Equestrian pilgrim along the Francigena way. Planning, surveying and testing Francigena as an equestrian path in Tuscany

Currently, the ministerial Francigena Way has no equestrian variants and staging points for horses, for both the overnight that for the temporary stop; many sections of the path are lacking of water supply, very important for horses. In addition, many of the current draft ministerial routes pass along highly trafficked roads, dangerous for the riders but also for hikers and bikers. The purpose of the study is to make the Francigena Way in Tuscany usable by horseback, ensuring quality standards to European levels of facilities and infrastructure for the horses. In this perspective, the equestrian tourism becomes an integral and driving force for the economy of rural areas, through the enhancement of local specialties and across all activities related to the horse. The horse can become true protagonist of the territory’s rural life, eco-friendly means of transport, discovery tool for rural areas and main subject of the agricultural multifunctionality concept. Equestrian tourism is a hiking experience which favors a slow travel, more and more widespread, and that allows for an intimate and natural vision of the territory and a greater knowledge of the rural environment. To make Francigena usable by horseback also provides greater possibilities of use, expanding the target of tourist (by foot, by bicycle, by horseback) and stimulating public and private incentives to various possibilities offered by breeding and keeping the horse in the perspective of multifunctionality agricultural holdings.