And the Via Francigena (Italy): a Comparison Between Two Important Historic Pilgrimage Routes in Europe
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International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Volume 4 Issue 7 the Development of Religious Tourism and Article 7 Pilgrimage 2016 The aC mino de Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and The iV a Francigena (Italy): a comparison between two important historic pilgrimage routes in Europe Guido Lucarno Catholic University of Milan, Italy, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://arrow.dit.ie/ijrtp Part of the Tourism and Travel Commons Recommended Citation Lucarno, Guido (2016) "The aC mino de Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and The iV a Francigena (Italy): a comparison between two important historic pilgrimage routes in Europe," International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage: Vol. 4: Iss. 7, Article 7. Available at: http://arrow.dit.ie/ijrtp/vol4/iss7/7 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License © International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage ISSN : 2009-7379 Available at: http://arrow.dit.ie/ijrtp/ Volume 4(vii) 2016 The Camino de Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and The Via Francigena (Italy): a comparison between two important historic pilgrimage routes in Europe Guido Lucarno Catholic University of Milan, Italy [email protected] The Italian section of the Via Francigena, a Medieval pilgrimage route to Rome, has not yet been commercialised to its full potential when compared to the Camino de Santiago in Spain. There are many reasons for this under development. First, there is an absence of a specialised organisation focused on utilising the resources available; a difficulty that could be overcome by the forming a tourism body with the specific charter for developing these resources and attracting tourism. Second, the weight of the cultural heritage of Rome in the contest for religious tourism takes away from the valorisation of other pilgrimage routes of Italy. Nevertheless, since 2007 in the provinces of Parma, Massa Carrara, La Spezia and Lucca some effort, from both a religious and cultural perspective, has been made to advance tourism on the local leg of the route. By doing this, pilgrims and tourists have begun to walk along the ancient paths of faith towards Rome again. This paper examines reasons for the differences in success and development, but also in management, between two of the most traditional historic pilgrimage routes in Europe. It seeks to understand why the Italian case study continues to show a weaker trajectory of improvement when compared to other traditional tourist attractions in Italy. Key Words : Camino de Santiago, Via Francigena, cultural heritage, paths of faith, pilgrimage, regional tourism development. Pilgrimage, The Most Ancient Type of of instant travel, thousands of pilgrims enthusiastically Tourism choose to give up means of transport and to walk painstakingly along the Spanish paths of faith. After Technological innovations in transportation have given the Second World War pilgrims from all Europe - and a boost to all types of modern tourism and among even from other continents - began to walk toward others to the most ancient of all, the pilgrimage. More destinations of faith thus contributing to create a economical and affordable fares have recently remarkable cultural identity (Archibispado de Santiago improved the flow toward old and new destinations. de Compostela, interview 2013); a kind of tourism Pilgrimage sites such as Jerusalem or Rome have different to others which are nourished by the undergone a profound economic evolution which can consumerism of contemporary society. be seen in the changes in town planning, in the enlargement of infrastructures (airports and railway In religious tourism, the spiritual experience along the stations), in the opening of accommodation facilities way is often the purpose of the journey, so it can be and in the transformation of local production systems. said that the touristic region concerned does not focus only on the final destination and its surrounding area, However, in one particular case, in spite of the modern but primarily on the road itself and the places along it evolution of transportation, pilgrims choose to continue where the pilgrims can stop for a rest and visit a shrine to travel on foot and each moment of each phase of the or cultural heritage spot (Corvo, 2011:17). journey which may be a slow walk of days or even weeks toward the place of worship is essential. In fact, The definition of a touristic region should be recalled - long pilgrimages on foot still retain many of the a territory where natural or anthropic peculiarities original attributes that made them famous among attract flows of tourists and activate more services than Christians in the second half of the Middle Ages. necessary for the local population (Innocenti, Among them, the Camino of Santiago de Compostela 2007:130; Cavallaro and Pipino, 1991:64). A region has handed down many of its traditions over the years, should promote all its peculiarities because all tourists such has the use of cloaks, typical walking sticks and irrespective of where they are from or their social class the characteristic shell. Still today, even in this century are motivated in similar ways. ~ 48 ~ Lucarno The Camino and The Via Francigena : a comparison Among the purposes of this paper, we broach the pilgrimage was a way of life chosen after an individual concept of ‘the linear development of a tourist region’, and spiritual decision, sometimes after a conversion or including the road itself, the areas nearby and all the a strong profession of faith. But modern pilgrims places along the way, where the pilgrim can stop and cannot avoid the socio-economic rules of rest (Lucarno, 2002). On a long pilgrimage on foot, the contemporary society and of consumer tourism, so final destination benefits financially from only a small besides soul-searching, today’s pilgrims still look for part of what is spent by the pilgrim / tourist. Most of quiet, sometimes frugal but comfortable conditions of what is spent on the route is distributed uniformly in travel, and are sometimes in search of a more the different places visited on the journey. Small rural gratifying religious life, tending to serve their villages, as well as big towns along the way, can neighbour. Many of them are motivated only by [1] receive limited but constant benefits in addition to cultural interests. traditional income. For these reasons it is not only the most famous Pilgrimages on foot take their time, if the route is traditional places of faith that are important hundreds of kilometres long, sometime up to weeks. So destinations for religious tourism, but also less generally speaking they take / stay longer than most important religious destinations still preserve the other types of tourism. strength of their ancient traditions. In these places one can find the roots of Christian faith, one can pray, feel Some Theoretical Aspects of The Modern a sense of belonging both to the place and to the ideal Pilgrimage and Religious Tourism thread which still links pilgrimages of different times. Destinations Moreover, many places of faith are rich in history and Pilgrimage can be defined as ‘a physical journey in cultural heritage. The ties between religious and search of truth, in search of what is sacred or cultural tourism are strong and enhance each other. holy’ (Vukonić, 1996: 80). This search moves people Pilgrimages increase the value of artistic heritage and to travel toward sites, detaching themselves from ancient monuments, giving added value to tourism. everyday life by the experience of holiness. In spite of Art, faith and devotion depend on the same the trend of decreasing social and cultural importance environment and the same emotional landscape. As of western Christianity, religious tourism grew local history unifies artistic expressions and faith, exceptionally during the second half of 20th century, devotion and art remain two close aspects of the same while in the meantime church attendance showed a form of tourism (Massone, 2002). continuous decline. The rediscovery of the values of a pilgrimage is due to many factors: the ‘privatisation of Shrines are found all over the world. At the end of 20th religion’; the ‘search for roots’ and for answers to century more than six thousand places of pilgrimage important existential questions, such as to find answers were listed in Western Europe though some of these to our questions about faith and the supernatural; the are not approved by the Christian Churches and are rediscovery of traditional Christian spirituality and folk shrines where pilgrimage is encouraged by local finally; the technological improvement of priests. Some however, such as Lourdes, Fatima, San transportation infrastructures. Moreover, many people Giovanni Rotondo are world famous (Nolan and visit shrines to fulfil their educational interests in local Nolan, 1989:5). Italy is the country with the highest culture and history; the religious ceremonies performed number of shrines and some of these have become so in holy places (processions, holy masses, penitential famous and visited they have changed the local rites), represent an experience of moral revival for the landscape and economy radically. Thanks to tourism visitors’ religious traditions and faith (Olsen, Timothy, 2006:3-5). 1. The most reliable source of pilgrims’ reasons and characters with regard to the Camino de Santiago - as a Even if technology has changed our common view of remarkable example of modern pilgrimage - is the census life, time spent in sacred places still preserves an conducted by the Archdiocese of Santiago de extraordinary value, a pilgrim searches for places to Compostela who register almost all pilgrims on their meditate or monks to pray or speak with, in order to arrival at the final destination of the pilgrimage explore the difficulties in his / her life. (Archidiocesis de Santiago, Datos estadísticos de la peregrinación, www.archicompostela.org/peregrino/ Are there any other common characteristics shared by Estadisticas/Estadisticaperegrinacion.htm, 2015) (see medieval penitents and today’s pilgrims? Once the also Lopez, 2013).