Via Francigena del Sud

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: St. Peter's Square in Rome / Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae in Santa Maria di Leuca (km 943.8); the Camino Ninja map ends at km 946.0 on the headland
• Length: 946.0 km
• Duration: 42 stages, averaging about 22.5 km; six to seven weeks with rest days
• Elevation: ↗ 17,639 m / ↘ 17,603 m
• Highest point: 985 m at km 416.4 in the Monti Dauni, near Villaggio San Leonardo (Faeto)
• Landscape: Alban Hills, hill towns above the Pontine Plain, the coast at Gaeta, the river valleys of Campania, wheat on the Tavoliere, olive groves and cliffs in Apulia
• Operator / Waymarking: Associazione Europea delle Vie Francigene (AEVF) together with the regions of Lazio, Campania and Apulia; white-and-red Francigena signs with the pilgrim symbol, plus yellow arrows in the Salento; patchy on the Rome–Benevento section
• Pilgrim passport / Certificate: Credenziale from the AEVF or the Vie Francigene del Sud; in Leuca the basilica's Testimonium, for at least 100 km on foot
• Traces of the Francigena: milestones and paving of the Via Appia, Trajan's Arch in Benevento, the columns at the port of Brindisi, houses of the Templars and Knights Hospitaller in Bari, Brindisi and Otranto
• Accommodation: pilgrim lodgings in parishes and monasteries, ostelli, plenty of B&Bs and agriturismi; no continuous chain of hostels
• Connecting routes: in Rome the Via Francigena Italy, the Cammino di Francesco and the Via Romea Germanica Italy; shared with the Cammino di San Tommaso as far as Nemi, and with the Via Micaelica from Santa Maria delle Mole to Velletri
• Best time: April to mid-June and September to October; July and August are too hot in the south

Overview

The Via Francigena ends in Rome, at least for most pilgrims. For medieval pilgrims, Rome was often just a stopover: anyone bound for Jerusalem kept walking south, to the ports of Bari, Brindisi and Otranto. That continuation is exactly what the Via Francigena del Sud is. On October 18, 2019, meeting in Bari, the European Association of the Vie Francigene unanimously confirmed the route from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca, after four years of planning that had begun in March 2015.

The road is older than any pilgrimage. Its backbone is the Via Appia, laid out by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus in 312 BC, together with its shortcut through Apulia, the Via Traiana, which Emperor Trajan opened in the year 109. On these roads the poet Horace traveled to Brindisi in 37 BC and wrote a satire about it, and on them the anonymous Bordeaux Pilgrim returned from Jerusalem in 333. Honestly, despite that pedigree, the Via Francigena del Sud is still a young route: lots of asphalt, gaps in the waymarking in the north, hardly any fellow pilgrims. Walk it and you walk the longest route in Italy to a place called “the end of the earth”—and you actually get there.

Other Names

The AEVF officially calls the route the Via Francigena nel Sud; in everyday use it is mostly the Via Francigena del Sud. The regional associations go by Vie Francigene del Sud, in the plural, because in the Middle Ages there were several roads heading south. In English you will see Via Francigena South or Southern Via Francigena, in German Südliche Via Francigena. Sections carry the names of their Roman roads: Via Appia as far as Benevento, Via Traiana from Benevento to Brindisi. The destination is named after its basilica, Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae, “Mary at the End of the Earth.”

Who It's Ideal For—and Who It's Not So Ideal For

Ideal if you've arrived in Rome and realize you're not ready to stop. Ideal if history appeals to you more than company: Roman roads, Norman cathedrals and Byzantine churches line the route here. And ideal if you're looking for southern Italy beyond the resorts, in towns like Troia or Cerignola.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you expect a chain of hostels like on the Camino Francés: every night has to be arranged individually, often with a phone call the day before, and some Italian helps enormously. Not for you if you hate asphalt—through Lazio and Campania you'll spend a long time on back roads, and the Tavoliere has no shade. And not for you if you have to walk in July or August: that's when the thermometer in Apulia regularly climbs well above 35 degrees Celsius.

Route & Landscape

Rome to Benevento (km 0–363.8): Via the Via Appia Antica and Ciampino the route heads into the Alban Hills, past Castel Gandolfo (km 25.6) and the crater lake of Nemi to Velletri (km 47.4). Along the edge of the Lepini Mountains come hill towns like Cori and Sermoneta above the Pontine Plain, then Fossanova Abbey (km 118.6) and, at Terracina (km 139.6), the sea. Via Gaeta and Formia you reach Minturno (km 211.8), where the Garigliano marks the border with Campania. Heading inland, the route runs via Sessa Aurunca, Teano and Alife into the Calore valley and via Telese Terme to Benevento (km 363.8).

Benevento to Santa Maria di Leuca (km 363.8–946.0): Beyond Benevento the route climbs into the Monti Dauni, to the highest point of 985 meters at km 416.4 near Faeto, and drops to Troia (km 436.2). Next comes the Tavoliere, Apulia's breadbasket, flat and wide, all the way to Canosa di Puglia (km 536.8). Through olive groves you continue via Andria and Bitonto to Bari (km 630.1), then along the Adriatic via Polignano a Mare and Monopoli to Brindisi (km 778.4). Finally the route crosses the Salento: Lecce (km 825.1), the Greek-speaking villages around Martano, Otranto (km 886.0) and the east coast down to Santa Maria di Leuca.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We show the route in 42 stages. The distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 946.0 km; stage towns are places with accommodation. The AEVF divides the route into about 45 sections.

1. Rome → Castel Gandolfo (25.6 km) — along the Via Appia Antica into the Alban Hills
2. Castel Gandolfo → Velletri (21.8 km) — via Albano Laziale and Nemi
3. Velletri → Cori (19.0 km) — into the Lepini Mountains, Temple of Hercules in Cori
4. Cori → Sermoneta (20.5 km) — via Norma, views over the Pontine Plain
5. Sermoneta → Priverno (23.8 km) — via Sezze, up and down
6. Priverno → Terracina (28.9 km) — long: via Fossanova Abbey to the coast
7. Terracina → Fondi (21.7 km) — via Monte San Biagio
8. Fondi → Gaeta (29.0 km) — long, via Itri to the gulf
9. Gaeta → Minturno (21.5 km) — via Formia and Scauri
10. Minturno → Sessa Aurunca (29.0 km) — long, across the Garigliano into Campania
11. Sessa Aurunca → Teano (15.7 km) — short, at the foot of Roccamonfina
12. Teano → Roccaromana (23.9 km) — via Pietramelara
13. Roccaromana → Alife (18.5 km) — via Dragoni into the Volturno valley
14. Alife → Faicchio (18.8 km) — via Gioia Sannitica
15. Faicchio → Solopaca (17.1 km) — via the spa town of Telese Terme
16. Solopaca → Benevento (29.0 km) — long, via Vitulano and Foglianise
17. Benevento → Buonalbergo (26.1 km) — into the uplands, Paduli lies 0.8 km off the route
18. Buonalbergo → Faeto (23.9 km) — via Casalbore up to Villaggio San Leonardo (861 m)
19. Faeto → Troia (22.4 km) — over the highest point (985 m) and Celle di San Vito
20. Troia → Castelluccio dei Sauri (23.3 km) — out onto the Tavoliere
21. Castelluccio dei Sauri → Ordona (20.3 km) — wheat and farm tracks
22. Ordona → Stornara (20.1 km) — via Stornarella
23. Stornara → Cerignola (17.1 km) — short, to the domed cathedral
24. Cerignola → Canosa di Puglia (19.8 km) — across the Ofanto
25. Canosa di Puglia → Andria (24.0 km) — through olive groves
26. Andria → Ruvo di Puglia (26.2 km) — via Corato
27. Ruvo di Puglia → Bitonto (18.9 km) — from cathedral to cathedral
28. Bitonto → Bari (24.2 km) — to the old town around San Nicola
29. Bari → Mola di Bari (22.7 km) — via Torre a Mare
30. Mola di Bari → Monopoli (28.3 km) — long, via Polignano a Mare
31. Monopoli → Savelletri (22.2 km) — masserias and coastline, near Egnazia
32. Savelletri → Pozzo Faceto (16.1 km) — short, via Torre Canne
33. Pozzo Faceto → Specchiolla (27.6 km) — via Costa Merlata and Torre Santa Sabina
34. Specchiolla → Brindisi (31.4 km) — long and flat, via Torre Rossa
35. Brindisi → Torchiarolo (23.8 km) — Torchiarolo lies 9.2 km off the route
36. Torchiarolo → Lecce (22.9 km) — via Surbo
37. Lecce → Vernole (17.8 km) — via fortified Acaya
38. Vernole → Cannole (21.5 km) — through the Grecìa Salentina
39. Cannole → Otranto (21.6 km) — via Giurdignano and its dolmens
40. Otranto → Vitigliano (22.4 km) — via Uggiano La Chiesa
41. Vitigliano → Tricase (17.5 km) — via Vignacastrisi and Marittima
42. Tricase → Santa Maria di Leuca (20.1 km) — via Gagliano del Capo to the end

Nothing is technically difficult, but it all adds up: the 17,639 meters of ascent are concentrated mainly in Lazio, Campania and the Monti Dauni; after that, Apulia is mostly flat. A word about Torchiarolo: between Brindisi and Lecce there are 46.7 kilometers without a single town directly on the route. The map lists Torchiarolo as a stage town, but it lies 9.2 kilometers off the route—you'll need a transfer, a pickup arranged by your accommodation, or a masseria close to the route, for example near the Abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate.

The Bordeaux Pilgrim Walked It Backwards in 333

Almost everyone recorded as walking this route was coming toward you. The anonymous Bordeaux Pilgrim, returning from Jerusalem in 333, crossed from Aulona in present-day Albania to Hydruntum, today's Otranto, and traveled via the Via Traiana and Via Appia to Rome; his Itinerarium Burdigalense is considered the oldest surviving account of a Christian pilgrimage. The French king Philip II Augustus landed at Otranto in 1191 on his way back from the Crusade and rode north via Lecce, Brindisi and Bari. And according to the legend of Leuca, the apostle Peter himself came ashore here on his way to Rome: the basilica stands where he is said to have converted the Temple of Minerva. A pilgrimage route whose most famous walkers walked it in reverse—no other can say that.

The others went in your direction, but with a ship as their goal. The Frankish monk Bernard traveled around 867 from Rome via Benevento to Bari to obtain a safe-conduct for the Holy Land from the emir there. The Icelandic abbot Nikulás of Munkaþverá passed through Benevento around 1154, “the largest city in Púll,” as he called Apulia, and noted tersely for Bari: “Then six to St Nicholas at Bár, where he is at rest.” According to the Knýtlinga saga, the Danish king Eric I reached Bari in 1098. The Templars and Knights Hospitaller maintained houses in Bari, Brindisi and Otranto.

But the oldest travelogue was written by a pagan. In 37 BC Horace traveled with Maecenas from Rome to Brindisi, via Anxur, Fundi and Formiae—that is, Terracina, Fondi and Formia—and via Beneventum, Canusium, Rubi, Barium and Gnatia: practically the stage list of this route. At Egnazia he mocked a frankincense miracle in the temple: “Credat Iudaeus Apella”—“Let the Jew Apella believe it,” in other words: yeah, right. His closing line is the finest sentence ever written about this road: “Brundisium longae finis chartaeque viaeque est”—“Brindisi is the end of a long story and a long road.” For you, Brindisi is only kilometer 778.4.

Highlights Along the Way

• Via Appia Antica (km 0–18.4) — the “queen of roads” from 312 BC, with paving, tombs and the Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella
• Fossanova Abbey (km 118.6) — the Cistercian abbey where Thomas Aquinas died on March 7, 1274, on his way to the Council of Lyon
• Terracina (km 139.6) — the Temple of Jupiter Anxur high above the sea, which Horace already saw on its “far-gleaming rocks”
• Benevento (km 363.8) — Trajan's Arch from AD 114 at the start of the Via Traiana, the Lombard church of Santa Sofia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011
• Troia (km 436.2) — Romanesque cathedral, begun in 1093, with its famous rose window
• Canosa di Puglia (km 536.8) — tomb of the Norman prince Bohemond of Taranto, who died in 1111
• Basilica of San Nicola in Bari (km 630.1) — home since May 9, 1087, to the relics of St. Nicholas, brought from Myra by sailors; a pilgrimage destination for both the Western and Eastern churches
• Egnazia near Savelletri (km 703.3) — ruined city on the Via Traiana, Horace's Gnatia
• Brindisi (km 778.4) — the column at the harbor marking the end of the Via Appia, and the port of the Crusaders
• Lecce (km 825.1) — Baroque city of pale limestone, with Santa Croce
• Otranto Cathedral (km 886.0) — mosaic floor by the monk Pantaleone from 1163 to 1165, featuring the Tree of Life, King Arthur and Alexander the Great; in the chapel, the bones of the 813 martyrs of 1480, canonized in 2013
• Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae (km 943.8) — the basilica on the cape, consecrated in its present form in 1755 and raised to a minor basilica by John Paul II in 1990; beside it, the lighthouse and the cascade of the Acquedotto Pugliese with its column from 1939

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

The natural feeder route is the Via Francigena Italy, which ends at St. Peter's Square, exactly where the Via Francigena del Sud begins. Combine the two and you walk the entire length of the boot, from the Great St Bernard Pass to Leuca. Several other pilgrimage routes also end in Rome, and their pilgrims can carry on from here:

• Cammino di Francesco — in the footsteps of St. Francis from Umbria and the Rieti valley
• Via Romea Germanica Italy — the Italian section of the old road German pilgrims took to Rome over the Brenner Pass
• Cammino di San Tommaso — shares its first kilometers as far as Nemi with the Via Francigena del Sud
• Via Micaelica — runs on the same line from Santa Maria delle Mole to Velletri, then turns off toward the Archangel Michael on the Gargano

Without a lead-in, starting in Rome is easiest. If you only want to walk part of it, start in Benevento, Bari or Brindisi; the last 100-plus kilometers from Lecce are enough for the Testimonium in Leuca.

Continue the pilgrimage?

Not on foot: in Santa Maria di Leuca the land runs out, and the Adriatic meets the Ionian Sea. In the Middle Ages the journey continued from the ports, via Bari, Brindisi and Otranto to Durrës, Corfu and the Holy Land; for many, the route was just the way to the ship. Today ferries sail from Bari to Albania and Greece and from Brindisi to Greece—but no pilgrimage route connects on the other side.

Most people travel back from Leuca by bus and train via Lecce. If you think of the route in reverse, you link it with the Via Francigena Italy: Leuca to Rome would be the Bordeaux Pilgrim's direction.

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and app. As on all Italian pilgrimage routes, you need a pilgrim passport (credenziale) to stay in pilgrim lodgings and to receive the Testimonium at the end. It's best to order it online in advance so it reaches you in time for the start of your trip; the AEVF and the Vie Francigene del Sud issue their own credenziali, and if you're coming from the north on the Via Francigena, just keep using your old one. The easiest way to plan the route is directly in the Camino Ninja App, where you put together your stages and plan suitable accommodation at the same time; you'll have the track offline, which is worth a lot between Rome and Benevento.

The Testimonium. In Leuca, the Basilica of Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae, together with the De Finibus Terrae Foundation, issues the Testimonium in the sacristy. The requirement is at least the last 100 kilometers on foot or 200 kilometers by bike, documented with stamps; you can register in advance by email.

Accommodation and season. There is no chain of hostels. You'll sleep in parishes, monasteries and ostelli, often for a donation, otherwise in B&Bs, agriturismi and masserias. Call the day before, earlier in small towns. The best times are April to mid-June and September to October. In high summer the Tavoliere has no shade and the coast is booked solid; carry enough water on long sections.

What the journey will cost you

Pilgrim lodgings in parishes and monasteries usually cost 15 to 25 € or a donation, ostelli 20 to 30 €, and a B&B or agriturismo 40 to 70 € for a single room, considerably more in summer on the coast between Polignano and Otranto (as of October 2026). The credenziale costs a few euros, and the Testimonium in Leuca is free.

Budget 45 to 70 € a day, including a bar breakfast, a panino and dinner; if you regularly stay in parishes, you can manage on less. Honestly, the south is cheaper than Tuscany, but since there are hardly any dormitories, you'll often be paying for a room.

Getting Here

To the start. Rome has two airports, Fiumicino and Ciampino, and Roma Termini station with high-speed trains from Milan, Florence and Naples; from San Pietro station it's a few minutes' walk to St. Peter's Square.

From the finish. Buses run from Santa Maria di Leuca to Gagliano del Capo and Lecce; Gagliano Leuca station on the Ferrovie del Sud Est lies about 8 kilometers before the finish and has trains via Maglie and Zollino to Lecce. From Lecce, Trenitalia runs to Bari, Naples and Rome; the nearest airports are Brindisi and Bari.

• Rail in Italy: trenitalia.com — long-distance trains to Rome, Lecce, Bari, Brindisi
• Rail and bus in the Salento: fseonline.it — Ferrovie del Sud Est, Lecce – Gagliano Leuca
• Route and operator: viefrancigene.org — AEVF with credenziale and stage information