THE SAN VICINIO PATH

In the land of the miracle-worker saint through nature and history

The San Vicinio Path is a route in 14 stages (with 2 detours and 6 connections) for a total of almost 320 km on foot, on signposted paths, starting from Sarsina. A fascinating route and experience, accessible to all, where in reaching the destination personal motivation counts for more than physical preparation. For more than two thousand years now, people have been walking over the roads of the ancient Provincia Alpes Apenninae that connected the regions of northern Europe at first with the most important city of the Roman Empire, and then with the city of Peter and Paul. Historically pilgrims journeyed to Rome and the Holy Land by routes that reached the cities of Ravenna, Forlì, Cesena and Rimini, passed through through Sarsina and Bagno di Romagna, and then continued towards Borgo San Sepolcro, Arezzo or Florence.

It was a road system that connected the most important shrines in the area and made it possible to visit them: places of worship such as Madonna del Monte in Cesena, San Vicinio in Sarsina, La Verna, the "Holy Face" in Borgo Santo Sepolcro; or, by taking a detour to the famous cultural and spiritual centre founded by Saint Romuald, the Hermitage and Monastery of Camaldoli. Less known to European pilgrims were the small shrines with older origins located in less accessible places in the area, but which were the subject of intense local devotion for saints and miraculous images, such as: the Shrine of the "Virgin of the Eyes" in Pondo di Santa Sofia and the Shrine of S. Ellero in Galeata; the Hermitage of Sant'Alberico, located near the springs of the Tiber river; or the image of the "Virgin of the Blood" and the wooden "Crucifix of Forgiveness", at the Camaldolese Abbey at Bagno di Romagna.

This ancient land and its cultural capital offer to modern travellers - as they did to the faithful coming from northern Italy and from northern Europe in past centuries - the evocative impressions of an archaic land, inherited from its history, and from a deep faith that has not given up the link with Tradition. Thanks to documents, studies, archaeological finds, records, and travel journals that reveal the union and communication between the various cultures and ideas of different countries in Europe, we can present - to curious and intelligent travellers and to the more motivated pilgrims - the San Vicinio Path, which runs along the route of shrines and places of popular devotion founded centuries ago by the kind of faith that does not argue or answer: the same faith that drove pilgrims to small or great shrines, rich with art works or just simple country churches.

It is a journey through many signs of religious and cultural history, a journey that can combine cultural motivation with the spiritual one, where the path can also be a metaphor for the journey of initiation, renewal or personal cultural enrichment.

How to reach the San Vicinio Path

Sarsina can be reached

from the north with the public bus service from Cesena;
from the south from Arezzo, via Borgo San Sepolcro;
from Florence, via Bibbiena;
from Rome, via Cesena.

If you are coming from the south of Italy by public transport, you may find the connections with Sarsina more difficult than expected. We recommend you get all the necessary information before leaving, to avoid inconvenience.

The nearest railway station is in Cesena.

If travelling by car, you can reach Sarsina

from the north, Milan-Naples A1 highway, via Ancona on A14, exit at Cesena Nord - E45 motorway direction Rome
From the south, Naples-Milan A1 highway, exit at Orte, E45 motorway direction Ravenna.

Detours and connections

DETOUR 1a: Facciano - Quarto - Monteriolo - Pagno - Sarsina
CONNECTION 2a: Bagno di Romagna - Passo Serra - Alpe di Serra (junction with path 000 GEA/CAI 59)
CONNECTION 2b: Alpe di Serra (junction with path 00 GEA/CAI 59) - Passo Rotta dei Cavalli - Verghereto
DETOUR 14a: Fonte San Vicinio - Nuvoleto - Linaro
CONNECTION 14b: Junction SP 12b - Sarsina - Bazzano - Careste
CONNECTION 2c: Passo Rotta dei Cavalli - La Verna
CONNECTION 2d: Alpe di Serra (junction with path 00 GEA/CAI 59) - Serra di Sopra - Biforco La Verna
CONNECTION 2e: Alpe di Serra (junction with path 00 GEA/CAI 59) - Cancellino - Badia Prataglia

For more information

Please visit www.ilcamminodisanvicinio.it

Piedi

Travelling time on foot:

15 Days

STAGE 1 - SARSINA - BAGNO DI ROMAGNA

A border land between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Papal States, only rarely wild but rich in nature, where the signs left by the people who used to inhabit it can still be read: villages, rural houses, churches, and shrines punctuate the Path all the way to San Piero and Bagno di Romagna.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 40%
Shade: 45%
Difficulty: very challenging stage
Length: 37,584 km
Altitude difference descent: 995.6 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 1334.9 m.
Water supply: Poggio del Bue; Giampereto di Sopra

STAGE 2 - BAGNO DI ROMAGNA - CAMALDOLI

The sun illuminates the crown of mountains clothed with woods. The Journey resumes: the destination is the Forest of Camaldoli, where Saint Romuald founded the Hermitage and Monastery. A journey through nature and history, whose protagonists are people and trees.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 14%
Shade: 80%
Difficulty: very challenging stage
Length: 20.222 km
Altitude difference descent: 921.1 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 1,251.2 m.
Water supply: Aia di Guerrino; Fangacci Refuge; Hermitage of Camaldoli

STAGE 3 - CAMALDOLI - BADIA PRATAGLIA

The sound of the wind and the roaring of the torrent accompany the Journey through sacred places rich in history. Natural and man-made landscapes frame the way from Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta to Badia Prataglia.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 20%
Shade: 75%
Difficulty: easy stage
Length: 12.045 km
Altitude difference descent: 332.6 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 352.6
Water supply: Serravalle, Il Piano

STAGE 4 - BADIA PRATAGLIA - LA VERNA

"They passed this, many passed / the poor, pilgrims and saints /... "

The Path follows the Via Romea over the Alpe di Serra and, passing through the Valle Santa, comes to the Franciscan Shrine of La Verna; the mountain that, above all others, the world considers a sainted one.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 20%
Shade: 75%
Difficulty: easy stage
Length: 12.045 km
Altitude difference descent: 332.6 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 352.6
Water supply: Serravalle, Il Piano

STAGE 5 - LA VERNA - VERGHERETO

From the Crudo Sasso (the La Verna Mountain), we follow the medieval route winding across the valleys of the Arno and the Tiber, where a phantom army still stands guard over Hannibal's Treasure. Then we make our way down to the meandering Savio River, among ruins of castles and memories of the Abbey of San Michele, from which the monks chased Saint Romuald away, striking him with rods.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 30%
Shade: 70%
Difficulty: quite challenging stage
Length: 17.279 km
Altitude difference descent: 887.1 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 567.8 m.
Supply of water: On the road between Pratello Pass and Gualanciole Pass; Montione

STAGE 6 - VERGHERETO - BALZE

The massif of Mount Fumaiolo towers high over the heads of the Savio, Marecchia and Tiber rivers that cross the valleys of Romagna, Marche and Tuscany. Ancient paths off the beaten track lead to the source of the Savio and the famous springs of the Tiber river, in the middle of very green woods and meadows covered with wildflowers, where the wolf and the golden eagle hunt.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 35%
Shade: 65%
Difficulty: easy stage
Length: 13.064 km
Altitude difference descent: 427.2 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 710.5 m.
Water supply: Verghereto, via Fontanelle; Springs of the Savio; Moia Refuge (only in the summer); Springs of the Tiber

STAGE 7 - BALZE - SANT'AGATA FELTRIA

Sunlight barely filters through onto the path as we climb up the narrow valley towards Sant'Alberico. The wood, its silence, its cells and its monasteries fill the first part of the Journey. Then the landscape changes, we climb down on the clay and limestone ridge, among meadows, barren fields and woods dominated by Colle del Lupo and the Fregoso Fortress.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 70%
Shade: 60%
Difficulty: very challenging stage
Length: 22.656 km
Altitude difference descent: 960.3 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 474 m.
Water supply: Hermitage of Sant’Alberico, Cella, Capanne, Velle, Scavolo, I Piani, Fonte Barberini, Sant’Agata Feltria

STAGE 8 - SANT'AGATA FELTRIA - PIETRA DELL'USO

Convents, abbeys, small parish churches punctuate the constantly-changing landscape of this stage. The wide pastures of Sant'Agata Feltria soon give way to the cliffs of Perticara in a landscape that descends among fields and ravines to the Uso Valley, at the foot of the boulders of Montetiffi and Pietra dell'Uso.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 80%
Shade: 20%
Difficulty: very challenging stage
Length: 23.009 km
Altitude difference descent: 981.3 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 443.3 m.
Water supply: Madonna del Soccorso, Miniera, Perticara, Ca' del Ranco, Montetiffi, ford of the Uso Torrent.

STAGE 9 - PIETRA DELL'USO - SOGLIANO AL RUBICONE

This is the typical landscape of the first hills that slope up from the plains towards the mountains. Churches that look like fortresses and groups of houses enclosed by walls and perched on mountain peaks, sometimes covered with snow, dominate a territory whose exuberant vegetation is interspersed with ravines, rocks and a valley carved out by the Uso, a narrow and energetic torrent.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 40%
Shade: 20%
Difficulty: easy stage
Length: 8.999 km
Altitude difference descent: 129.6 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 241.9 m.
Water supply: Ponte Rosso, Ca' dell’Uso, Il Poggio Holiday Farmhouse, Sogliano al Rubicone

STAGE 10 - SOGLIANO AL RUBICONE - BORGHI

We descend towards a half-way land that is no longer plain and not yet mountains. The whole stage is a continuous, relentless and strenuous hike across valleys and ridges crossing an ever-changing landscape of ravines, vineyards, woods and villages; San Giovanni in Galilea, a fortified village perched on a limestone outcrop, dominates the landscape.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 70%
Shade: 30%
Difficulty: challenging stage
Length: 21.986 km
Altitude difference descent: 899.2 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 784 m.
Water supply: sports field at Sogliano al Rubicone, ford of the Uso Torrent, Masrola, San Giovanni in Galilea, La Gaiofana, Borghi

STAGE 11 - BORGHI - SORRIVOLI

Towers and surrounding walls play the leading role here: seen from a distance, on a background of hills and sea or close up, with massive walls, cobbled squares, and cloisters. A succession of downhill and uphill roads lead to the Shrine of Santa Paola and the villages of Monteleone and Sorrivoli across the ridges separated by the Rubicone and Pisciatello Torrents.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 60%
Shade: 30%
Difficulty: challenging stage
Length: 17,294 km
Altitude difference descent: 715.9 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 715.9 m.
Water supply: Madonna del Zotto, Roncofreddo, Santa Paola, Monteleone, Sorrivoli

STAGE 12 - SORRIVOLI - CESENA

We reach the city after climbing low hills and walking along the banks of streams. We cross a hilly countryside, cultivated with vineyards, olive groves and fruit orchards. All the way to Madonna del Monte on the hills of Cesena we come across small and big medieval rural churches and oratories,

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 80%
Shade: 30%
Difficulty: challenging stage
Length: 18.997 km
Altitude difference descent: 384.3 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 178.3 m.
Water supply: Calisese, Pieve San Tommaso, Madonna della Neve, Shrine of Madonna del Monte

STAGE 13 - CESENA - CIOLA

From the lowest point of the Journey, and the one most affected by human activity, we start climbing again. We do so following the Savio River, losing sights of its calm waters only for short stretches. Just long enough to climb up the hills where the village of Roversano and the fortress tower rise, and then we dive back down into the valley.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 30%
Shade: 40%
Difficulty: very challenging stage
Length: 26.070 km
Altitude difference descent: 98.6 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 598 m.
Water supply: Private Chapel via Roversano (before Case Chiaramonti), Roversano, Bora Bassa, Bora Alta

STAGE 14 - CIOLA - SARSINA

The hills look carpeted. The yellow of the wheat fields alternates with the green of the alfalfa, interrupted here and there by the dark lines and patches of the woods and the grey ridges of fine clay. Over this landscape, which then changes to scrubland, dominates the imposing shape of the town of Montesorbo, the compact one of the village of Calbano, and the sacred one of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata and of the Shrine of San Vicinio.

Route characteristics

Scenic quality: 60%
Shade: 50%
Difficulty: easy stage
Length: 13.060 km
Altitude difference descent: 525.4 m.
Altitude difference ascent: 223.8 m.
Water supply: Ciola, Pieve di Montesorbo, Fonte San Vicinio, Musella, Case Sedici, Costa, Calbano

Attachments

Pdf:

cammino-san-vicinio.pdf

THE SAN VICINIO PATH

Base layers

Data layers