The Salt Walk on RAI-Radio Live
An event on the Via Romea Germanica with many images of the Salt Walk
The Via Romea Germanica winds its way through enchanted villages and beautiful natural landscape. It is the itinerary travelled in the Middle Ages by the German Abbot Albert of Stade, which, in Italy, from the Brenner Pass crosses the peninsula to reach Rome. Now a candidate to become a European cultural route, it is managed by the Associazione Via Romea Germanica that has activated its operational headquarters in the town of Cervia to stimulate the activity of communication and promotion of the route.
The connection between the town of Cervia and the Via Romea Germanica was born with the Salt Walk. Following the route of the Via Romea Germanica, the pilgrims of Cervia will set out for Rome to take the salt produced in the salt pans to the Pope, renewing an ancient tradition.
From Friday 19 June at 1 pm on the national fb channel, the story of the Via Romea Germanica will be told in Dieci Passi nella Storia, a programme dedicated to those enthusiastic about slow tourism and to those who want to approach this kind of tourism. Dieci Passi nella Storia is the programme of RAI Radio Live that deals with the walks of Italy and the stories of the walkers. RAI RadioLive can be listened to on www.radiolive.rai.it. on the Rai Play app, on the Dab, or on TV on the dedicated Digital Terrestrial Channel.
The trailer to present the episode on the Via Romea Germanica shows many passages linked to the Salt Walk of the pilgrims of Cervia, from the departure from the salt warehouses to the delivery of salt in St. Peter’s Square.
Set up in 2017, the Salt Walk is a very important event among the initiatives dedicated to the tradition and to the salt of Cervia. The route is organised by the Gruppo Culturale Civiltà Salinara together with the Circolo Culturale Clodovea of Savio and the Associazione Via Romea Germanica. 11 days of walk through the Apennines and 10 stages to reach the destination and deliver the “sweet” salt to Pope Francis together with the mayor of Cervia.
The tribute of the salt of Cervia to the Pope began when Cardinal Pietro Barbo (who went on to become Pope Paul II) became Bishop of Cervia in 1444. The tradition was suspended in 1870, following the events of the Porta Pia breach, which interrupted diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the then young Kingdom of Italy. Cardinal Pietro Barbo had thought of sending the salt of Cervia to Pope Eugene IV (whose real name was Gabriele Condulmer, uncle of Barbo on his mother’s side) to thank him for his appointment to bishop of Cervia, a rich diocese of the papal state precisely for the production of salt.
Cervia, 18th June 2020