Planning a Cammino di Assisi

In a comment, Donna has asked for more details about planning a Cammino di Assis, including how well the path was marked, what guide or maps we used and how we set up our stays at the refugios. I thought this might be of general interest, so I am responding in this post.

SPONSOR’S WEBSITE. The Cammino di Assisi is, I think, sponsored by the City of Assisi. There is an official website here, which is very helpful, with some caveats.

The site is in Italian, and provides translations into other languages, including English. However, the translations are far from perfect, and the information on the translated pages is not always as complete as on the main Italian pages. For example, the Italian page for “Tappe e sentieri” lists the stages, and for each page provides a link to a description of the stage, a link to a GPS file for the stage, and a link to an audio guide for the stage.

The English page for “Itinerary with stages” does not provide the GPS file or the audio guide. My Italian isn’t good enough to get much out of the audio guide, but the GPS files were very helpful, and I wouldn’t have found them had I not gone to the Italian page.
So, when reviewing the site, always look at the Italian pages as well as the English, even if you don’t speak Italian!

REGISTRATION. Since accommodations on the Cammino are limited, only a certain number of pilgrims are allowed to register to start each day. If you don’t register, you may not be able to stay at some of the refuges, and, in some cases, there may be no other place to stay. So, be sure to register in advance. Registration information can be found at the official website here.

You fill out the form with the date you plan to start and email it to the Sponsor; they will confirm, and then you present yourself to Don Alfeo in Dovadola on the appointed day.

PATH MARKINGS. The Cammino di Assisi is, generally, pretty well marked with a unique marker posted on various signs posts and painted arrows painted on various surfaces. As you get closer to Assisi, the Cammino di Assisi merges with and crosses various other trails, which can be a bit confusing. However, the GPS files were very helpful, as were the guides issued by the sponsor.

GUIDES. When we checked in at Dovadola, Don Alfeo gave us packets which contained a separate color printed guide for each stage of the Cammino. A copy of one of the guides (“FAC SIMILE DELLA GUIDA TASCABILE“) can be seen here.

Note that, as far as I can tell, this copy of this guide does not appear on any of the English pages,

The guide for each stage contains four sections: an elevation chart, a rough map, a schematic, and a narrative. It takes a while to get the hang of using them, but, once you do, the schematic and the map, used together, are extremely helpful. I would urge anyone doing the Cammino to print the sample from the website and study it.

The narrative in the guide is in Italian, so it may not help if you do not speak Italian. However, Don Alfeo will also give you a typed itinerary in English (if he has them, he runs out sometimes and gave us one in English and one in German, which we don’t speak at all) which is similar to the narrative in the guide, and also includes additional information.

GPS. If you have a GPS device, or a smartphone, the GPS tracks can be very helpful. I downloaded my tracks from another site, but I think the ones at the official site are the same. They can be found here.

I use the iPhone app, Motion-X GPS. I believe it is also available for Android devices. Motion-X GPS lets you download maps at home, before you start, so you have them even when there is no cell or Wi-Fi coverage (i.e., much, even most, of the time when you are walking). Be sure to download the maps in advance; Wi-Fi coverage is spotty and slow and cellular coverage gets expensive if you download large files like maps. Motion-X GPS also lets you record your track as you walk, so, if you make a wrong turn, it is easy to backtrack. You also know how far you have walked, and can estimate how far you have to go. I saved the daily tracks and can use them to revisit our trip on the map.

I used Motion-X GPS on the Camino de Santiago as well as on the Cammino di Assisi and cannot recommend it highly enough.

Between the trail markings, the guides, and GPS we had no trouble finding our way, except from Guggio to Valfabbrica, where the path had been closed. There was a sign

but our efforts to translate it didn’t help much (we got “the path along the river at some point is interotto, so once climbed back on the road and continue on to the same old tub”). We were able to get through this by using the maps I had downloaded and walking along the road (which had been abandoned, so there was no traffic).

The GPS for one other section followed an alternative path to be used if a stream was impassable. We forded the stream, and just followed the path shown in the guide, and the trail markers; walking without GPS for this stage was not a problem.

REFUGES. At the end of each stage, there is at least one refuge or hostel. Be sure to register and get your “passport” from Don Alfeo in Dovadola; some of the refuges are only available to registered pilgrims, and there may not be any other place to stay. The refuges are quite varied: very minimalist hostels with bunk beds, monastery dormitories, farm family homes, and small apartments with several rooms. Some were immaculate; some were not. A couple smelled a bit smoky as they had wood stoves. All but one had hot showers (and the one that did not was supposed to; I just never figured out how to get the water heater going). Some had cloths lines, some did not. We found them to be very satisfactory. Some of the stages ended in towns or cities with lots of other options – hotels and B&Bs, but some ended in very small villages where the refuge was about all there was.

We were very satisfied with the refuges. They were generally a bit nicer than on the Camino de Santiago, and met our needs very well.

The typed itinerary provided by Don Alfeo has phone numbers for each refuge. When we called, some of the people who answered spoke English, some did not. Be sure to work up a little script if you don’t speak Italian. I did OK with this:

Mia moglie ed io siamo pellegrini. Abbiamo bisogno di due letti per la notte del 18 settembre.
Potete fornire loro?
Quante costo?
Il mio nome è RICE Err eee chee aie

For some of our Cammino we walked with a German woman who spoke fluent Italian, and we were grateful to have her make the reservations, but we did fine on our own, too. We walked in late September and there were not many other pilgrims, so space was not a problem. The most crowded refuge was at La Verna, where people from several pilgrimages stop. There were 11 of us in the dorm there; there were 12 beds. During the more popular seasons, I would recommend calling for a reservation two days in advance, just to make sure.

If you have any questions, post them in a comment and I will do my best to answer!