Aree di strada e valichi transappeninici nel territorio di Lucca all’epoca di Matilde di Canossa, in Matilde di Canossa. Tra realtà storica e mito

From the 11th century, Christian pilgrimage became a mass phenomenon in the West. With the revival of trade, civil and religious institutions joined forces to facilitate communications through road maintenance and the development of a system of rest stops. 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 Canossa domination period. The collected data allow us to reconstruct a hypothesis linked to a road network that, however, would be forced to reduce simply to branches of the Via Francigena. Travelers on these roads could have been merchants or feudal lords, soldiers, or pilgrims. The latter were particularly attracted by the reliquary statue of the Holy Face, which, according to legend, had chosen Lucca as its home.