History of the Way

Luca Gianotti, a native of Modena, has been living in the Marsica area for twenty years and has been proposing donkey walks on the Velino trails for over ten years. From that experience and work comes the Cammino dei Briganti. Which was born from the bottom up, with the voluntary work of Luca Gianotti and a few other willing enthusiasts, among whom we would like to highlight Fabiana Mapelli and Alberto Liberati, also guides and Luca's colleagues in the Compagnia dei Cammini and later co-authors of the printed guide. Volunteer work that has been going on for a few years, and is still going on today, which means marking with paint, signs and stickers, cleaning the paths of vegetation and brambles, but also means coordination, communication and the attempt to build the networks necessary for the Cammino to stand, all done at their own expense. These pioneers believed that this area deserved more than slow depopulation, and that the theme of brigandage was the right one to bring so many people together around a Cammino.

As Gianotti writes in the introduction to the Cammino dei Briganti guidebook (Edizioni dei Cammini):

"By walking I have learnt stories that our history books do not tell. Like the truth of what happened with the unification of Italy, that is, with the descent of the Piedmontese army to the south. I discovered that the Bourbons were not so hated by their people and that the Sabaudis were immediately an army of violent and overbearing invaders. And that the brigands were very often men and women (briganti and brigantesse) who did not accept this new invader, and therefore went into hiding, went into hiding, became partisans in some way.
History as one reads it in books is always that written by the victors, you know. By walking, however, one can learn the counter-truths, and here, along Cammino dei Briganti, there are many stories. Good and bad."

At first, institutions and businesses snubbed us, then gradually someone saw their income increase thanks to the walkers. Who come from March to October, not like the holiday tourists who only come in August. And the air has changed, we found a publisher to publish the guide and distribute it throughout Italy, we found someone to publish the map and some institutions have begun to give us credit. Although there is still a lot to be done. Because it can be a great resource for the territory.

An initial great contribution came from the Compagnia dei Cammini, the non-profit association that disseminates the culture of the Cammini in Italy, which made available very important resources, promoting Cammino dei Briganti on many occasions nationwide, and providing its press office, which did an excellent job, making the Cammino known in the most important Italian media.
The Cammino dei Briganti is included in the Compagnia dei Cammini network of quality walks.

A second, and for now last, contribution came from one of the municipalities of the Cammino, the municipality of Sante Marie, which allocated by resolution a sum of 1,000 euros in 2016 to pay for the salvaconducts, certificates, stickers and a few other essentials. But above all, it provided the office of the Grotte di Luppa Reserve, where walkers are welcomed, receive their safe-conducts and certificates.

The maintenance work carried out in 2018, on the other hand, was paid for by the accommodation facilities on the path and listed here, which also did the field work, pending public contributions.

The use of the Cammino dei Briganti logo without authorisation is prohibited.