The Via Francigena seen through a donkey’s eyes

 
Saturday and Sunday, June 23-24 don’t miss the opportunity to take part in a truly unusual experience – alone, with someone else or even the whole family – an emotion-packed hike from one lake to another in the company of a donkey. This initiative, part of the "Via Francigena Festival Collective Project 2012", will take place in the suggestive settings of the Veio and Bracciano-Martignano Parks, and this unusual “donkeyed hike” will include the involvement of pack donkeys to help participants carry tents and supplies. It will also include cross-media resources (radio, web, mobile phone) and in some parts of the hike there will be poetic interludes to listen to through radio headsets.

The event title, “Lo sguardo francigeno del somaro” (The Via Francigena seen through a donkey’s eyes), evokes the emotional side of this adventure in the Veio area and will explore the link road between the two alternate routes of the Via Francigena, the Terre di Veio (Veio area) and the Variante dei Laghi (lake road), both only kilometers outside of Rome. The idea for this hike was the result of the collaboration between two associations looking to create new experiences through which to explore this area. They are,  I Sommari and Urban Experience.

The result is a truly emotional itinerary which brings together man and donkey in the slow, methodical act of hiking. In certain moments, concentration on the surrounding landscape will be “mediated” by performing media, audio and dramatic interludes offered through the use of radio headsets. At mealtime, there will be the opportunity to sample Campagna-style “francigeno bread” and other local products. The itinerary includes a stop-over at the Santuario del Sorbo, a sanctuary near Campagnano di Roma, and up to the shores of Lake Bracciano located in the municipality of Anguillara, passing through the Sorbo Valley, the forests of Mount Lupoli, Baccano Valley and Lake Martignano. The event, which charges a participation fee, also includes an overnight stay in a tent or bungalow. It is organized by the following entities: I Sommari, Urban Experience and A.T.I. Terre di Veio, with the support of the Town of Campagnano, and Veio and Bracciano-Martignano Parks.

Duration: two days. Departure: June 23 at 10 am, with the return scheduled for 1:30-2 pm on June 24, with the option of concluding on Sunday at the Fiera delle Arti in Campagnano di Roma where, at 4:30 pm, a small exhibition about the Via Francigena will be inaugurated. At the inauguration, a travel diary on "emotion-filled hiking" will also be shown. Hike length: about 19 + 19 km round-trip. Information and reservations: Ass. “I Sommari” e-mail: infoisommari@gmail.com Reservations required tel. +39 3397668032/ +39 3397629101; Meeting place: Santuario del Sorbo, Campagnano, at 9 am 
 

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