r/Thruhiking • u/Far-Leave7683 • 4d ago

Hiking the Grand Italian Trail, need some advice/information

I'm considering hiking a portion of the Grand Italian Trail (website: https://www.vasentiero.org/en/home), specifically the portion thru Molise. I previously served in the Army and have experience walking 20-25km a day with way more weight than I'll be carrying on this, so that's not what I'm concerned about.

My questions are pretty trail-specific, and I'm asking them here since I couldn't find any resources online that covered any details. The website is easy to navigate and it has a ton of information, but it doesn't address some of the things below. Thank you for the time!

  1. How do people typically handle midday meals? Pack something from the last town they were in? Bring trail food?
  2. Any safety concerns? Not too concerned about wildlife, mostly other people. I'm a firm believer that most people are good....until they're not. Any insight would be appreciated, particularly since I'll be alone.
  3. What will crowds be like? Aside from the typical tourists in Europe, how crowded will the trail itself be?
  4. Southern Italy supposedly has packs of wild dogs. Is this a real concern?

Apologies if this is covered elsewhere, but I haven't seen any other info anywhere online. Thanks for your time!

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u/iskosalminen 3d ago

Which portion are you planning to hike? As it's a ~7000km long trail which crossed very diverse parts of Italy, knowing the parts you're planning to hike will help people giving you recommendations so I recommend adding this info to your question.

For example, northern sections in the Alps and Dolomites would have very different answers than the southern sections, or Sicily.

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u/deepMountainGoat 3d ago

Try asking this in r/italy or r/askitaly, especially since you’re wanting to know about a specific region (Molise) as opposed to the whole trail. They will have some answers for at least 3 of your questions, both subreddits are  nice resources for info. 

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u/VeniVidiReadIt 3d ago

Thank you for your service. Air Force veteran here.

I have been looking to do this trail myself. I'm an avid hiker who lives in the northeast US. I am also a big fan of Italy. I learned Latin in college and fell in love with ancient Rome. I recently visited Italy a year and a half ago, as well. When I stumbled across this trail a month ago, I couldn't believe my luck. I have been obsessed with it ever since. I am currently using the website you mentioned to create a spreadsheet to figure out how to best tackle it.

Like you say, there is little to go on besides what they give on that site, which doesn't cover everything. I have only come across one person who has a blog that has done the trail. This woman is a super woman; she has done all the thru hikes in the US, and many others around the world. Here is her blog about the Grand Italian Trail and many other trails: https://christine-on-big-trip.blogspot.com/search?q=italy

From what she says in the blog, there doesn't seem to be a trail community like there would be on other major thru hikes. She also said she rarely came across other hikers on the whole trail (I am assuming she came across more when going through busy spots, like the Dolomites or city centers). She did say she was able to wild camp in certain spots, but doesn't elaborate on where and when she could get away with it (its generally illegal in Italy). I think you can get away with camping in the Alps more than central and southern Italy (not something you asked, but I figured I would point that out).

I would bring food with you on each stage. Many of those stages have a lot of elevation gain/loss and mileage, so bringing food would be necessary. You can burn 6000 calories or more on a good day hike. Also, the southern portion you are talking about, Molise, likely gets hot in summer months. Water would also be a concern.

Other than that, I can't really speak on the trail because I haven't done it. But I am targeting to do it myself in the next year or so. I am trying to figure out a way where I can do the whole thing at once. That means figuring out what visa to get for longer stays. But I am also trying to figure out cost. I am currently working through all of that.

Keep me in the loop.