Religious Tourism, Umbria

(www.assisiweb.com)
A portrait of the two Saints, twin brothers (www.ora-et-labora.net)
The face of the Basilica (www.sanfrancescoassisi.org)
(www.assisiweb.com)
The solitary hermitage, place of prayer (www.assisiweb.com)
Map of the Sacred Hermitage of San Francesco (www.assisiweb.com)
The Benedictine Monastery of Santa Scolastica (www.oraetlabora-subiaco.it)
The tomb of San Francesco (www.sanfrancescoassisi.org)
(www.sanfrancescoassisi.org)
The lower part of the Basilica (www.sanfrancescoassisi.org)

In search of places of pilgrimage and of faith

Holidays characterised by spirituality and the interior search are ever more popular with tourists: they account for over 40 million tourists on pilgrimage, and add up to about 4 thousand million euros a year.
Religious tourism is in fact growing, and we are witnessing ever more pilgrims (or the just curious!) making their way to the most important shrines. Aimed at believers or historical enthusiasts, itineraries marked by faith and culture through churches and shrines are the most important ways to discover that part of Italian history which is ineluctably tied from antiquity to the history of the Catholic Church.
Religious tourism possesses strong regional roots and has developed a widespread network of hosting structures, accounting in fact for 12 percent of the national total. Destinations like Rome and San Giovanni Rotondo are subject to a noteable growth in pilgrimages, while Lazio, Veneto e Lombardy are the most favoured regions in the scale of “itineraries of faith and culture”. Reached via the ancient Roman roads Via Francigena (in the south) and Via Longobardorum, Rome has pride of place as the destination par excellence for religious pilgrimages; in second place is the Sanctuary of San Giovanni Rotondo in Puglia, the destination of the more than 6 million pilgrims who wend their way to the shrine of Saint (Padre) Pio.