I part: Assisi – Pieve San Nicolò
This route starts from Porta San Giacomo, on the northeastern side of Assisi, and goes down towards the torrent Tescio through Ponte dei Galli road. After few minutes, at the end of the downhill road, on the left you will see the church of Santa Croce and a bridge. Turn left and keep walking on the asphalt road that skirts the torrent up to the Father Pius statue (0.20 minutes), where it bends to the right ascending through a road that soon becomes unsurfaced. After a clearing, from which you can admire a beautiful landscape of the Fortress and of the Basilica, you will find a fork (hours 0.35). Turn left and go up through some cypresses and olive groves, until you arrive on the top near the gate of a farm (Zampa Tower). Now the road gets level and, walking along the fence of a house, you will get near a clearing (0.50 hours). Then the road goes down and ends near a pine and cypress forest; after a steeper descent through an oak forest you will be back on the road previously left before the slope (1 hour). Walk on to the left and, after crossing a small bridge over a torrent, you will find some garden seats for a short break. Now the road goes up again on the left, away from the torrent. After the slope and a big bend on your right, leave the main road and come down again towards the torrent (1.20 hours). Now you will get to a wood full of gutters and streams, where you can find seats and tables. Cross the torrent and go up along a rocky area, until you arrive at the ridge of the hill through an asphalt road that connects Assisi to Pieve San Nicolò, called “Franciscan road” (1.40 hour). Now go up to the right and you will soon reach the cemetery of Pieve San Nicolò, where there are many seats and tables (2 hours).
II part: Pieve San Nicolò – Valfabbrica
The route continues on the left side of an unsurfaced road, whereas the asphalt road leads to the Church Of San Nicolò after 500 metres. Pass by a cemetery and a stone house and walk down through a mountain pass, from which you can see Valfabbrica and the Catria and Cucco mountains on your right and Assisi on your left. After few hundred metres, at the end of the discent, turn to the right through a small road. After passing by a house, turn to the right and walk through a wood, which ends near a field. Now, walk down another descent and then through a wood until you get to a ditch called “Fosso di Capannaccio” or “Fosso delle lupe”. Keep walking between it and an enclosure and go on until you cross the ditch and reach the Valfabbrica – Pieve San Nicolò asphalt road (3 hours). Turn to the left ,cross a bridge and you will get to Pioppo, a small town. Go straight on towards Valfabbrica and, once you reach it, go through it up to the main square (Piazza Mazzini), recognizable by a circular fountain and an old crenellated tower (3.25 hours).
III part: Valfabbrica – Pieve di Coccorano
Keep walking in the same direction and go down towards a football ground up to the river Chiascio. Cross the bridge and you will get to the right side of the river. After few hundred metres, turn right and start going up the Chiascio valley; after a bend turn right through an unsurfaced road ,cross a small ditch and keep going up. Nearby the end of the road there is the church dedicated to Saint Benedict and the Blessed Pauline from Coccorano (4.05 hours). After some hundred metres, where the unsurfaced road ends, go up again to the left and walk on the new Franciscan road towards the dam. Before arriving at the weir, turn right on an old road and go up until you arrive at a clearing, from where you can see the Chiascio weir and the old tower of Coccoranaccio. Now keep going up until the road leads to another unsurfaced one (4.45 hours). Then turn right and walk towards the top of the hill, from where you can admire the wonderful view of Valfabbrica, on your left, and the Chiascio valley, on your right. In front of you there also is the Coccoranaccio castle, whereas on the background, behind the Biscina castle, the Apennines and the Catria and the Acuto mountains stand. Finally, you will get to the small church of Coccorano, from where you can see northeastwards the Giomici Castle (5 hours).
IV part: Pieve di Coccorano – Chiesa di Caprignone
Now the road goes down and meets, every one hundred metres, many crossings. Keep walking down, turn left at the second one and right at the third one; now keep going up through an asphalt road. After 200 metres, near the fence of a house, turn right through and unsurfaced road and keep going up towards the cemetery, the church of Coccorano and an agritursimo with a small lake. Pass by a big bend on the right and a deserted house and then, after 200 metres, turn left and follow a path which goes down through a wood (5.20 hours). Cross a ditch, walk along the other side and go up to the left until you leave the wood and start coming down towards the church of Sambuco (5.40 hours). Keep going down on an asphalt road, go round the church and, nearby a bridge, you will reach the new “Franciscan road”. Now turn left, cross another bridge and walk on for about 700 metres; then turn left and go up again through an asphalt road. Pass by a ruined house, turn right in the direction of a small wood (6.30 hours). After crossing two ditches, the path goes steeply up and then leads to a rural unsurfaced road (7 hours). Now pass by a deserted house (“Casa Misciavola”) and a crossing, and keep going on. Don’t leave the main road until you reach the Biscina castle (8 hours). Walk through a tree-lined road, pass by an agriturismo and you will be back to the “Franciscan road”, which goes up for few hundred metres and then turns right through a descent up to a farmhouse. Continue walking down and, after going through an olive grove and a wood, cross a torrent and go up until you get to the church of Caprignone (8.50 hours).
V part: Chiesa di Caprignone – Eremo di S. Pietro in Vigneto
Go northwards along an unsurfaced road and, after ten minutes, leave it and walk down to the right by the side of a field. Then the path bends to the left along an enclosure near the forest, up to a ford over a torrent. Cross it and keep going up until you see another unsurfaced road that climbs on the left towards the hermitage of San Pietro in Vigneto (10 hours).
VI part: Eremo di S. Pietro in Vigneto – Chiesa della Vittorina
Now the route goes on through an unsurfaced road and near a pass, where you will find the small Church of Madonna delle Ripe (10.30 hours). From there you can leave the road and walk through a link road until you get to Abbey of Vallingeno; keep going on for a few minutes and you will go back to the main route. Now the road gets quite steep and in a short time you will find a diversion that leads to the Curch of Val di Chiascio (11.15 hours). Keep walking on up to the top of a hill, from where you can admire the view of the Apennines and, on the opposite slope, the Castle and the Abbey of Vallingeno. Nearby there is a path that comes from Vallingeno (11.45 hours); go on and, after passing by a farmhouse, you will get to an asphalt road (12 hours). Then turn left until you see on your right a diversion that goes down towards the Gubbio valley that opens out in front of you (12.10 hours). At the end of the descent go up again towards the main road (13.15 hours). Now the path continues at the side of the main road along a fence up to a torrent. Cross it, turn left under a bridge and walk on; after few hundred metres you will be back again on the path in the direction of Gubbio. Now you will pass by a farm and then get back near the main road on your left. Successively you will reach Ponte D’Assi, where you will have to cross a torrent and go straight on along a small ditch; after 5 km you will get to the outskirts of Gubbio. The road gets unsurfaced up to the church of the former hospital “Saint Lazarus”; keep walking on and then go through a park until you reach the Church of the Vittorina, where Saint Francis met the wolf (15 hours)