Via Mater Dei connects Bologna to the most important Marian shrines of the Bolognese Apennines. The Cammino is about 160 km in length and can be travelled in seven stages. A path of about 157 km which develops in seven stages on mid-mountain ridges and which connects the city of Bologna to nine municipalities of the Bolognese Apennines: Pianoro, Monterenzio, Loiano, Monghidoro, San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Castiglione dei Pepoli , Camugnano, Grizzana Morandi, Vergato and the Municipality of Firenzuola, in the Tuscan territory.
From Bologna, with its renowned Mediaeval walls and monuments, in a strenuous walk, you will recover a connection with the earth, the wind, the sun, the rain: seasonal and essential, real and metaphorical elementsof every true Cammino. Step by step everything will take on new contours,because your outlook will also be new.
Christianity inherited the concept of the pilgrimage from the people of Israel. Every good Israelite was required to stand before the Lord in His Sanctuary three times a year. “was glad because they said to me: ‘We will go to the house of the Lord’” (Sal 122,1). Quale gioia mi dissero: andremo alla casa del Signore? (Sal 122,1).
Christian pilgrimages reached their peak in the Middle Ages as an expression of the same extraordinary religious fervour that generated striking cathedrals, masterpieces of art and faith. Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela are the main destinations for Christians, but there is also flourishing interest in pilgrimages to Marian shrines or to sites that preserve the relics of saints. For many, the pilgrimage represented a kind of path assisting in the expiation of sins or the effort needed to be reborn a changed person.
The pilgrimage was and is a highly expressive practice in a Christian’s way of life. The dynamic of the journey begins by interrupting everyday life, leaving behind the past and turning to a destination that is one of “true” life. The Lord said to Abraham: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land that I will show you” (Gn 12,1).
The person is conceived as a homo viator, a wayfarer who leaves a place and goes towards the attainment of a goal to which they turn their physical and spiritual strength, certain that God precedes them and lights the way. However, pilgrims do not leave the worries of life, the anxieties of the present and concern for the future in order to escape from themselves, but to seek and find something greater and truer than themselves.
In this perspective, the pilgrimage is a metaphor for life: a journey from time to eternity, from Earth to Heaven, from the ephemeral to the absolute. The underlying reason for the decision to set off is not so much a need to escape, but mainly to find the meaning of life, the desire for infinity, the face of God!
“We took sweet counsel together, in the house of God we walked with the throng” (Sal 55,15). Even those who do not make the journey with a strictly religious intention will find themselves making a great journey into the depths of their hearts. When they reach a shrine, it is not so much the body as the soul that has finally arrived in the desired destination.
As you organize your journey, remember to request the credential, the Pilgrim's passport where the stages will be recorded.
At the end of the journey, send us a copy of the stamped credential to receive the official scroll of the Via Mater Dei, free of charge!
VIA MATER DEI The Camino of the Marian Sanctuaries of the Bolognese Apennines
Foiatonda Cooperativa di comunità
Via della Libertà, 2 - Madonna dei Fornelli
40048 San Benedetto Val di Sambro (BO)
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The Credential of the Via Mater Dei is the Pilgrim's passport, where the stages will be recorded with a stamp in order to obtain your personalized scroll of the journey.
I timbri sulla credenziale verranno apposti dalle strutture ricettive, le parrocchie, bar o ristoranti che troverai sulla Via (coloro che hanno il timbro a disposizione saranno riconoscibili da un cartello posto sulle vetrine o all’entrata dell?edificio).
It is important to remember to have your credential stamped on each stage: to obtain the scroll you must have taken the whole journey, so your passport must have at least one stamp for each of the scheduled stages plus the two start and end stamps of the journey
(for example: Bologna – start +town, shrine or museum on the stage +Riola – arrival).
If you decide to break the journey over time (for example: three days in June and four days in October ) still record the stamps on your credential: the time it takes to walk the Way is entirely up to you, but the path to follow is one!
You can buy the Via Mater Dei credential at the price of €4 in one of the following activities:
Extrabo
Piazza del Nettuno, 1/ab, 40124 Bologna BO
051 65 83 109
[extrabo.it]
Petroniana Viaggi e Turismo
Via del Monte, 3G, 40126 Bologna BO
051 26 10 36
[petronianaviaggi.it]
Emporio Foiatonda
Via della Libertà, 2, 40048 Madonna dei Fornelli BO
389 64 09 004
[foiatonda.it]
La prima tappa, Bologna - Rastignano, non è ancora percorribile a causa di frane e lavori in corso.
Notizie sulla viabilità e tracce GPX delle tappe aggiornate a maggio 2024.
