Today, even with the increased focus derived from its designation as a cultural route by the Council of Europe in 1994, the via Francigena, is still relatively unknown and unused in comparison with the St James Way, which means that travelling along it can be arduous, but well worth the effort.

In 58 BC, Julius Caesar opened the via Romana, the shortest route between the North and the Mediterranean and what rapidly became the backbone of the Western Europe road system. Then, in the wake of the Arab dominion over Jerusalem (640 AD), Rome became the principal destination of Christian pilgrimages, with the line drawn along a series of Roman roads called the Iter Francorum.  Over the centuries the route changed its name, depending on the origins of those using it: via Francigena or Francisca in Italy and Burgundy. Chemin des Anglois in the Kingdom of the Franks (after the conversion of England in 607) and Chemin Romieux because of its destination, Rome. But the via Francigena, as we more or less know it today, was first documented in the 10th Century when Sigeric the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury, travelled to Rome in order to be consecrated and incidentally recorded his route on the way. From here, other pilgrims followed in his wake, with the result that it became the major pilgrimage during medieval times and up until the cult of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela took over. Far from being a single road as the name suggests, the via Francigena is in fact a collection of options.  In Italy, just at the time when people wanted to use it most, the via Aurelia had become little more than a series of local roads, vulnerable to raids by barbarians from the coast, while the via Cassia was too far inland for most of the route. So an approximate third route, the via Francigena, was cobbled out of a sequence of lesser Roman roads, crossing the Alps via the Great St. Bernard Pass and dropping down to the plain of the Po and its tributaries. From here it rose again through the Apennines, meandered across the hills of Tuscany and then came down for the home straight across the Roman Campagna. At its height, the via Francigena was used by popes, emperors, bankers, merchants, pilgrims and brigands. When Holy Years were proclaimed, starting in 1300, tens of thousands used the route, with the obvious consequence that nearby communities thrived and grew. But by the 17^th century the pilgrimage experience had fallen out of fashion and has only started to experience a renaissance over the past decade.

The image of the spiritual Labyrinth - symbolic representation of the search for the true meaning of life -  is both sculpted and inlaid on the floors of many churches along the via Francigena. 

In Pontremoli, one can see the labyrinth of St Peter's de conflentu.  On its upper ledge the labyrinth depicts a knight challenging death, overlooked by a winged beast representing the devil.  On the sides there are a dragon biting its tail and an hourglass, symbols that together indicate the rapid and eternal circle of time.   Within the maze one can also see the abundance of cathedrals with the Garden of Eden at their centre.  From here the arms of the cross branch off as four rivers that flow towards the four divisions of the world.  Similar examples of this version of the labyrinth can also be seen in Piacenza and Lucca.