Key takeaways
- No organization counts walkers on the Via Francigena: no automatic counters, no ISTAT series and no published AEVF method exist for any walker figure.
- The AEVF distributed nearly 20,000 pilgrim credentials in 2025, up 35.95%, through 132 distribution points, up 5.6% (Ministry of Tourism release, February 21, 2026).
- More than 12,000 walkers collected a Testimonium at St. Peter's in 2025, up 117.96%, but the certificate goes to anyone who walked 100 km on any route (Holy See Press Office, November 18, 2024; Ministry of Tourism, 2026).
- The 2025 rise cannot be attributed to the Jubilee alone, although the then tourism minister said the numbers were "certainly supported" by it: distribution points grew, and a permanent welcome service at St. Peter's started only in May 2024, so the two years may not be comparable.
- The "about 100,000 walkers" quoted for 2025 has no named estimator and equals the target the AEVF director set in February 2025 (Montagna.TV, February 22, 2025).
- Terre di Mezzo's dossier puts walkers on all Italian routes at a minimum of 300,046 in 2025, from route-reported documents and 4,328 questionnaires, while its route coverage also grew (Avvenire, March 13, 2026).
- The "over EUR 8bn" cited in coverage of Italy's walking routes is the tourism minister's 2024 figure for the whole outdoor sector (Qualitytravel, November 25, 2024).
- The Camino de Santiago issued about 530,700 to 530,900 Compostelas in 2025 according to outlets, under a single 100 km rule, which is why comparisons with Italian credential counts mislead.
In 2025 the European Association of the Via Francigena Ways (AEVF) handed out nearly 20,000 pilgrim passports, up 35.95% on 2024, according to its data as published by Italy's Ministry of Tourism on February 21, 2026. More than 12,000 walkers collected a Testimonium certificate at St. Peter's in Rome, up 117.96%. Neither number is a count of the people who walked.
The route has no counters on the path, and no public body counts walkers on it. What exists are documents. A credential is a pass bought before setting out, stamped along the way, and sometimes never used. A Testimonium is a certificate given at St. Peter's to anyone who has walked at least 100 km on any route to Rome, including but not limited to the Via Francigena. Around those two series sit walker estimates from the association, which have ranged from 40,000 to 100,000 a year without a published method, and a national dossier by the publisher Terre di Mezzo that puts all Italian walking routes together at a minimum of 300,046 walkers in 2025.
Each of these numbers measures something different, and they are routinely quoted as if they measured the same thing. This article sets the four series side by side, shows where the 2025 growth comes from and where it cannot be explained, and lists the claims about Italian pilgrim routes that do not survive a check. Like several recent Italy Trip Planner analyses, it finds rules, documents and forecasts in good supply and very little measurement of people.
Four counts, four different units
The Council of Europe certified the Via Francigena as a Cultural Route in 1994 and describes a journey of 3,200 km from Canterbury through England, France, Switzerland and Italy, extended in 2019 from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca at the tip of Puglia. The AEVF, which coordinates the route, told a committee of Italy's Chamber of Deputies in June 2025 that it crosses 715 municipalities, 80% of them rural.
The first series is credentials. The AEVF distributes its pilgrim passport through a network of sale points: 132 in 2025, up 5.6%, according to the ministry release. A credential records intent and, through its stamps, progress. It does not record whether its holder finished, walked one week or five, or walked at all. An AEVF analysis reported by Il Sole 24 Ore on February 21, 2026 says a quarter of holders do not use their credential and about 30% use one across several years.
The second series is the Testimonium. The Basilica's reception staff issue the certificate, and since May 2024 a permanent volunteer service has welcomed walkers arriving at St. Peter's. The Holy See Press Office said on November 18, 2024 that staff had issued 3,700 between June and October 2024, to all pilgrims who had walked at least 100 km, "regardless of the stretch they walked." That makes it a count of arrivals in Rome on foot from any direction, including the Via Romea Strata, which starts at Tarvisio in the northeast. Avvenire lists the St. Peter's totals under the Via Romea Strata, whose volunteers run the welcome service, but they cover every route. The series also misses everyone who stops before Rome.
The third series is walker estimates, published by the AEVF or attributed to it. They include about 45,000 walkers in 2018 (Luca Bruschi, AEVF director, to Vatican News, August 22, 2019), 40,000 in 2021 and about 50,000 in 2022 (AEVF data reported by the French hiking federation FFRandonnée, February 24, 2023), "estimates of 50,000 pilgrims a year" walking at least eight to ten days (AEVF memo to the Chamber, June 15, 2025) and about 100,000 in 2025 (Il Sole 24 Ore, February 21, 2026, with no estimator named). The 2022 figure is described as combining a walker survey with other counts such as passports. No AEVF document we could find sets out how any of them was calculated.
The fourth series is national. Terre di Mezzo, a Milan publisher, has run an annual survey of Italian walking routes since 2017 and publishes it as the dossier "Italia, Paese di Cammini." Its 2025 edition, reported by Avvenire on March 13, 2026, counts at least 300,046 walkers across the 160 routes that took part, out of 250 it lists. It combines credential and Testimonium counts supplied by the routes themselves with 4,328 questionnaires and an estimate of walkers who carry no credential. The dossier calls the total a minimum estimate. It covers every route in the survey, so the Via Francigena is one part of it, and the reported figures give no separate Via Francigena line for 2025.
| Series | Publisher | Unit | Latest value (year) | Method | What it excludes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AEVF credentials | European Association of the Via Francigena Ways, via Ministry of Tourism release (Feb 21, 2026) | Pilgrim passports distributed | Nearly 20,000 (2025) | Count of passes sold through 132 distribution points | Walkers without a pass; passes never used or used in a later year; distance walked |
| Testimonium at St. Peter's | Basilica of St. Peter's (reception staff); totals via AEVF and Terre di Mezzo | Certificates issued in Rome | More than 12,000 (2025); 12,038 per Terre di Mezzo | Certificate for at least 100 km on foot on any route | Walkers who stop before Rome or do not claim one; which route was walked |
| AEVF walker estimates | AEVF, or outlets citing it | Estimated walkers per year | About 100,000 (2025, estimator not named) | No method published | No counting rule, no counters |
| Italia, Paese di Cammini | Terre di Mezzo (dossier, via Avvenire, Mar 13, 2026) | Estimated walkers, all Italian routes | 300,046 minimum estimate (2025) | Route-reported credentials and Testimonium on 160 of 250 routes, 4,328 questionnaires, estimate of walkers without credentials | Routes not in the survey; no Via Francigena line in the reported 2025 figures |
The four series cannot be added, subtracted or compared. A walker can hold a credential and collect a Testimonium, and so appear in both. Another can walk from Lucca to Siena without either and appear in neither. A third may buy a credential in one year and use it the next. Terre di Mezzo's total includes the Via Francigena's credentials along with those of more than a hundred other routes. The only number that would answer the question in this article's title, the number of different people who walked some part of the Via Francigena in a year, is published by no one.
The 2025 jump is in paperwork, and paperwork grew for several reasons
The documents did grow. The ministry release gives nearly 20,000 credentials in 2025 at +35.95%, which implies about 14,000 to 14,700 in 2024 (our calculation). That fits the AEVF's own figure of about 15,000 credentials for 2024, as reported by FFRandonnée on March 31, 2025. Earlier points are scattered: nearly 12,000 credentials in 2016 (AEVF data reported by Montagna.TV, February 24, 2017) and more than 16,000 AEVF passports through 90 distribution points in 2018 (an AEVF note republished by the Via Francigena del Sud site). Values for 2017 and for 2019 to 2023 were not found. On the points available, credentials rose by 58% to 67% between 2016 and 2025 (our calculation), and most of that rise came in the Jubilee year.
The Testimonium grew faster, from about 5,500 to more than 12,000 if the ministry's +117.96% is applied to 12,000 (our calculation). Terre di Mezzo's figures, reported by Avvenire, give 5,576 in 2024 and 12,038 in 2025, a rise of 115.9% (our calculation). Bruschi told Montagna.TV in February 2025 that about 6,000 walkers had visited the St. Peter's welcome office in 2024 and called that a partial count. The three 2024 values are close but do not match, and the publishers do not explain the difference. Before 2024 there is one isolated figure: 9,372 Testimonium collected in Rome in 2018, from the Terre di Mezzo survey reported by GreenMe on April 8, 2019.
| Year | Credentials | Testimonium at St. Peter's | AEVF walker estimate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Nearly 12,000 | Not published | Not published | AEVF via Montagna.TV, Feb 24, 2017 |
| 2018 | More than 16,000 (AEVF); 17,092 requested (Terre di Mezzo survey) | 9,372 collected in Rome (Terre di Mezzo survey) | About 45,000 (estimate, no method) | AEVF note; GreenMe, Apr 8, 2019; Vatican News, Aug 22, 2019 |
| 2021 | Not published | Not published | 40,000 (estimate) | AEVF via FFRandonnée, Feb 24, 2023 |
| 2022 | Not published | Not published | About 50,000 (estimate, survey plus passports) | AEVF via FFRandonnée, Feb 24, 2023 |
| 2024 | About 15,000; about 14,000–14,700 implied by the 2025 growth (derived) | 5,576 (Terre di Mezzo); about 6,000, partial (AEVF); 3,700 in June–October (Holy See) | At least 50,000 (attributed to the Tuscany Region, no document found) | FFRandonnée, Mar 31, 2025; Avvenire, Mar 13, 2026; Montagna.TV, Feb 22, 2025; Holy See, Nov 18, 2024 |
| 2025 | Nearly 20,000 (+35.95%) | More than 12,000 (+117.96%); 12,038 (Terre di Mezzo) | About 100,000 (estimator not named; equals the pre-Jubilee target) | Ministry of Tourism, Feb 21, 2026; Avvenire, Mar 13, 2026; Il Sole 24 Ore, Feb 21, 2026 |
The 2025 growth has at least three possible sources, and the published data cannot separate them. The first is the Jubilee, which drew pilgrims to Rome throughout 2025. Releasing the figures, then tourism minister Daniela Santanchè said they were "certainly supported by the Jubilee." Neither her ministry nor the AEVF has published how much of the rise the Jubilee explains. The second is supply. The number of credential distribution points rose from about 125 to 132 (our calculation from the ministry's +5.6%), and a pass that is easier to buy is likely to be bought more often. The third is the reception at St. Peter's. A permanent volunteer welcome service began there only in May 2024, so it ran for about eight months of 2024 and all of 2025. Whether that changed how many certificates were issued or counted is not published, but it means the 2024 and 2025 counts may not be comparable. None of the publishers quantifies any of the three.
The profile data adds detail without changing the unit. The AEVF figures in the ministry release say 53% of 2025 credential holders were foreign, mainly from the United States, France, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain and England. September was the most popular month to start (19%), ahead of April (13%) and May and October (12% each). Asked why they walked, 41.5% cited sharing the experience, 28.2% spirituality, 25% cultural interest and 23.4% tourism. These shares describe people who took a credential and answered, and the release does not give the number of respondents. In 2024 the same association data, as reported by FFRandonnée, gave a 70% Italian share. A move from 70% Italian to 53% foreign in a year is large. It may reflect the Jubilee, a change in who was surveyed, or both.
The Jubilee comparison needs a warning. The Vatican's headline figure for the Jubilee, 33,475,369 "pilgrims," is an estimate of passages and attendances at events and Holy Doors, as our Jubilee 2025 by the numbers article explains. A Testimonium goes to one person who walked 100 km, so the two figures are in different units and should never appear in the same ratio. On the Testimonium data, walkers on foot who claimed a certificate were a very small part of the Jubilee's traffic, and that is all the data supports.
Estimates and targets that travel without a method
The walker estimates are where the numbers break down. Before the Jubilee, Bruschi set out the association's hopes to Montagna.TV on February 22, 2025: 77 restyling works on the route funded with EUR 12.5m, EUR 1.8m for promotion, and a target of "100,000 people walking" and 10,000 to 12,000 arrivals in Rome. He described the aim as doubling 2024. The same article quoted the Tuscany Region as estimating that at least 50,000 people had walked at least eight days on the route in 2024. A year later, Il Sole 24 Ore wrote that "estimates for the recently concluded jubilee year speak of about 100 thousand people," without saying whose estimates they were. Quotidiano Nazionale repeated the figure on June 4, 2026 with the passive "si stimano." The 2025 "estimate" is exactly the 2025 target, and no source shows it was measured.
Il Sole's own article contains a second AEVF claim that does not fit the first. It says credentials represent about 15% of those who actually set out. Applied to 19,000 to 20,000 credentials, that would mean about 127,000 to 133,000 walkers (our calculation), well above 100,000. Both statements cannot be right, and neither comes with a method. The arithmetic shows how loose the estimates are. It does not produce a better number.
The baseline is just as unsettled. The figure of 50,000 a year appears in the AEVF's June 2025 memo to the Chamber as the association's own estimate, in its 2022 data, and in a 2024 estimate attributed to the Tuscany Region, for which no regional document was found. In September 2021 the news agency Italpress gave "an estimate of 60,000 pilgrims a year" walking at least a week, with no estimator named, alongside a 63% rise that it attributed to IRPET, the Tuscan regional research institute. Italpress itself described that rise as covering pilgrims and tourists in the Tuscan municipalities on the route between 2009 and 2019, so it measures something wider than walkers. In 2019 Bruschi gave Vatican News about 45,000 walkers for 2018, a year in which the association distributed just over 16,000 credentials. That implies 2.8 walkers per credential (our calculation), a ratio that is assumed rather than measured.
One quote has already caused confusion. Riccardo Bruno, in a national daily on December 20, 2024 reproduced in the Ministry of Tourism's press clippings, quoted Bruschi as saying "last year we handed out fifty thousand credentials." Said in December 2024, that most likely refers to 2023, for which no AEVF credential count was found. No year with a published count comes close: about 12,000 in 2016, just over 16,000 in 2018, about 15,000 in 2024 and nearly 20,000 in 2025. Fifty thousand matches the association's walker estimate. The quote should not be used as a credential figure.
Money figures behave the same way. Il Sole 24 Ore put the route's turnover at EUR 25m, and Quotidiano Nazionale described EUR 25m as an estimate up from EUR 20m in earlier years. Neither names who made the estimate. The AEVF memo of June 2025 gives an impact of "over 20 million" with no method. Quotidiano Nazionale also placed a daily spend of EUR 87.29, credited to the Terre di Mezzo dossier, among its Via Francigena figures. In the dossier it is the average for all Italian walking routes in 2025.
The national picture comes from a publisher's dossier
At national level the Terre di Mezzo dossier is the only annual source, and it has grown fast in what it covers as well as what it finds. Il Post reported on May 20, 2025 that in 2017 the survey counted about 17,000 walkers when only seven routes recorded credentials. For 2024 the dossier, as reported by Avvenire in March 2025, contacted 160 routes (138 the year before), and 122 supplied credential and Testimonium data (113 the year before). It counted 122,000 walkers certified through credentials, up 21%, and estimated at least 191,465 walkers in all, up from 148,000. For 2025 it reported at least 300,046 walkers, a rise of 56.7% on 2024 (our calculation), and 2,476,880 overnight stays.
Part of that growth is coverage. A survey that adds routes finds more walkers even if no route grows. The dossier also relies on the routes to report their own credential numbers and on walkers who choose to answer a questionnaire, with 4,622 replies for 2024 and 4,328 for 2025. In 2024, 26% of respondents said they had not collected a credential, and 23 of the 122 routes with data issue none at all. The total is built from those inputs, which is why the publisher calls it a minimum estimate. The dossier PDF and its route-by-route tables are not published online. The last route-level table found is for 2018, when the Via Francigena accounted for 17,092 of 32,338 credentials on the main Italian routes, or 52.9% (our calculation, same survey).
The 2025 figures as reported also contain inconsistencies. Avvenire gives an average walk of 7.4 days, but 2,476,880 overnights shared among 300,046 walkers is 8.3 nights each (our calculation), more than a 7.4-day walk would need. The same article describes EUR 336.4m once as total direct spending and once as the overall economic impact estimated by the University of Bologna's Center for Advanced Studies in Tourism (CAST). It also says direct spending "exceeds 216 million." The EUR 87.29 daily spend multiplied by the overnights gives EUR 216.2m (our calculation). On the evidence, EUR 216m is the direct spend and EUR 336.4m the wider impact estimate.
Official statistics do not fill the gap. ISTAT counts arrivals and nights in registered accommodation, as in our Italy tourism 2025 annual report, and a walker sleeping in a hostel or B&B is in those totals with no marker that separates them from anyone else. The Ministry of Tourism keeps a catalog of religious walking routes, with 113 listed in a side box of the December 2024 press clipping, and funds them. It does not publish walker numbers. The funding totals themselves vary with scope and date: EUR 38m in that clipping (EUR 10m of pilot projects on the Via Francigena, EUR 20m for public buildings, EUR 8m for Rome), "over 30 million" from the Ministry in Santanchè's statement of February 21, 2026 (Gianmarco Mazzi replaced her as minister on April 3, 2026), and "over 35 million" from the Ministry and the Regions in Quotidiano Nazionale on June 4, 2026.
The largest figure in circulation belongs to a different sector. Il Post wrote in May 2025, in an article about walking routes, that Santanchè had put the overall economic impact of "the sector" in 2024 at over EUR 8bn. Her speech, reported by Qualitytravel on November 25, 2024, was at the national conference on outdoor tourism in Venice, and the figure covered the whole open-air sector, with 71 million presences and over 11 million arrivals. No value for Italy's cammini alone has been published.
Santiago is counted differently
The Camino de Santiago is the obvious comparison and the benchmark against which Italian routes are most often measured. Its Pilgrim's Office in Santiago issues a Compostela to those who request one after walking at least the last 100 km (200 km by bicycle) and publishes the totals. Outlets reporting its 2025 data give between 530,717 and 530,919 Compostelas: 530,717 by CaminoWays (May 28, 2026), 530,844 by Viaje Camino de Santiago (October 7, 2026) and 530,919 by American Pilgrims on the Camino (updated May 14, 2026). The office's own tables could not be read by our tools. The 2024 total was 499,239 according to CaminoWays, so 2025 was about 6% higher.
The Compostela is a rule-based count of people who finish, one office, one unit. It still misses walkers who do not ask for one. It is the closest analog to the Testimonium, and on that like-for-like basis Santiago issued more than 40 certificates for every one issued at St. Peter's in 2025. Italians are a large part of the Camino's numbers. CaminoWays gives 26,680 Compostelas to Italians in 2025, the third nationality after Spain and the United States; another outlet gives 26,799.
In April 2019 GreenMe reported, from the Terre di Mezzo survey, that for the first time Italians had preferred Italian routes to Santiago. The comparison set more than 30,000 credentials requested on Italian routes in 2018 against about 27,000 Italians who reached Santiago. One side counts passes bought by walkers of any nationality and the other counts Italians who finished, so the comparison does not show what it claims. The same article put the growth from 23,547 to 32,338 credentials at 27.2%, a figure that divides the increase by the new total. On its own numbers the rise is 37.3% (our calculation).
What nobody measures
The list of what is missing is longer than the list of what exists. No automatic counter on any stretch of the Via Francigena has published data. No ISTAT or ministry series counts walkers on any Italian route. The Testimonium has one value before 2024 and no split by route, nationality or mode. AEVF credential numbers for 2017 and 2019 to 2023 were not found, and the association has no public statistics page that our tools could read. The Via Francigena del Sud, from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca, has no published credential, certificate or walker series. Quotidiano Nazionale's "+249% in four years" for the southern route comes with no base year and no source. No spending survey is specific to the Via Francigena.
That gap shapes every number above. The documents can show that more people bought passes and claimed certificates in 2025. They cannot show how many people walked, where they walked, or whether the Jubilee, easier access to passes or changes at St. Peter's caused the rise. The highest figure in the series is the least supported.
What this means for travelers, businesses and analysts
Travelers planning a Via Francigena pilgrimage will not find crowd data, so the profile figures are the best guide. Departures in 2025 peaked in September (19%) and April (13%), with May and October next, and in earlier AEVF data the most common starts were in Tuscany, at Lucca, San Miniato, Gambassi Terme and Siena. Expect company on those stretches in spring and early fall and quieter paths elsewhere. A credential is required for the Testimonium, which needs at least 100 km on foot, so carry one even for a short walk ending in Rome. Our Rome travel guide covers the city at the end of the route.
Tourism businesses and investors should treat every walker number for the route as an estimate without a method. The documented demand is about 15,000 credentials in 2024 and between 19,000 and 20,000 in 2025, plus more than 12,000 certificates at St. Peter's in 2025. The 100,000 figure matches the pre-Jubilee target and has no named source, and the EUR 25m turnover has no named source either. Anyone sizing a hostel, luggage service or guided product on the route should check 2026 credential and Testimonium totals first. If they hold near 2025 levels without a Jubilee, that would point to lasting growth; if they fall back toward 15,000 and 6,000, 2025 was probably a one-off. In Tuscany, where most walkers start, our Tuscany tourism statistics set the route's numbers against a regional accommodation base that is many times larger.
Journalists and analysts can cite these figures, with the unit stated: nearly 20,000 AEVF credentials in 2025 (+35.95%, 132 distribution points), more than 12,000 Testimonium certificates at St. Peter's in 2025 (+117.96%, any route, 100 km), 3,700 Testimonium in June to October 2024 (Holy See), about 15,000 credentials in 2024, and Terre di Mezzo's minimum estimate of 300,046 walkers on all Italian routes in 2025. Do not repeat "50,000 credentials," "100,000 walkers in 2025" as a measured figure, "EUR 8bn" for cammini, a Via Francigena daily spend of EUR 87.29, or any claim that Italian routes beat Santiago. Do not attribute the 2025 rise to the Jubilee as a measured effect. Never put a Testimonium count beside the Vatican's 33.5 million Jubilee estimate. Pilgrim routes join the pattern this site keeps finding in Italian tourism data, where documents issued and forecasts are published and people go uncounted.
Data & sources
Period covered: 2016–2025: credentials, Testimonium certificates and walker estimates; latest data year 2025
- Ministero del Turismo, "Turismo, Santanchè: numeri Via Francigena in aumento" (press release, Feb 21, 2026, updated Mar 10, 2026) · AEVF data for 2025: credentials, distribution points, Testimonium, foreign share, departure months, motivations; ministry funding; minister's Jubilee comment. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Holy See Press Office, Fabbrica di San Pietro, Romea Strata project (Nov 18, 2024) · 3,700 Testimonium issued by Basilica reception staff, June–October 2024; 100 km rule on any route; volunteer welcome service since May 2024. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Council of Europe, Cultural Routes: The Via Francigena · Certification in 1994, 3,200 km from Canterbury, 2019 extension to Santa Maria di Leuca, countries crossed. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- AEVF memo to the Chamber of Deputies, Committee VII hearing (Luca Bruschi, Jun 15, 2025) · 715 municipalities, 80% rural; walker estimate of 50,000 a year; impact "over 20 million"; UNESCO candidacy funding. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Avvenire, "Boom dei cammini" (Terre di Mezzo dossier, 9th edition; Mar 13, 2026) · 300,046 walkers minimum estimate, 160 of 250 routes, overnights, daily spend, CAST impact, Testimonium 12,038 vs 5,576. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Avvenire, "L'Italia, un Paese di cammini: tutti i dati del 2024" (Mar 13, 2025) · 2024 dossier: 122,000 certified walkers, 191,465 estimated, routes surveyed, questionnaires, share without credentials. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Il Sole 24 Ore (English edition), Riccardo Ferrazza, Via Francigena credentials and turnover (Feb 21, 2026) · AEVF analysis of 2025 credentials, Testimonium and credential use; unsourced 100,000 estimate and EUR 25m turnover. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
- Montagna.TV, Stefano Ardito, "Attenzione camminatori in arrivo: la Via Francigena e il Giubileo" (Feb 22, 2025) · AEVF director interview: 2025 targets (100,000 walkers), Testimonium about 6,000 in 2024, EUR 12.5m works, Tuscany Region 50,000 estimate. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
Methodology
This article draws on the Ministry of Tourism press release of February 21, 2026 (AEVF data for 2025), the Holy See Press Office release of November 18, 2024, the Council of Europe's Cultural Routes page, and the AEVF memo to Committee VII of the Chamber of Deputies of June 15, 2025, all opened at source. Terre di Mezzo's "Italia, Paese di Cammini" dossier was read through Avvenire's reports of March 13, 2025 and March 13, 2026, Il Post (May 20, 2025) and GreenMe (April 8, 2019). AEVF figures for earlier years come from FFRandonnée (2023, 2024, 2025), Montagna.TV (2017, 2025), Vatican News (2019) and the Via Francigena del Sud site. Other outlets used are Il Sole 24 Ore (English edition, February 21, 2026), Quotidiano Nazionale (June 4, 2026), Italpress (September 10, 2021), Qualitytravel (November 25, 2024), the Ministry of Tourism press clipping of December 20, 2024 and ANSA (April 3, 2026, for the change of minister). Camino de Santiago figures come from CaminoWays, Viaje Camino de Santiago and American Pilgrims on the Camino. Search demand comes from Ahrefs (United States, November 8, 2026).
Limitations: (1) No source counts walkers, so every walker number in this article is an estimate and is labeled as one. (2) Credentials, Testimonium certificates, walker estimates, Terre di Mezzo walkers and Compostelas are five different units and are never combined. (3) The Testimonium covers every route into Rome and is not a Via Francigena count. (4) The Terre di Mezzo dossier and the AEVF's own statistics were not available at source; their figures are as reported by the press. (5) The Pilgrim's Office tables in Santiago could not be read; Camino figures are as reported by outlets and differ slightly. (6) The published data cannot separate the effects of the Jubilee, more distribution points, the start of a permanent welcome service at St. Peter's in May 2024 and wider survey coverage, and it does not say whether certificates were issued and counted the same way in 2024 and 2025. (7) Our web tools return a summarized reading of each page, so exact wording was checked as far as the quoted passages allow.
Contested figures are reported with both values and the source of each, and the article says which the evidence favors and why. Claims that failed verification are named with the outlet and date in the body, the corrections panel and this disclaimer, including errors in our own plan, research notes and first draft. Estimates that their authors present as estimates are reported as estimates without a published method, rather than as failed claims. Derived figures are our calculations from published numbers and are marked as such wherever they appear. No figure was estimated or filled in where a source was missing; the gap is stated instead.
Notes on the data
What does not exist: no organization counts walkers on the Via Francigena or on most Italian walking routes. There are no automatic counters with published data, no ISTAT or Ministry of Tourism series on walkers, no Testimonium series before 2024 (one 2018 value only, 9,372 in Rome, from the Terre di Mezzo survey via GreenMe), no AEVF credential values for 2017 or 2019–2023, no counts for the Via Francigena del Sud, no published measure of the Jubilee's share of the 2025 rise, and no spending survey specific to the Via Francigena. The Terre di Mezzo dossier and its route tables are not published online. In their place this article uses AEVF credential counts, Testimonium certificates issued at St. Peter's, AEVF walker estimates and the Terre di Mezzo national estimate, each with its unit stated.
Contested figures: Testimonium at St. Peter's in 2024 is given as 5,576 (Terre di Mezzo via Avvenire), about 6,000 (AEVF director, a partial count) and about 5,500 implied by the ministry's +117.96% (our calculation); for 2025, 12,038 (Terre di Mezzo) and "more than 12,000, +117.96%" (AEVF via Ministry). The two series imply growth of 115.9% and 117.96% and do not reconcile exactly; the article uses both, with the source named. Credentials in 2025 are "nearly 20,000" (Ministry) and "more than 19,000" (Il Sole 24 Ore); the article uses "nearly 20,000" or a 19,000–20,000 range. Il Sole's headline gives +34% and its body +35.95%; the ministry's 35.95% is used. Credentials in 2018 are more than 16,000 (AEVF) and 17,092 (Terre di Mezzo survey), not reconciled. Camino de Santiago Compostelas for 2025 are 530,717 (CaminoWays), 530,844 (Viaje Camino de Santiago) and 530,919 (American Pilgrims on the Camino); Italians 26,680 (CaminoWays) or 26,799 (Viaje Camino de Santiago). The Pilgrim's Office tables could not be read, so a range is given. Ministry funding for walking routes is EUR 38m (December 2024 clipping), over EUR 30m (Ministry, February 21, 2026) and over EUR 35m (Ministry and Regions, Quotidiano Nazionale, June 4, 2026), with different scopes. Avvenire's 2026 report of the dossier calls EUR 336.4m both direct spending and total impact; the evidence favors EUR 216m as direct spending and EUR 336.4m as CAST's impact estimate. Avvenire's 2026 report also says 2024 credentials grew 29%, while its 2025 report gave 21% for credentials and 29% for estimated walkers.
Claims that failed verification: "about 100,000 walkers" in 2025 (Il Sole 24 Ore, February 21, 2026; Quotidiano Nazionale, June 4, 2026), with no named estimator and exactly equal to the pre-Jubilee target; "fifty thousand credentials" handed out "last year" (AEVF director quoted by Riccardo Bruno in a national daily, December 20, 2024), above every published AEVF credential count in any year; "over EUR 8bn" in coverage of walking routes (Il Post, May 20, 2025), a figure for the whole outdoor sector; Italians preferring Italian routes to Santiago (GreenMe, April 8, 2019), which compares credentials with Compostela recipients, and whose +27.2% growth is +37.3% on its own figures; Italpress's +63% attributed to IRPET (September 10, 2021), which covers pilgrims and tourists in Tuscan municipalities; EUR 25m turnover up from EUR 20m (Il Sole 24 Ore; Quotidiano Nazionale), unsourced; EUR 87.29 a day printed among Via Francigena figures (Quotidiano Nazionale), a network-wide average. From our own files: our content plan and queue described the lead as "EAVF testimonium counts," but the AEVF issues credentials, the Basilica issues the Testimonium, and no Testimonium series exists; our research notes also carried an "11 regions" figure attributed to the AEVF memo, which the memo does not contain, and attributed the EUR 25m turnover and the 100,000 estimate to the AEVF, which the outlets do not; our first draft described the Testimonium as issued by the volunteer desk and treated 2024 as a part year of issuing, neither of which the Holy See release supports.
Derived figures (our calculations): 2024 credentials of about 14,000–14,700 (19,000–20,000 ÷ 1.3595); 2024 Testimonium of about 5,500 (12,000 ÷ 2.1796); Testimonium growth of 115.9% (12,038 ÷ 5,576); about 125 distribution points in 2024 (132 ÷ 1.056); 127,000–133,000 walkers implied by credentials being 15% of departures; a ratio of 2.8 walkers per credential in 2018 (45,000 ÷ 16,000); the Via Francigena's 52.9% share of 2018 credentials (17,092 ÷ 32,338); Terre di Mezzo growth of 56.7% (300,046 ÷ 191,465); 8.3 overnights per walker in 2025 (2,476,880 ÷ 300,046); direct spending of EUR 216.2m (87.29 × 2,476,880); Camino growth of about 6% (2025 range ÷ 499,239); more than 40 Compostelas per Testimonium in 2025 (530,717 ÷ 12,038 = 44.1); credentials up 58% to 67% between 2016 and 2025 (19,000–20,000 ÷ 12,000); about eight months of the St. Peter's welcome service in 2024 (May to December).
Self-reported and association estimates: all credential, Testimonium and profile data come from the AEVF, the Basilica or Terre di Mezzo and are relayed by the Ministry of Tourism or the press; the profile shares describe credential holders who answered, with no sample size given for 2025. Terre di Mezzo's totals rely on routes reporting their own numbers and on voluntary questionnaires. Walker estimates without a published method include about 45,000 for 2018 (AEVF director, Vatican News, August 22, 2019), 40,000 for 2021 and about 50,000 for 2022 (AEVF via FFRandonnée), 50,000 a year (AEVF memo, June 15, 2025; a 2024 version attributed to the Tuscany Region by Montagna.TV) and 60,000 a year (Italpress, September 10, 2021, no estimator named). The AEVF's statements that a quarter of credential holders do not use them and that 15% of departures carry one are reported by Il Sole 24 Ore without a method.
Frequently asked questions
How many people walk the Via Francigena each year?
Nobody counts them. The measured figures are documents: nearly 20,000 AEVF credentials in 2025 and more than 12,000 Testimonium certificates at St. Peter's (Ministry of Tourism, February 21, 2026). Walker estimates from 40,000 to 100,000 circulate, but none comes with a published method.
What is the difference between a credential and a Testimonium?
A credential is a pilgrim passport bought before setting out and stamped along the way; the AEVF counts how many it distributes. The Testimonium is a certificate issued by the Basilica's reception staff at St. Peter's in Rome to anyone who has walked at least 100 km on any route (Holy See Press Office, November 18, 2024).
Did the 2025 Jubilee double the number of Via Francigena walkers?
The data cannot show that. Testimonium certificates rose 117.96% and credentials 35.95% in 2025, and the then tourism minister said the figures were "certainly supported by the Jubilee," but no one has measured the Jubilee's share. Distribution points also grew 5.6%, and a permanent welcome service at St. Peter's began only in May 2024, so the 2024 and 2025 counts may not be comparable.
Where does the figure of 100,000 Via Francigena walkers come from?
Il Sole 24 Ore (February 21, 2026) wrote that estimates "speak of about 100 thousand people" without naming who made them. In February 2025 the AEVF director had given 100,000 as the target for the Jubilee year (Montagna.TV, February 22, 2025).
How many people walk Italy's cammini in total?
Terre di Mezzo's annual dossier estimates at least 300,046 walkers on Italian routes in 2025, up from at least 191,465 in 2024, based on 160 participating routes and 4,328 questionnaires (Avvenire, March 13, 2026). It is a publisher's minimum estimate; no official statistic exists.
Where do most Via Francigena walkers start and when?
In 2025, 19% of credential holders started in September, 13% in April and 12% each in May and October (AEVF data, Ministry of Tourism release). AEVF data for 2022 list Lucca, Gambassi Terme, Ivrea, San Miniato and Siena as the most popular starting points (FFRandonnée, February 24, 2023).
Who walks the Via Francigena?
In 2025, 53% of credential holders were foreign, mainly from the United States, France, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain and England (AEVF data, Ministry of Tourism). In 2024 about 70% were Italian (FFRandonnée, March 31, 2025).
How does the Via Francigena compare with the Camino de Santiago?
The Camino's Pilgrim's Office issued about 530,700 to 530,900 Compostelas in 2025, according to outlets such as CaminoWays and American Pilgrims on the Camino. The closest Italian equivalent, the Testimonium at St. Peter's, exceeded 12,000. Credentials should not be compared with Compostelas.
How much do walkers spend on Italian pilgrim routes?
Terre di Mezzo's 2025 survey gives an average of EUR 87.29 a day excluding travel, for all Italian routes, with direct spending above EUR 216m (Avvenire, March 13, 2026). No spending survey specific to the Via Francigena has been published.