ABBEY OF FONTE AVELLANA (PU) – «A path to rediscover yourself. An opportunity to emphasize the value of pilgrimages also to the youngest. Because if you don’t know who you are, you run the risk of being nobody ». The vice president of the Marche Region Mirco Carloni who this morning presented the pilgrimage from the Abbey of Montecorona to the Hermitage of Santa Croce in Fonte Avellana scheduled from 25 to 28 August, along the final part that from the Abbey of Sitria leads to Fonte Avellana. Promoted by the Eticamente association, the pilgrimage develops along the Camaldolese path of San Benedetto da Camaldolesi and Norcia for 360 kilometers, so as to connect Umbria and Marche through a thread rich in history and traditions.
«The Monastery of Fonte Avellana is the epicenter of various pilgrimage itineraries – says the Vice Prior Don Cesare Bovinelli -, including the path of the Capuchins. A very busy and well-organized path, at the center of initiatives by the Capuchins themselves who have the will and the availability to promote it. The practice of the paths, which was unknown, today has acquired considerable relevance and attention. This path has a clear and delineated logical thread, as it starts from the Camaldolese Abbey of Montecorona and ends right here at Fonte Avellana, a monastery which today has become Camaldose always under the rule of San Benedetto. Because the will to leave underlines the lack of something ».
Vice-president Mirco Carloni shines the spotlight on the value of this path, characterized by «a profound spirituality. Today there is a strong need to go back to the origins and the pilgrimage represents a clear allegory of life. As the Marche Region, for example, we have promoted the law on villages, we have put in place strategies to revive the internal areas, with the aim of promoting our peculiarities through the law on wine tourism. This will intends to focus on tourism linked to the outdoors and well-being. Our natural context and our landscape beauties are a lever that we must make more use of ».
And Carloni this morning wanted to travel a stretch of this pilgrimage from the Abbey of Sitria to Fonte Avelllana. «There is a need to apply a precise territorial marketing strategy. The figure of San Romualdo fascinates me a lot. Therefore, in the rediscovery of one’s own identity and in the return to traditions one can find stimulating perspectives in the interpretation of life. And I think that for young people it is a formative experience especially when they try to find the meaning of their existence. The Marche Region intends to support these new forms of hospitality so that added value can be created for this territory which has been left to itself for too long ».
The manager of the Marche Region echoes him Raimondo Orsetti: «There is a positive context, we must take advantage of this opportunity because there are strategic and economic conditions that make this project feasible. First of all, a culture of hospitality has matured which is changing as well as the tourist flows. This metamorphosis offers the opportunity to enhance these territories that need new services. There is a political will that converges in the awareness of a project that can be financed today. In fact, we are on the eve of the Community Funds programming which will close by autumn ».
Alberto Alessandrimayor of Cagli, Ludovico Caverni mayor of Serra Sant’Abbondio e Luca Carizia mayor of Umbertide remarked that «today we want to focus on our beauties. Wellness tourism and the rediscovery of nature are a heritage that distinguishes us and that we want to identify as the keystone for the growth of our territories. We must educate our citizens and our communities to fit into this development perspective capable of creating employment and added value ».
Valentino Palpaceli which together with Franca Cecchini And Sergio Clementi, Celso Bini they devised this path highlight: «What prompted us to design this path is to be found in the desire to rediscover our roots in an era of crisis and the beauty of rediscovering ourselves. Pilgrimage as an adventure of the spirit is the silent resistance of the culture of consumerism. The meeting is worth more than life ».