Cammino di San Tommaso: from the Maiella to the sea at Ortona

While thousands of pilgrims throng Europe's great trails, in Abruzzo one winds along that few know but which leads to a surprising destination: the tomb of the apostle Thomas, kept in the cathedral of Ortona, on the Adriatic Sea. The Cammino di San Tommaso joins the region's mountainous interior to the coast, crossing an authentic Abruzzo of villages, hermitages, drovers' tracks and cultivated hills, where the pilgrim is still an exception and not a crowd.

The charm of this trail lies in its still being little structured and little frequented. There are no queues, no lines at the stamps, no stages taken by storm. You often walk alone, welcomed by the curiosity and kindness of the village people, in a landscape that changes its face as you descend from the mountain toward the sea.

The route

The official route is in fact long and starts in Lazio, crossing the province of L'Aquila before entering the mountainous heart of Abruzzo; many, however, walk mostly its final stretch, the one that descends from the Maiella massif to the coast. An inland reference point is the area of Roccamorice, on the slopes of the Mother Mountain, where you find some of the rock hermitages linked to Pietro da Morrone, the future Pope Celestine V. From here the trail descends through the villages of the province of Chieti, touching centres such as Guardiagrele, a city of art overlooking the slopes of the Maiella, and continues over hills and ancient drovers' tracks, the great grassy transhumance ways, until it nears the coast. The final destination is Ortona, with its Cathedral of Saint Thomas the Apostle, where the relics brought from the East in the Middle Ages are kept, and with the Aragonese castle looking out over the Adriatic.

Along the way you cross a middle Abruzzo of vineyards, olive groves, farmhouses and small sanctuaries. It is a trail that tells of the transition between the spiritual, severe mountain of the Maiella and the open light of the sea, a contrast that few other Italian itineraries can offer in so few days of walking.

The apostle's relics

There is also a historical dimension that makes this trail unique. The relics of Saint Thomas arrived in Ortona from the Greek island of Chios in 1258, carried by sea, and ever since the Adriatic city has become a small, unexpected place of devotion to the apostle whom tradition links to India and the East. To walk toward that tomb is to retrace, in spirit, an ancient bond between Abruzzo and the Mediterranean, outside the great circuits of European pilgrimage. Every village along the route preserves churches, votive shrines and traces of a popular religiosity still alive, which the attentive walker discovers slowly, stage after stage.

Getting there

To organise yourself, it is best to refer to the two ends of the route. Ortona is well connected: it has a station on the Adriatic line and is close to Pescara and its airport, so it is convenient both as an arrival point and as a logistical base. The mountain end, around Roccamorice and the Maiella, is instead reached by car or by the sparser local links. Many choose to walk from mountain to sea, to end the journey with the thrill of the Adriatic opening on the horizon. The going alternates between secondary roads, footpaths and drovers' tracks: you need a light pack, good shoes and a willingness to accept logistics less well-oiled than on the more famous trails.

When to go

The ideal period is spring and autumn. May offers green hills and a mild climate, while September and October bring crisp air, the warm colours of the grape harvest and temperatures perfect for walking long distances. These are also the months that avoid both the summer heat, which on the hills and along the coast can be exhausting, and the July and August beach-tourism influx. Out of season the Abruzzo hinterland returns to silence, and the trail shows its most intimate, meditative character.

A practical tip: prepare your stages in advance, because the welcoming points are not as dense as on the better-known trails and it is wise to know where to sleep and eat before setting off. Bring your pilgrim's credential if you want to collect the stamps and obtain the certificate on arrival, and do not be in a hurry: the point of this trail is not to grind out kilometres, but to let yourself be accompanied slowly by the mountain down to the sea, stopping at the hermitages and villages that few other travellers will have the fortune to see so deserted.