IL CORREDO DEL PELLEGRINO

In the year 2000, in the occasion of yhe Jubilee or Holy Year, pilgrimages to Rome are intensifying. Since the early medieval times, the pilgrim's Saint protector has been Saint James Apostle, by tradition, buried in Santiago de Compostela. Symbols usually found in St. James's portraits, further to the pilgrim's staff, are: the Flask, the Shell (Coquille St.Jacques for the French) and the Itinerant Map, at the time, a long parchment to be rolled up as the "Tabula Peutingeriana".

St. James's Shell is a dear souvenir of the pilgrimage. Both symbolically and pratically,it was used to collect water from brooks or from water springs during the long and often tiring journey of the pilgrim.

We have reproduced a portion of itinerant map from a print dated 1838, indicating the path from Bavaria to Rome. This map is one of the oldest existing itinerant maps including the necessary instructions for the pilgrim, the tourist and the voyager forced to follow the "carriage roads" existing in Europe in that period. Railway roads were at their dawning and sailing was still by steamers.
Of particular interest the three-language instructions.
Customs points and toll payments were indicated as D, ferries or payment bridgee as * ; stall services; availability of additional horses for the overcoming of Alpine or Apennine passes. On the document, pre-union Italian States are clearly visible.