1000km to Rome on Foot

The Star published my article on 2 Jan 2026, but they had to trim down the almost 800 words original article to 600 words. This is my original write up. 

Many have heard about Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage and cultural route that hike across northern Spain. I’ve recently walked on a similar but lesser known route called La Via Francigena. It traces its roots to old Roman consular roads, the oldest cultural, trade and pilgrimage route in Europe. Today La Via Francigena is one of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, it spans 2000km across 5 countries : UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Vatican. It starts in Canterbury and ends in the Vatican. During medieval times, some pilgrims would even go beyond, set sail to the Holy Land via southern ports. It would take around 104 days to walk. I have chosen to start my walk from the beautiful city of Lausanne in Switzerland.

I have walked the Camino de Santiago twice, I thought with the experiences, La Via Francigena would be an easy task, but it would prove to be much more challenging. First, the natural border of Switzerland and Italy is the 2469m high Great Saint Bernard Pass. For more than 230 days a year the pass would be covered with snow, only passable on foot between June to October. Not only does it require careful planning, it also requires disciplines of physical training. It took an average fitness person like me 10 hours to ascend from 1600m to the top. What awaits us on top, is one of the oldest mountain hospices in the world, it has welcomed travellers since its inception in the 11th century, and, home to Saint Bernard dogs.

Once we crossed into Italy, after a week of trekking in Aosta Valley, we would come to the beautiful PO valley, golden rice fields spread out miles and miles in front of us. This is the rice capital of Europe. This place is swamped with mosquitoes, a great test of patience for everybody. Many Europeans find this section monotonous and boring, but it reminds me of my home state of Kelantan. Soon we would cross another 1000m high mountain pass to the west coast. After one month of trekking from Geneva lake, we finally saw the Mediterranean sea from a distance, it was an emotional sight for me. The landscape now turned hilly as we walked into the famous cypress lined Tuscany region.

Mountain passes and hilly landscapes are not the only challenges, some days the path would lead us to busy roads. Trucks, buses, 8 wheelers would whizz past at full speed, leaving us shaking and shaken in gushing wind. We would hear the rounds of gunshots in the woods, for autumn is hunting season, the unsettling feeling was compounded with potential wild boar sightings, and close encounters with sheepdogs on the loose. It's really not a path for the faint-hearted.

But the rewards absolutely outweigh all the challenges. The magnificent Alps mountains, Saint Bernard dogs, countless Unesco world heritages along the way: Lavaux Vineyard terrace; breathtaking landscape of Val d’Orcia; medieval towers of San Gimignano, Lucca the birthplace of Puccini; and Siena that pride with itself with medieval artistic heritage.

There are not many Asians on the route. Naturally, I became an attraction to many elderly Italians : “Where are you from ?” “Malaysia! Molto lontano” “Are you walking the Francigena ? All the way to Rome ?” “Brava brava !” One Swiss couple said : “I recognise your little flag, I’ve been to Malaysia many times. You must be a rare national on Via Francigena.” An Italian couple even offered me a piece of chocolate as a form of encouragement !

Many previous walkers find Via Francigena a lonely path, that they didn’t meet any other pilgrims for days. Maybe it’s the Jubilee, I’ve met more pilgrims than I’ve expected from beginning: mother and daughter from Czech Republic, cute Russian influencer, an Icelander, dad to an Australian rock band, a Dutch banker, a young Dutch philosopher in the making, and a real American philosopher, I even crossed path with 2 former pontifical Swiss guards returning home on foot to Switzerland, and many more. Thanks to Duolingo, my broken French and Italian were still a great help when interacting with locals and others. This to me, is the most enjoyable part of these pilgrimage walks.

The final day of arriving in Vatican was a little anti-climactic, the crowd was huge and chaotic, the basilica was jam-packed with tour groups. Finally, a certificate to commemorate my long and arduous 1120km journey to Rome. I smiled standing in front of Michelangelo’s Pieta, all the sweat and pain were worth it. All those people that I’ve met and bonded with, the laughter we shared, the emotional farewell, it is such an unforgettable experience, the memories will surely last a lifetime.