands in a dramatic forested setting in the Tuscan Apennines. It was here, according to Franciscan tradition, that Francis received the stigmata in 1224. Even for visitors without a religious motivation, the relationship between the sanctuary's architecture, its history and the surrounding woodland makes it an extraordinary place to experience.
Walking through these landscapes is a way of understanding why nature occupied such an important place in Francis's life, while developing your own relationship with the places you encounter.
Silence is another recurring element of the Way of St Francis, although perhaps not always in the way you might imagine.
There are moments of genuine quiet along the route: a forest path early in the morning, an empty chapel, a stretch of countryside where the nearest village is still several kilometres away. But there are also birds, church bells, conversations, agricultural activity and the everyday sounds of rural Italy.
The silence of a walking journey isn't necessarily the complete absence of noise. Often, it's simply the absence of constant distraction.
When you're walking for several hours, there's no particular need to fill every moment with conversation, music or information. You can allow your attention to move naturally between the path ahead, the landscape around you and your own thoughts.
For some walkers, this creates space for reflection. For others, it's an opportunity to enjoy a few hours without the usual demands of daily life. And sometimes, it's simply the pleasure of walking without having to think about anything in particular.
Francis himself frequently sought solitude in remote places, including hermitages and natural settings where he could devote himself to prayer and contemplation. The hermitages associated with his life remain among the most evocative places along the route, not only for their religious significance but also for the way they seem to belong to their surroundings.
You don't need to share Francis's spiritual practices to appreciate the atmosphere of these places. The opportunity to experience quiet, uninterrupted time outdoors can be valuable in its own right, without requiring any particular revelation or personal transformation.
Simplicity was central to Francis's philosophy. His rejection of wealth and possessions was an expression of his religious beliefs, but it also raises an interesting question for contemporary travellers: how much do we actually need to enjoy an experience?
A walking holiday offers a very practical way to explore this idea.
Your days acquire a straightforward rhythm. You wake up, have breakfast, prepare for the walk and set off towards your next destination. Along the way, your priorities become wonderfully uncomplicated: finding the right path, drinking enough water, stopping for lunch and reaching your accommodation before evening.
The things that bring pleasure are often equally simple. A good coffee in a village square. Fresh bread and local cheese. A comfortable place to sit after a long climb. The satisfaction of taking off your walking shoes at the end of the day.
None of this means that walking holidays require discomfort or the rejection of modern conveniences. Travelling with comfortable accommodation, luggage transfers and a carefully organised itinerary can make the experience more enjoyable, particularly when you're walking for several consecutive days.
Rather, simplicity comes from temporarily reducing the number of things competing for your attention, allowing everyday experiences to regain some of their importance.
This is one of the reasons why long-distance walking can feel so different from other forms of travel. Instead of moving quickly between a series of attractions, you spend much of your time in the spaces between destinations, discovering that the journey itself can be just as rewarding as the places you came to see.
Although solitude and contemplation are important aspects of the Franciscan tradition, the story of St Francis is also deeply connected to community.
Francis travelled extensively, preached in towns and villages and established relationships with people from different backgrounds. His message emphasised fraternity, hospitality and care for others, values that remain closely associated with the pilgrimage routes dedicated to him.
Today, walking the Via di Francesco offers many opportunities for encounters of a different, more everyday kind.
You might meet other walkers following the same route, exchange a few words with someone working in an olive grove or stop at a family-run café where the owner is happy to recommend a local speciality. In smaller villages, where tourism is often less prominent than in Italy's major destinations, these interactions can become some of the most memorable parts of the journey.
They also offer a different perspective on the places you're visiting.
A landscape is never just a landscape. It's also somewhere people live, work, maintain traditions and build their communities. Walking through rural Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio brings you into contact with this everyday dimension of Italy, beyond the monuments and famous sights.
Of course, not every encounter will lead to a meaningful conversation, and there's no reason it should. Sometimes a greeting, a recommendation or a brief exchange is enough to create a sense of connection.
In this respect, the Way of St Francis is not only a journey through places associated with the past, but also an opportunity to encounter the communities that give these landscapes their present-day identity.
Absolutely. Although the Via di Francesco is rooted in Christian pilgrimage traditions, it is also an established long-distance walking route that welcomes people with many different motivations.
Some walkers are drawn by the religious and historical significance of the trail. Others are interested in its natural landscapes, medieval architecture, cultural heritage or the simple pleasure of spending several days outdoors.
Many are attracted by a combination of these elements.
In recent years, spiritual walking holidays in Italy have become an appealing option for travellers who want something different from a conventional sightseeing holiday. But spirituality doesn't necessarily have to mean religious belief. For some people, it refers to reflection, a closer relationship with nature or a desire to experience places in a more attentive way.
The Way of St Francis offers room for all these interpretations.
You can visit a Franciscan sanctuary because of its religious importance, its architecture or its extraordinary location. You can enjoy the silence of a forest without treating it as a meditation practice. And you can appreciate Francis's ideas about simplicity and respect for nature without subscribing to the beliefs from which they emerged.
Understanding the history of the route can enrich the experience, but it doesn't prescribe how you should feel about it.
This openness is part of what makes the Cammino di San Francesco such an interesting choice for contemporary travellers.
The Way of St Francis also reveals a side of Italy that can be easy to overlook when travelling between its most famous cities.
The route connects places such as La Verna, Città di Castello, Gubbio, Assisi and Spoleto, but much of its appeal lies in the countryside between them: wooded hills, agricultural landscapes, ancient paths and small settlements where everyday life continues at its own pace.
Travelling on foot allows you to appreciate the connections between these places. You begin to understand how geography has shaped local communities, why towns developed in particular locations and how religious traditions became intertwined with the surrounding landscape.
Food becomes part of this discovery, too. The simple dishes of central Italy, from handmade pasta and local cheeses to seasonal vegetables, olive oil and regional specialities, feel especially satisfying after a day of walking. They also offer an introduction to the agricultural traditions and local identities of the territories you cross.
This is one of the principles behind slow travel: spending enough time in a place to notice what makes it distinctive, rather than measuring a journey by the number of attractions visited.
The Via di Francesco lends itself particularly well to this approach, combining a rich cultural history with landscapes that reward unhurried exploration.
Walking in the footsteps of St Francis doesn't mean attempting to recreate his life or expecting to return home with a completely different outlook.
It can simply mean choosing to travel in a way that gives more space to nature, observation and the pleasure of discovering places gradually.
Some days will be physically demanding. Others will bring unexpected encounters, beautiful views or quiet moments that stay with you long after the journey has ended. And some will be ordinary walking days, with tired legs, changing weather and the satisfaction of reaching your destination.
All of these experiences are part of the journey.
At SloWays, we believe that walking offers a particularly rewarding way to discover a destination, combining the freedom of independent travel with the reassurance of a carefully organised itinerary. Our self-guided holidays along the Way of St Francis allow you to explore these landscapes at your own pace, with selected accommodation, luggage transfers and support along the way.
Whether you're interested in the story of Francis, the cultural heritage of central Italy or simply the opportunity to spend a few days walking through beautiful countryside, the route offers plenty of reasons to set off.
And perhaps that's the most enduring lesson of travelling on foot: you don't always need to go further or experience more to discover something worth remembering. Sometimes, you simply need to pay closer attention to what's already around you.
Explore SloWays walking holidays along the Way of St Francis
Written by the SloWays Team
Nominee Best Specialist Tour Operator 2026
