There is something very precious about the steps we take, knowing that thousands have taken the same steps before us, hundreds of years ago. Their mission was to follow a spiritual path, laid before them by the saints whose souls lead them perhaps towards God, or more inwards, towards themselves.
Not that I am particularly religious. Yet it was the act of pilgrimage of the faithful, whose heart set up the physical task of walking thousands of miles towards enlightenment, that began what we call tourism today. We just seem to do everything much faster now.
Following the footsteps of the faithful, I embarked on a six-day walking trip organised by On Foot Holidays through the hills of Umbria, in search of the spirit of discovery – slowly.
DISCOVERING SPOLETO
While it isn’t on the mainstream tourist trail, it is hard to ignore the fortified city. Poised around a gentle valley surrounded by southeastern Umbrian hills, Spoleto’s past of being the capital of a Lombard Duchy and as a Papal State gave the city its wealth and sophistication.
