ARVO: Digital Archive of the Volto Santo. An ancient archive in the digital age

Abstract

Starting from the 11th century, Christian pilgrimage became a widespread phenomenon in the West. With the revival of commerce, both civil and religious institutions worked together to facilitate communication through the maintenance of roads and the development of a system of rest areas. Within the Gregorian program, Matilde di Canossa built and endowed churches, parishes, and hospitals along the main medieval routes. This study organically analyzes the trans-Apennine routes of the Val di Lima and the upper Val di Serchio during the Canossian domination. The collected data allow us to reconstruct a hypothesis related to a road network, which, however, would be reductive to consider simply as offshoots of the Via Francigena. Travelers on these roads could be merchants, feudal lords, soldiers, or pilgrims, particularly attracted by the reliquary statue of the Volto Santo, which, according to legend, had chosen Lucca as its home.