Camino Maltés: 300 Pilgrims | 15 nationalities
Having officially launched the Camino Maltés in January 2023 through a Ministerial Press conference in Fort St Angelo, work started in earnest to fix signs, print credencials and guide-books, launch the website and the app and invite people to walk it.
The Camino Maltés encompasses Malta, Sicily, Sardegna and Spain, covering 3,600km. This makes the Camino Maltés one of the longest Caminos de Santiago de Compostela.
Having commenced the walks on March 12th – the 480th anniversary of the Pro Pace Universali 1543AD pilgrimage (which is within the Camino Maltés) – by the beginning of May 300 pilgrims from over 15 nationalities have already walked the Maltese segment of the Camino Maltés. Two Sardinian pilgrims immediately proceeded to continue the Cammino di San Giacomo in Sicilia in March. The latest pilgrims, from Australia and New Zealand are now in the process of continuing in Sicily and Sardegna.
This is a link to pilgrim experiences on the Camino Maltés.
This being a collaborative effort between public entities and our NGO, we wish to reiterate our heartfelt appreciation to all the XirCammini volunteers that rolled up their sleeves to make this possible. Thank you.
Cammino Sant Antìoco, Sardegna
After having visited Sicily in March, in April/May, XirCammini also visited Sardegna to further solidify the already strong links with the respective NGOs supporting the Camino di Santiago in neighbouring islands.
Our latest visit to Sardegna served also to scout the Cammino di Sant Antìoco, the Moor Saint that propagated the devotion of St James the Elder and who is the Patron Saint of Sardegna. This 4-day (70km) cammino across wooded land, cliffs, beaches, pasture land and archeological sites will be added to XirCammini’s itinerary in 2024.
At the end of our cammino we also paid a visit to the Mayor of Sant Antioco with our friends from the Sardegnian association of the Cammino di Santu Jacu to help bolster public – private partnership in growing heritage-faith hiking within the mediterranean. Our efforts as a Maltese NGO to focus the spotlight on our region by merging Malta, Sicily, Sardegna and Spain was also acknowledged again during this meeting.
