Italy of Sacred Trails: where the journey becomes an inner experience

From the Via Francigena to the Franciscan paths, Italy confirms its status as a destination for international religious tourism.

In recent years, religious tourism has undergone a profound transformation. It is no longer just traditional pilgrimage, but an increasingly broad phenomenon that intertwines spirituality, culture, well-being, and slow tourism. Summer, in particular, remains the preferred season to rediscover shrines, paths, and places of worship throughout the Peninsula.

The most recent data confirms a strong expansion trend. The Via Francigena, one of the main European pilgrimage routes, recorded a significant increase in visitors and credentials issued in 2025, with about 20 thousand “pilgrim passports” activated and over 12 thousand pilgrims arriving in Rome along the slow paths. The Jubilee 2025 further strengthened this trend, with an estimated total of over 33 million pilgrims in Rome from both national and international flows, confirming Italy's centrality in global religious tourism.

One of the most interesting aspects concerns the transformation of the pilgrim's profile. They are no longer just travelers motivated solely by faith, but people in search of a broader personal experience.

According to analyses and scenarios presented by the World Network of Religious Tourism and UNWTO partners, religious tourism involves up to 300 million travelers worldwide and represents one of the most evolving segments of global tourism. In parallel, over 40% of walkers declare that they undertake these paths for reasons related to the search for inner well-being and sharing, while the cultural and tourist component is also growing. The spiritual dimension remains central, but it is enriched with new meanings.

There is also an increase in international presence: along the Italian paths, more and more pilgrims from Europe, the United States, and other areas of the world are encountered, a sign of growing global attractiveness.

Summer as the season of inner travel. If beach tourism dominates the Italian summer imagination, religious paths represent an increasingly chosen alternative. The reasons are many: longer days, favorable weather conditions in hilly and mountainous areas, and, above all, the desire to slow down, favoring the time of “slow travel,” where physical movement is accompanied by an inner dimension. Walking among abbeys, villages, and shrines also means rediscovering territories often far from major tourist flows, contributing to their economic and cultural enhancement.

Contemporary religious tourism increasingly finds itself at the intersection of faith and culture. Major routes like the Via Francigena or the Franciscan paths are not just spiritual paths, but real territorial systems that connect hospitality, history, and landscape. In this sense, the paths also become tools for sustainable development: they promote the de-seasonalization of tourist flows and contribute to the vitality of internal areas, often subject to depopulation.

The strengthening of projects on “Italian paths,” public investments, and the growing interest of new generations make religious tourism an increasingly strategic segment for national tourism.

Not just an act of faith anymore, but a complete experience: physical, cultural, and spiritual. A different way of traveling that, especially in summer, continues to attract new travelers in search of meaning, silence, and authenticity.