A group of 27 cyclists is preparing to follow the historic via Francigena linking Canterbury and Rome in a fund raising effort.
The Francigena Way, first mentioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury Sigeric in 990, starts in Canterbury, in southeast England, and meanders down through France, across the Alps near Aosta, down through Parma to Tuscany before reaching Rome.
This pilgrimage, covering a distance of 1,930 km, took about three months for most medieval Christians who walked it.
Aged between 17 and 65, the cyclists will leave Canterbury on the morning of August 10 and expect to travel the almost 2,000km distance in 16 days.
The initiative is on behalf of the Save Canterbury Cathedral and other charity funds.
By the time the cyclists arrive in Rome, they hope to raise as much as 100,000 British pounds. They have already raised 80,000 from sponsors.
The cyclists are all amateurs and include a Supreme Court judge, a shopkeeper and a psychotherapist.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi last week announced that special funds would be earmarked to restore routes used by medieval pilgrims to reach Rome so they could be revived for modern-day walkers, religious or otherwise.
Prodi, a devout Catholic, said he got the idea 13 years ago when he cycled along the pilgrimage route to Santiago di Compostela in Spain and realised that his own country had many pilgrim ways as well.
"Of course doing it on a bike is one thing, the real pilgrim goes on foot. But I did it like that and it was a wonderful experience," he recalled during a recent radio show.
Earlier this year, American journalist Eric Sylvers walked the 900 km stretch of the Francigena Way from the Alps to Rome for charity and intends to write a book about his experience.
"Many towns keep their bit in good condition but what's needed is a broader project to rehabilitate the whole thing," said Sylvers in a recent interview.
He also warned that some sections were practically unusable because they ran alongside heavily trafficked highways.
Moves to clean up the Via Francigena began in the 1990s and a Via Francigena Association was set up in Fidenza, one of the towns on the route. But signposting and accommodation are still inadequate in many sections.
Another important pilgrim route was the Carolingian Road, used by Charlemagne to travel from Aachen in northwest Germany to Rome in the year 800. It passes through Strasbourg, Basle, Como, Mantua, Ravenna and Assisi.
"The pathways of our ancestors are a great heritage," Prodi said. "I'm pressing everyone to get the great pilgrimage routes restored".
The idea is to re-establish footpaths and rights of way, tidying up the landscape and ensuring that pilgrims have access to inexpensive hostels.
"We don't need to change the Constitution or make any major investments. We just have to put our hearts into it," Prodi said.
