Italy’s five great walking routes do not all tell the same story. The Via Francigena, the Romea Strata and the Via Romea Germanica approach Rome as historic European roads; the Way of Saint Francis and the Way of Saint Benedict lead instead into the spiritual interior of central Italy.
Together, they form a map of Lazio that is less about postcard scenery than about how religious history settled into valleys, monasteries and small towns. This article follows the two routes shaped by figures many travelers might recognize — Francis of Assisi and Benedict of Nursia — and looks at the Lazio sections where their stories become most tangible.
