Cammino di San Tommaso

At a glance

• Start / Finish: Rome, Piazza San Pietro / Ortona, Cattedrale-Basilica di San Tommaso Apostolo
• Length: 318.7 km
• Duration: 16 days
• Elevation: ↗ 8,194 m / ↘ 8,197 m
• Highest point: 1,749 m on the flank of Monte Autore; lowest point 12 m in Ortona
• Stages: 16 (the trail body's official division, kilometres calibrated to our route data)
• Regions: Lazio and Abruzzo — Castelli Romani, Monti Simbruini, Marsica, Altipiano delle Rocche, Valle Subequana, Maiella, Colline Teatine
• Responsible body: Associazione Cammino di San Tommaso, Ortona; trail laid out in 2013
• Waymarking: white-red CAI stripes and flags with the trail logo, wooden posts with aluminium signs
• Not a Way of St James: an apostle's trail to Thomas — Credenziale and Testimonium from the trail body, no Compostela
• Connections in Rome: Via Francigena (Italy), Via Francigena del Sud, Cammino di Francesco
• Crossing at Subiaco: Cammino di San Benedetto
• Best time: April to June and September to October; first Sunday of May = Perdono di San Tommaso in Ortona

Overview

You begin beneath the dome of St Peter's and arrive in the crypt of a cathedral on the Adriatic — in between lie 318.7 kilometres, two regions and seven protected areas. The trail body confidently calls it "l'unico itinerario al mondo che collega le spoglie di due Apostoli", the only route in the world linking the remains of two apostles, and that is probably true. You leave Rome through the Parco dell'Appia Antica, climb into the Castelli Romani, reach Subiaco via Genazzano with its floating miraculous image — Subiaco, where Benedict lived in a cave and where, a thousand years later, the first book in Italy was printed — and then it gets serious: ten kilometres, a thousand metres of climbing, up to Livata. Across the beech forests of the Monti Simbruini and down to Tagliacozzo you come into the Marsica, climb once more onto the Altipiano delle Rocche with Ovindoli and Rocca di Mezzo, drop into the Valle Subequana to the frescoed chapel of Bominaco and the Warrior of Capestrano, walk along the eastern flank of the Maiella past the Volto Santo of Manoppello — and then the Adriatic lies before you, with a wine fountain on the last kilometres.

The trail is young and old at once. The Associazione Cammino di San Tommaso laid it out in 2013 as a re-tracing of the pilgrimage that took Bridget of Sweden to Ortona between 1365 and 1368; what is documented is the pilgrimage to the tomb of Thomas since the indulgences of the 14th century, not this particular course — we say it as it is. Frankly, it is neither a Way of St James nor a stroll: 8,194 metres of ascent, the shortest stage is the hardest, there is no hostel network, and in the mountain villages of the Marsica English rarely helps. In return you walk for two weeks through an Italy hardly anyone knows, and you arrive at a cathedral that was blown up in 1943 and reconsecrated in 1949. From Peter to Thomas — the trail begins at one tomb and ends at another.

Other names

In Italian the trail is simply the Cammino di San Tommaso; in German you occasionally find Thomasweg, but mostly the Italian name, even on German-language hiking portals. Because it links two apostles' tombs it is sometimes referred to as the Via Sacra Roma–Ortona — a descriptive umbrella term, not a second official trail name: the trail body itself uses only "Cammino di San Tommaso". And one clarification up front, because it is often confused: this is not a Way of St James. At the end there is no Compostela but the trail body's Testimonium and the tomb of a different apostle. Whoever walks here walks from Peter to Thomas.

On the figures you need to know: the trail body quotes around 316 kilometres, the portals range between 300 and 320, GPS tracks add up to 327.6 — our route measures 318.7 kilometres, and the 16 official stages below are calibrated proportionally to that. The association also offers an MTB variant of 372 kilometres in seven stages; a riding variant is in development. Stages 14 to 16 are routed by the trail body via San Martino sulla Marrucina and Crecchio, while some GPS collections split the same line via Pretoro and Orsogna — it is the same corridor, and we follow the trail body's stage towns.

Ideal for — and not so much for

This trail is ideal if you want an apostle's trail that does not lead to Santiago and have two weeks in one go — setting off at one apostle's tomb and arriving at another exists only here. Ideal if you like mountains: seven protected areas, a thousand metres of climbing in one stage, a plateau at 1,300 metres and the Gran Sasso as backdrop. Ideal if you are looking for art hardly anyone knows — the oratory of Bominaco is in a European class of its own, and you need a key for it. And ideal if you want to arrive at the sea: the trail ends on the Adriatic, and on the last kilometres stands a barrel with wine running from it.

Frankly, though, it is not for you if you expect a hostel network — there is none, you plan around parishes, monasteries, agriturismi and B&Bs, and you plan them beforehand, not on the way; some mountain villages have exactly one address. Not for you either if you bring little fitness: 8,194 metres of ascent over 318.7 kilometres, stages up to 29 kilometres, that is mountain hiking with a pack. Anyone relying on English will barely get by in the villages of the Marsica and the Valle Subequana — a few sentences of Italian are equipment here, not a luxury. And anyone who needs a Compostela or a link to the St James network: wrong trail.

Route & landscape

You start on Piazza San Pietro and walk out of Rome through the Parco dell'Appia Antica, up into the Castelli Romani — Castel Gandolfo, Albano Laziale, Nemi. Via Artena, Valmontone and Cave you reach Genazzano with the Augustinians' Marian shrine, then through the Monti Prenestini to Subiaco and Benedict's monasteries. From here it gets serious: ten kilometres, a thousand metres of climbing, up to Livata. Then the trail runs above 1,400 metres through the beech forests of the Monti Simbruini and skirts the flank of Monte Autore — there, at 1,749 metres, lies the highest point of the route. The descent to Tagliacozzo brings you into the Marsica, the former lake basin of the Fucino, where the Hohenstaufen fell in 1268.

Via Scurcola Marsicana and Massa d'Albe — with the Roman town of Alba Fucens at the foot of the 2,487-metre Monte Velino — the trail climbs once more into the Parco Sirente-Velino and onto the Altipiano delle Rocche with Ovindoli and Rocca di Mezzo: pastures, karst hollows, wide views, the highest inhabited passage of the route. Then it drops into the Valle Subequana, via Fontecchio, Bominaco and Capestrano, with the Gran Sasso as backdrop. The last section belongs to the Maiella: from Pescosansonesco through the Pescara valley to Manoppello, then along the eastern flank of the national park via Serramonacesca, Pretoro and Rapino — and then the landscape falls away into the vine-covered hills of the Colline Teatine, via Orsogna and Crecchio, until in Ortona the Adriatic lies before you. Between mountain pass and sea lie less than three days.

Stages, terrain & difficulty

The trail body divides the trail into 16 tappe, and we adopt this division. The kilometre figures are calibrated proportionally to the 318.7 kilometres of our route data — the association quotes around 316, GPS tracks add up to a good 327; a normal spread for a mountain trail. The total is exact, the individual values are accurate to a few hundred metres.

1. Roma (Piazza San Pietro) – Castel Gandolfo – Albano Laziale (29.2 km) — Appia Antica, Castelli Romani; long but flat.
2. Albano Laziale – Nemi – Artena (27.2 km) — Lake Nemi, the Monti Lepini in view.
3. Artena – Valmontone – Cave – Genazzano (18.3 km) — the Augustinians' Marian shrine at the finish.
4. Genazzano – Olevano Romano – Roiate – Affile – Subiaco (26.3 km) — Monti Prenestini, Aniene valley, Benedict's monasteries.
5. Subiaco – Livata (10.2 km) — the shortest and hardest stage: around a thousand metres of climbing in one go through beech forest.
6. Livata – Campo Rotondo (17.0 km) — Monti Simbruini, highest point 1,749 m on the flank of Monte Autore.
7. Campo Rotondo – Petrella Liri – Verrecchie – Tagliacozzo (16.3 km) — descent into the Marsica, Piazza dell'Obelisco.
8. Tagliacozzo – Scurcola Marsicana – Magliano De'Marsi – Massa d'Albe (19.3 km) — battlefield of 1268, Alba Fucens, Monte Velino.
9. Massa d'Albe – Ovindoli – Rovere – Rocca di Mezzo (24.5 km) — climb onto the Altipiano delle Rocche, Parco Sirente-Velino.
10. Rocca di Mezzo – Terranera – Pagliare – Fontecchio (15.0 km) — descent into the Valle Subequana.
11. Fontecchio – Bominaco – Caporciano – Civitaretenga – Capestrano (22.9 km) — Oratorio di San Pellegrino, saffron country, Castello Piccolomini.
12. Capestrano – Pescosansonesco (15.5 km) — Gran Sasso views, the abandoned old village of Pescosansonesco Vecchio.
13. Pescosansonesco – Torre de' Passeri – Scafa – Lettomanoppello – Manoppello (21.0 km) — Pescara valley, Basilica del Volto Santo.
14. Manoppello – Serramonacesca – Pretoro – Rapino – San Martino sulla Marrucina (19.0 km) — San Liberatore a Maiella, eastern flank of the national park.
15. San Martino sulla Marrucina – Filetto – Orsogna – Crecchio (18.5 km) — Colline Teatine, Castello Ducale.
16. Crecchio – Caldari – Ortona (18.5 km) — vine hills, Fontana del Vino, cathedral above the harbour.

Difficulty: demanding — not because of the technique but because of the elevation and its distribution. 8,194 metres of ascent and 8,197 metres of descent are concentrated on a few days: the shortest stage is the hardest — Subiaco → Livata, a good ten kilometres, almost all uphill —, stage 9 onto the plateau and stage 4 to Subiaco cost similar effort, while stages 1, 2 and 16 are long but flat. Surface: sentieri, forest and cart tracks, shepherds' paths, in the valley passages minor roads and village streets. Marked to CAI standard — white-red stripes, flags with the trail logo, wooden posts —, reliable in Abruzzo, thinner in places in the villages of Lazio: take the GPS track. Almost the entire trail lies above 500 metres; on Livata, Campo Rotondo and the Altipiano delle Rocche old snow can lie into April, and in the Marsica there are long stretches without drinking water. Water from the start, tick protection for the beech forests.

Two apostles' tombs and a Swedish pilgrim

On 6 September 1258 three galleys from Ortona sailed into their home port. They belonged to the fleet of Admiral Filippo Chinardo in the service of Manfred of Taranto, their commander was called Leone — the sources name him only "il navarca Leone", we know no surname —, and on board lay bones that, according to tradition, had been travelling since the year 72: from the martyrdom at Mylapore in India via Edessa, where a merchant had taken them around 232, and the island of Chios, where they had been taken around 1146 to escape the Turks. The tomb slab itself had come too, a stone with the Greek inscription "o osios thomas", palaeographically dated to the 3rd–5th century, with two burial holes in the manner of early Christian martyrs' graves. An examination in 1984 found: a man between 50 and 70, with a facial wound from a sharp blade shortly before or after death. Whether this is Thomas is not for science to decide — but since that September he has lain in Ortona, and since the indulgence Innocent VI granted between 1359 and 1362 for a visit on 6 September, pilgrims have come. Sixtus IV moved the date in 1479 to the first Sunday of May, expressly to make things easier for pilgrims; today the Perdono di San Tommaso lasts eleven days.

The most famous of them came between 1365 and 1368: Bridget of Sweden, co-patroness of Europe, with the Swedish bishop Thomas Joansson, her daughter and a Roman noblewoman. Outside the Porta Caldari a storm held her up and she waited until morning — an obelisk marks the spot today. At the tomb, according to her Revelationes, she received the revelation "le reliquie di san Tommaso mio apostolo sono in Ortona", and the apostle himself is said to have promised her: "Ti darò il tesoro desiderato ormai a lungo." A finger fragment came loose without anyone touching the shrine; she took it with her, and today it lies in Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome. Frankly, the trail you walk is no medieval alignment but a reconstruction of 2013 — the Associazione Cammino di San Tommaso expressly traced it after Bridget's journey. What is documented is the pilgrimage to the destination, not every bend of the way. But a woman of the 14th century really did walk this route, from Rome to the Adriatic, and you are following her.

Highlights along the way

• Piazza San Pietro, Rome — start at the tomb of Peter, first stamp in the Credenziale; out through the Parco dell'Appia Antica.
• Genazzano — the Augustinians' Santuario della Madre del Buon Consiglio; the miraculous image measures only 31 × 42.5 cm and seems to float free of the wall, according to tradition it arrived on 25 April 1467 in a white cloud from Scutari in Albania; Benedict XIV added the invocation to the Litany of Loreto in 1753.
• Subiaco — Sacro Speco and Santa Scolastica, Benedict's cave and the oldest continuously inhabited Benedictine monastery in Italy; here Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz printed the first book printed in Italy in 1465.
• Monti Simbruini — beech forests above 1,400 metres; on the flank of Monte Autore lies the trail's highest point at 1,749 m.
• Tagliacozzo — Piazza dell'Obelisco; on the plain below, the defeat of Conradin of Swabia on 23 August 1268 ended Hohenstaufen rule in Italy; Dante mentions the battle in the Divine Comedy.
• Alba Fucens near Massa d'Albe — Roman colony at the foot of Monte Velino (2,487 m).
• Altipiano delle Rocche — Ovindoli and Rocca di Mezzo in the Parco Sirente-Velino, the highest inhabited passage of the route.
• Oratorio di San Pellegrino, Bominaco — built in 1263 under Abbot Teodino, 18.7 × 5.6 metres, frescoed from end to end with the childhood of Christ, the Passion, the Last Judgement and a calendar cycle; national monument since 1902, popularly "the Sistine Chapel of Abruzzo"; next door the Romanesque Santa Maria Assunta and a monastery hostel with a saffron museum.
• Capestrano — home of the Warrior of Capestrano, which the farmer Michele Castagna pulled from his field on 28 September 1934: 2.09 metres, 6th century BC, with a South Picene inscription; the original stands in Chieti, a life-size copy keeps watch in the Castello Piccolomini.
• Manoppello — Basilica del Volto Santo: the veil with the face of Christ, according to tradition brought by an unknown pilgrim in 1506; Benedict XVI visited it in September 2006 and raised the church to a minor basilica.
• Abbazia di San Liberatore a Maiella, Serramonacesca — the most important Benedictine abbey of Abruzzo, mosaic floor from around 1200, first reliably documented under Abbot Bertario (856–883); the famous foundation charter of Charlemagne from 798 is a 12th-century forgery.
• Crecchio — Castello Ducale with Lombard core and Aragonese towers; King Vittorio Emanuele III slept here on the night of 9–10 September 1943 while fleeing to Brindisi, and one room still bears his furnishings; today the Museo dell'Abruzzo Bizantino ed Altomedievale.
• Fontana del Vino, Caldari di Ortona — since October 2016 free Montepulciano d'Abruzzo has flowed from a converted barrel of the Cantina Dora Sarchese, modelled on the wine fountain of Bodegas Irache on the Camino Francés; inscription "Bevi vino, ché non sai donde sei venuto: sii lieto, perché non sai dove andrai".
• Ortona — Cattedrale-Basilica di San Tommaso Apostolo, consecrated in 1127, blown up on 21 December 1943, dome rebuilt in 1946, reconsecrated on 5 September 1949; crypt with reliquary, silver bust and the tomb slab from Chios; above the town the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery with 1,615 graves from the Battle of Ortona.

How pilgrims reach this trail

Most come on foot from the north: the Via Francigena (Italy) ends on St Peter's Square — and exactly there this trail begins. Anyone who has walked the Francigena from the Great St Bernard or from Canterbury thus turns east in Rome seamlessly instead of south. The same goes for the Cammino di Francesco, which in its southward direction leads from Assisi via Rieti to Rome and also arrives at St Peter's. Rome is thus a real four-way hub: Francigena from the north, Franciscan way from Umbria, Francigena del Sud to Apulia — and the Way of St Thomas to the Adriatic.

The second feeder lies in the middle of the route: at Subiaco, at the end of the fourth stage, the Cammino di San Benedetto crosses, running from Norcia via Subiaco to Montecassino. Anyone coming from Norcia can change direction here and head for the Adriatic instead of south — Subiaco is the only real crossroads between Rome and Ortona. And anyone who wants only Abruzzo joins at Tagliacozzo: the station on the Rome–Pescara line lies at the end of the seventh stage, and from here the strongest landscapes of the trail lie ahead.

Carrying on?

Ortona is a terminus, not a way station — the trail stops at the apostle's tomb just as it began at an apostle's tomb. Anyone who wants to carry on anyway travels back to Rome and changes there: from Piazza San Pietro the Via Francigena del Sud leads through Lazio and Campania to Santa Maria di Leuca at the southern tip of Apulia; anyone heading north takes the Via Francigena (Italy) towards Tuscany and the Alps. At Subiaco you can switch without backtracking to the Cammino di San Benedetto — north to Norcia or south to Montecassino; anyone combining the apostle and Benedict trails has a triangle of Rome, Subiaco and Montecassino.

From Ortona itself the Costa dei Trabocchi also leads south — the coastal cycle path on the old Adriatic railway line, past the wooden fishing platforms that give the coast its name. Not a pilgrim trail, but a fine finale if after two weeks of mountains you want a few flat days by the sea.

Preparation & practicalities

The season runs from April to June and from September to October. In high summer the valley passages and the coast are hot, in winter snow lies on Livata, Campo Rotondo and the Altipiano delle Rocche, often into April. The finest date to arrive is the first Sunday of May: then Ortona celebrates the Perdono di San Tommaso, the indulgence feast that goes back to Sixtus IV and the year 1479; the second option is 21 December, the feast of St Thomas. There is no hostel network. The trail body keeps a continuously updated accommodation list for Credenziale holders — parish houses, monasteries, ostelli such as the Convento-Ostello Sant'Antonio da Padova in Bominaco, agriturismi, B&Bs and small hotels. In the mountain villages there is often exactly one address, and it wants to be phoned beforehand; such gaps are planned away in advance, not on the trail. The easiest way to plan your stages and lodgings is directly in the Camino Ninja app.

You do not walk this trail with a Spanish credencial: you request the Credenziale from the Associazione Cammino di San Tommaso, and anyone who completes the trail receives the Testimonium in Ortona — both for a donation or a small fee; there is no Compostela and cannot be one. The waymarking to CAI standard is good in Abruzzo, more irregular in Lazio — download the association's GPS tracks. Opening hours that shape your day: the Oratorio di San Pellegrino in Bominaco is locked, the key is with the custode — phone ahead, anyone arriving unannounced at 6 pm stands outside the door; the cathedral in Ortona is open daily 7:00–12:30 and 15:00–19:00, in summer afternoons 16:00–20:00 (as of September 2026). Equipment: mountain-worthy shoes with grip, rain and wind protection even in summer — at 1,700 metres the weather turns —, water for the stretches without springs in the Marsica, tick protection for the beech forests. Language: Italian; in Rome and on the coast you get by with English, in the mountain villages practically not at all.

What this trail costs

Frankly, Italy is not a cheap pilgrim country, and because there are hardly any classic pilgrim hostels on this trail you mostly pay normal accommodation prices — the following figures are guide values, not individually checked rates (as of September 2026). A night in a parish, monastery or ostello for a donation costs around €10–25, a bed at a fixed rate €20–35, a B&B or agriturismo for one person €35–60, a hotel room in Rome, Pescara or Ortona €60–110. A pranzo in a trattoria is €12–20, pizza with a drink in the evening €10–15, self-catering from the alimentari €8–14 a day.

Realistic daily budget: frugal with parish or ostello and self-catering €30–45, mid-range with B&B and one hot meal €55–80, comfortable €90–130. For 16 stages that makes roughly €500–720 frugal and €880–1,280 mid-range, excluding travel, equipment and rest days. Credenziale and Testimonium cost a few euros in fees. Monasteries, churches and the wine fountain in Caldari cost nothing — the latter pleasantly lowers the average for the last stage.

Getting there

To the start (Rome): Roma Termini is connected to all of Italy by high-speed train, plus night trains and long-distance buses. From the airports Fiumicino — Leonardo Express to Termini in 32 minutes — and Ciampino you are in the city in under an hour. To Piazza San Pietro take Metro A to Ottaviano or the regional train to Roma San Pietro.

Along the way: Tagliacozzo lies on the Rome–Sulmona–Pescara railway, as do Torre de' Passeri, Scafa and Manoppello — ideal entry and exit points for sections. The mountain villages of the Simbruini and the Altipiano are reachable only by bus; check TUA timetables in advance.

From the finish (Ortona): Ortona lies on the Adriatic railway Bologna–Pescara–Bari with regional trains by Trenitalia and TUA. Note: the station is down by the harbour, the old town with the cathedral up on the cliff — the last stretch is a short, steep climb or a town bus. To Pescara Centrale it is 20–30 minutes; from there long-distance connections to Rome (around 3.5–4.5 hours via Sulmona or by bus), Bologna, Milan, Bari and Lecce, plus Pescara airport.

• Rail Italy: trenitalia.com — Roma, Tagliacozzo, Manoppello, Ortona, Pescara
• Trail body, Credenziale, Testimonium, GPS: camminodisantommaso.org — Associazione Cammino di San Tommaso
• Cathedral and relics: tommasoapostolo.it — opening hours, Perdono, history of the translation
• Note: Oratorio di San Pellegrino in Bominaco only with the key from the custode — phone ahead