Partner
Förderverein Romweg Abt Albert von Stade e.V.
The association behind the Via Romea Germanica: since 2009 it has been reviving the pilgrim road to Rome described by Abbot Albert of Stade in 1236 – some 2,200 km from the Elbe over the Alps to St Peter's Square.
The Caminos on the map
Caminos of this partner
Via Romea Germanica (Germany)The Via Romea Germanica follows the route that Abbot Albert of Stade described for the journey to Rome around 1236. The German section runs 1,094.8 kilometers from Stade on the Elbe through the Stade Geest, the Lüneburg Heath, the Harz, the Thuringian Forest, the Rhön, Franconia, the Ries and Swabia to the Tyrolean border at Scharnitz – 54 stages, almost 9,000 meters of climbing, waymarked with a pilgrim's staff on a blue background. Not a Way of St. James to Santiago but a pilgrim route to Rome, which crosses or briefly joins a dozen Ways of St. James along the way.Explore this Camino- Via Romea Germanica (Austria)The Via Romea Germanica in Austria is the shortest and steepest stretch of the pilgrim road from Stade to Rome: 82.1 kilometers right across Tyrol, from the Porta Claudia in Scharnitz over the Seefeld plateau, down to Zirl, through Innsbruck and up the Wipptal valley to the Brenner Pass. Four stages, 1,760 meters of climbing, the lowest point by the Inn, the highest on the border with Italy. A pilgrim route to Rome, not a Way of St. James to Santiago – and yet from Innsbruck onward you share every step with the Jakobsweg Brenner and rest in a St. James chapel said to have been founded by a Tyrolean Santiago pilgrim around 1305.Explore this Camino
- Via Romea Germanica (Italy)The Via Romea Germanica in Italy is the longest section of the Rome Way from Stade to Rome: 1,017.9 kilometres from the Brenner Pass through South Tyrol, Trentino and the Valsugana, via Bassano, Padua and the Po Plain to Ferrara and Ravenna, then across the Apennines at the Passo Serra into the Casentino, via Arezzo, Cortona and Orvieto to Montefiascone, and on the route of the Via Francigena to St Peter's Square. 46 stages, six regions, 12,770 metres of ascent. A pilgrimage to Rome, not a Way of St James to Santiago – and one on which you often go weeks without meeting another pilgrim.Explore this Camino
Who stands behind the route
Around 1236, Abbot Albert of St Mary's monastery in Stade travelled to the Pope in Rome. In his chronicle, the Annales Stadenses, he left the route as a dialogue between two monks – one asks: „Qua via vis procedere?“ – complete with places and miles. Since its founding in Hornburg in 2009, the Förderverein Romweg – Abt Albert von Stade e.V. has turned this 790-year-old route description into a waymarked pilgrim path.
The association works with partners in Austria and Italy, united in the European association Via Romea Germanica; from 2020 to 2025 the route was a certified Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. Not a Way of St James but a road to Rome – and yet in South Tyrol and Tyrol it shares its line with Ways of St James. Set off in Stade and you follow a medieval question all the way to its answer in St Peter's Square.
The association's routes
Some 2,200 kilometres from the Elbe to Rome, split by Camino Ninja into three national sections:
- Via Romea Germanica (Deutschland) – 1,094.8 km from Stade through the Lüneburg Heath, the Harz, the Thuringian Forest, Franconia and Swabia to Scharnitz on the Tyrolean border
- Via Romea Germanica (Österreich) – 82.1 km across Tyrol via Seefeld, Innsbruck and the Wipptal to the Brenner
- Via Romea Germanica (Italien) – 1,017.9 km from the Brenner via Bolzano, Padua, Ravenna and the Apennines to St Peter's Square in Rome
What the association does for pilgrims
In Germany the route is waymarked with the pilgrim staff and the lettering VIA ROMEA GERMANICA on a blue background, mostly as stickers; in Italy orange arrows on a white background show the way. There is a dedicated Stade–Rome pilgrim stamp passport, published as a small book by Ostfalia-Verlag (€7, as of September 2026) – if you walk at least the last 100 kilometres and present it stamped, you receive the Testimonium in Rome.
On its website the association provides information on the route, pilgrim events along the way and press reports; a newsletter keeps pilgrims and supporters up to date.
Contact and getting involved
Website: viaromeagermanica.de with route information, events and newsletter · Email: kontakt@viaromeagermanica.de · Address: Osterwieck (Harz).