Via Francigena: Sarzana to Acquapendente · Stage 5
Walking time as Regione Toscana states it for this stage; measured on the mapped line: 7 h 18. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights. Regione Toscana
From Altopascio to the Convento San Francesco in San Miniato: 29.01 km, 6 h and 283 m up; 28.5 km on our line. The convent hostel at the end takes bookings only.
Best season: All year. The route is open all year. Tuscany's pilgrim site gives May, June and September as the best months: August is very hot and busy, March and April are often rainy, and winter is not recommended because services and some hostels close. The parish hostel at Abbadia a Isola opens only from Easter to 2 November, and Lucca's Misericordia hostel closes in the last week of October. Before you go
Facts read from the guide's sources and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with your accommodation before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage start
Town
A small town with a station on the line between Florence and Viareggio. The Tuscan list names no pilgrim hostel in Altopascio: book a room in town.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Stage end · overnight
Town
A hill town. Its station, San Miniato-Fucecchio, is in the lower town on the line between Florence, Pisa and Livorno.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Convento San Francesco · Hostel or bunkhouse
Season 2026: 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026
Make it your trip
Regione Toscana lists pilgrim hostels run by parishes, convents and associations, many by donation. You need not book at a donation hostel, its FAQ says, but tell the host the day before, because the volunteers often live elsewhere. Some must be booked: the Convento San Francesco in San Miniato, the Casa per Ferie in Monteriggioni and the Accoglienza Santa Luisa in Siena. Radicofani's hostel takes no bookings. We list no pilgrim hostel in Sarzana, Massa, Camaiore, Altopascio or Acquapendente: book a room there.
The thirteen AEVF stages through Tuscany, a night at the end of each.
Plan this journeySix stages by San Miniato, San Gimignano and Monteriggioni, with stations at both ends.
Plan this journeyThe last four stages, through the Val d'Orcia and over Radicofani into Lazio.
Plan this journeyLoading the forecast for on the trail (81 m)…
Typical weather on this stage, around 12–150 m. Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed | Poor | Poor | Mixed | Good | Good | Good |
| Day / night | 10°/2° | 12°/2° | 15°/5° | 19°/8° | 23°/12° | 27°/16° | 30°/18° | 31°/18° | 26°/15° | 20°/11° | 15°/7° | 11°/3° |
| Rain, mm | 56 | 60 | 56 | 69 | 63 | 44 | 32 | 38 | 85 | 120 | 140 | 85 |
| Snow at high point | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Daylight | 9 h 16 | 10 h 28 | 11 h 51 | 13 h 23 | 14 h 41 | 15 h 25 | 15 h 09 | 14 h 03 | 12 h 35 | 11 h 06 | 9 h 43 | 8 h 57 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
AEVF listed no alerts for these stages on 30 September: its list of active alerts, last updated that day and read 13 October 2026, names none from Sarzana to Acquapendente. North of Sarzana, on stage VFI-082 near Virgoletta, a fallen tree lets walkers through but not bikes. South of Acquapendente, forestry works interrupt stage VFI-100 between Viterbo and Vetralla, and the AEVF advises walkers to take the Signorino variant. Where a temporary diversion is signed, follow it.
AEVF: all active alertsStage 12 climbs 908 m over 32.46 km, Tuscany's hardest: 7 h 15 by its leg page, about 9 hours on our model, which runs longer. The Tuscan list has no bed between San Quirico d'Orcia and Radicofani, and Radicofani's hostel takes no bookings (first come, first served). Start early and carry water. Francigena Toscana, leg 36, read 13 October 2026.
Francigena Toscana: leg 36, San Quirico d'Orcia to RadicofaniSome hostels take only pilgrims with a credential: the Ospitale Antonio Mazzi at Avenza, the hostel at Abbadia a Isola and the Casa Ferie La Collegiata in San Quirico d'Orcia. Radicofani's hostel asks for one from June to August and prefers it the rest of the year, and the Casa per Ferie in Monteriggioni costs less with one. Francigena Toscana, hostel pages, read 13 October 2026.
Francigena Toscana: pilgrim hostelsNo booking is needed at the donation hostels, but contact the host the day before: the people who run them often live elsewhere. San Miniato's Convento San Francesco, Monteriggioni's Casa per Ferie and Siena's Accoglienza Santa Luisa must be booked. Francigena Toscana FAQ, read 13 October 2026.
Francigena Toscana: FAQLucca's Foresteria del Pellegrino of the Misericordia is closed in the last week of October, for Lucca Comics & Games, and has only 3 beds in winter (18 in summer). The hostel at Abbadia a Isola opens only from Easter to 2 November. Francigena Toscana, hostel pages, read 13 October 2026.
Francigena Toscana: pilgrim hostelsGetting there
Travel around Altopascio to San Miniato.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
Sarzana station, on Trenitalia's regional line between La Spezia, Pisa and Rome, is about 0.4 km from the start in the old town.
TrenitaliaMassa, Lucca, Altopascio and Siena have stations; San Miniato's, San Miniato-Fucecchio, is in the lower town on the Florence to Pisa line, and Castellina Scalo is the station for Monteriggioni. Autolinee Toscane buses serve Gambassi Terme and San Gimignano (line 133 to Poggibonsi station). For Ponte d'Arbia and San Quirico d'Orcia, take the train to Buonconvento and bus 112.
Autolinee Toscane: lines and timetablesAcquapendente is in Lazio, outside the Tuscan site. Tuscany's leg page gives Chiusi station, on Trenitalia's lines, with a regional bus; we have not checked the bus from Acquapendente, so check it before you go.
Francigena Toscana: leg 37, Radicofani to AcquapendenteTake your trip with you
Prepare each stage while you still have a connection: between the villages of the Val d'Orcia and on the climb to Radicofani the signal can be weak.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
This page covers the Via Francigena through Tuscany only, not the complete route from Canterbury to Rome. It follows the European Association of the Via Francigena Ways' (AEVF) thirteen stages VFI-084 to VFI-096, from the cathedral in Sarzana (Liguria) to the Chiesa del Santo Sepolcro in Acquapendente (Lazio): 324.4 km by the AEVF's map. Regione Toscana numbers the same stages as its legs 25 to 37 and publishes them with an official stage time for each, shown with ours on every stage. Our line is 326.9 km, cut at the thirteen stage ends; each stage is within 1.5 km of the AEVF's length. It follows OpenStreetMap's Tuscany relation (12554842, from the planet of 11 October 2026), with the last 3 km of the Liguria relation into Sarzana and the first 8 km of the Lazio relation into Acquapendente, and none of the published variants. Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so it differs from Tuscany's figures.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
Francigena Toscana: the legsMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation