In France, the service is called Poste Restante, and La Poste will hold mail until the recipient calls for it. All post should be addressed to the surname first, then Poste Restante, followed by the address. To select post offices along your route, I suggest that you go to the yellow pages website: http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/ Enter Centre Courrier in the search criteria (quoi/qui) in the town you need (Où). This will give you the address. You need your passport to pick up your mail

In Switzerland, Poste Restante is available at any post office. To find a post office go to: http://www.post.ch/de/pv-poststellenverzeichnisn

Enter the name of the town in the search criteria (Ort) and then pick out an address that is nearest to your route. The correct format is, for example: Your Name, Poste Restante, CH-3920 Zermatt. You need your passport to pick up your mail, and the service is always free. Uncollected mail is returned to sender after 30 days.

In Italy the service is called Fermoposta and while we are told that all you need to know is the town code, the Italian post is not always reliable and I suggest you find the exact address of a post office you need. Again, the yellow pages are your most reliable source: http://www.paginegialle.it/

Enter posteitaliane in the search criteria (cosa), and the town you need (dove). You need your passport to pick up your mail.

N.B The Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome have identified a Post Office in Rome, which you may find useful too: Fermoposta, Posta Roma 47, Via di Porta Angelica 23 00193 Roma