Festival of the Franciscan Paths — Caprese Michelangelo Stage

The Festival of the Franciscan Paths in Caprese Michelangelo

The Festival of the Franciscan Paths is a widespread event that, over seven weekends between April and May, traverses the Tuscan and Umbrian Upper Tiber Valley, connecting villages, hermitages, and cities linked to the life of Saint Francis. Among the Tuscan stops is Caprese Michelangelo, a small municipality in the Province of Arezzo, world-renowned as the birthplace of Michelangelo Buonarroti and nestled in an Apennine landscape of chestnut and beech woods near the Verna massif.

The format: walk and encounter

The Caprese stage follows the festival's established format: a morning walk immersed in the woods and an afternoon cultural encounter. The hike, with the evocative title «Farewell, mountain of God! Farewell, Mount Alvernia!», is a loop trail that crosses chestnut groves, beech forests, and Apennine vistas, leading to the Eremo della Casella, a site of Franciscan memory associated with the Saint's departure from La Verna. The walks are curated by the Circolo degli Esploratori and accompanied by live readings along the route.

In the afternoon, the event moves to the Aula Magna of the Fanfani-Camaiti Hotel Management Institute, the historic venue for the Caprese literary meeting, featuring guests from the Italian cultural scene. The festival favors a sober dialogue between word, landscape, and spirituality, far from large crowds and close to the slow rhythm of the journey.

An event dedicated to Saint Francis

The festival was created to promote the Franciscan paths of the Upper Tiber Valley and to rediscover the places that preserve the memory of Saint Francis of Assisi between Tuscany and Umbria. The network of stops includes, in addition to Caprese Michelangelo, villages such as Citerna, Monterchi, Pieve Santo Stefano, Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, San Giustino, Sansepolcro, Anghiari, and Città di Castello, with events also held in the symbolic cities of Florence, Arezzo, Perugia, and Assisi.

A village to discover

Participating in the Caprese Michelangelo stage is also an opportunity to discover an authentic village in the Tuscan Apennines: the castle with Michelangelo's birthplace, the chestnut woods that produce the famous IGP chestnut in autumn, and the trails that climb toward the Sanctuary of La Verna. The combination of nature, art, and spirituality makes this stop one of the most evocative on the Franciscan calendar.