T-shirts, trail maps, and shoes: Apennines walking gear

“Take the Apennines in hand and make them a masterpiece.” Alessandra Vaccari is proud of the shop she’ll run, which recently opened on Madonna dei Fornelli – 435 souls on the Bolognese Apennines – one of the stages of Via degli Dei. On the square, they opened the Wayfarer Memorial, a sculpture created by artist Manuela Veronese and dedicated to Franco Santi and Cesar Agostini, two archaeologists who pursue the passion, stories of their ancestors and the curiosity sparked by the serendipitous discovery. For a Roman coin, nearly half a century ago, they discovered the Flaminia Militare, the Roman road visible along the Via degli Dei built by Consul Caio Flaminio to connect Bologna to Arezzo. And now there is also a kind of tourist office, set up by the Foiatonda cooperative, where you can find maps, maps, books, T-shirts, shoes and products of local handicrafts.

The signal for the revival of the Apennines starts from the village of San Benedetto Val Di Sambro where another path also intersects, Mater Dei, which connects the two sanctuaries. After the virus, the pedestrians returned to move the small towns on the hills between Bologna and Florence. So here are the T-shirts with the road symbols on them, but also the staples, wooden sticks, key rings, and creams. Everything you need to walk and take home a milestone reminder.

San Benedetto Mayor Alessandro Santoni says: The goal: to re-launch slow tourism.