There are walks that follow a map and others that are born from words. The Rigoni Stern Walk belongs to the second group: a path from Vicenza to Asiago that passes through the places that inspired the tales of the Asiago-born writer, where every route seems to refer to a page, a memory, a voice of the wood.
It starts in Vicenza, at the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Monte Berico, the place where the writer fulfilled his vow upon returning from the war. From here the landscape stretches along embankments, fields and waterways, until it slowly changes rhythm; the hills lead to the foothill belt, where villas and hamlets mark the ascent towards the first woodlands.
Rising towards the Asiago Plateau, the path enters the heart of his imagination among forests, clearings and silences that are never empty; here, among trails and historic sites, the traces of the First World War also emerge. The final section follows the route of the old railway, like a symbolic return home, before reaching Asiago, passing along important streets and places in the writer’s life.
A path to be walked with great care, step by step, page after page, until you recognise the deep relationship between man and nature, a common thread throughout Rigoni Stern's work, in the landscape.
Route length: 76 km
Number of stages: 4