Sicily - Magna Via Francigena

A wonderful walk across Sicily. Beautiful scenery. Moderately challenging trails, some overgrown especially those accessing farmland, some deeply rutted. A mixture of accommodation, some excellent. Walking app is excellent. Helps to be online as trails change, especially around private land.

The scenery was stunning, the wildflowers beautiful and the birdsong glorious. Walking was challenging and suggested times would be in ideal conditions. Mudslides, sinking mud, swollen rivers made for slow progress but still a wonderful experience.

A great way to see Sicily away from the main tourist areas. There was some mud, some territorial dogs to get past and some stiff climbs often at the end of the day to hill towns. But our hosts and other people we met were very welcoming, the food was great and the scenery made the exertion worthwhile. We recommend this walk.

Good pre walk notes and maps. Had lovely time but most days 5.5-7 hours. Got used to this by the end! Accommodation v varied and good standard. Preferred the older more original B&B’s. The hotel selection in Agrigento which we paid extra for was not in keeping with the much smaller ones on the trail. Also think walk should have ended in Agrigento with inclusive train/ taxi ride.

Our Magna via Francigena trek in early April was a great success. We were lucky to have mostly sunny weather with fabulous wild flowers- a fabulous combination. The accommodation was somewhat a mixed bag but the staff were friendly and helpful throughout. Adding a couple of days in Palermo was definitely worth doing.