THE PILGRIM’S GUIDE TO SANTIAGO

The guide is not only a literary text of enormous historiographical value but also a travel book for pilgrims who still make their way to Compostela on the Camino.

Preserved at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, the Fifth book of the Liber Sancti Jacobi of the Codex Calixtinus is better known as the Pilgrim\’s Guide to Santiago. In addition to being a text of undoubted historical value dating back to the 12th century, this book effectively represents, with the most recent acquisitions in the historical and historiographic field, the idea of a medieval Europe that is \’on the road\’ as ever. Unlike other texts on pilgrimages to Rome or Jerusalem, the Guide describes in a wide and accurate way the real journey towards the coveted goal, with all the details related to encounters, natural, climatic difficulties, lived experiences. The roads, the passes, the buildings, the reception places are accurately reported, giving us back fully the sense of a journey of space and faith that continues today.

Publishing house Jaca Book
Year of publication 2020
Number of pages 160
ISBN 9788816415928
Foreign Rights Stefano Miceli (stefano.miceli@jacabook.it)
Price 16.00 €

PAOLO CAUCCI VON SAUCKEN has held courses at the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome for over a decade on the via francigena, on the vie romee and on the Camino of Santiago. He directs the Confraternity of Santiago de Compostela, the only Italian institution to issue pilgrim credentials to those who are about to make the journey towards the three traditional peregrinationes maiores: Compostela, Rome and Jerusalem.