Updated 1.50pm
Malta has officially joined the Camino de Santiago walking trail, the Culture Ministry said on Tuesday, with a Malta-specific route taking pilgrims from Rabat all the way to western Spain.
The "Camino Maltés" that has been set up combines 3,600km of walking trails through Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Barcelona “and eventually Santiago de Compostela”.
Local pilgrims can start their walk in Rabat and then make their way through Żebbuġ, Siġġiewi, Mqabba, Żurrieq, Gudja, Għaxaq, Żejtun and Żabbar before ending in Vittoriosa.
From there, they can catch a ferry to Sicily to continue the Camino route through the Italian island to Palermo, where another ferry will take them to Cagliari in Sardinia.
Various routes on that island converge at the north Sardinian town of Porto Torres, where another ferry will take pilgrims west to Barcelona.
The routes already feature on an interactive website detailing the various Camino de Santiago routes across Europe.
A Culture Ministry spokesperson told Times of Malta that work is now under way locally to introduce Camino road markings to guide trekkers on the Malta leg of the route.
The Maltese route was announced by Culture Minister Owen Bonnici and Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg during a public information session at Fort St Angelo.
The Camino de Santiago is a collection of European pilgrim routes that finish in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The tradition of walking the route dates back to the 9th or 10th century and was declared one of “three great pilgrimages of Christendom” by Pope Alexander VI in 1492.
Pilgrims must carry a special walking 'passport' which is stamped at specific points along their route.
Routes vary in difficulty but must all end with a walk of at least 100km to Santiago de Compostela to qualify for a compostela, or certificate of accomplishment.
Pilgrims can complete routes over multiple legs, spread across several years if they wish. They can also cycle the route or complete it on horseback rather than walk it.
The Camino Maltès is a fully-fledged official route and those who begin their walk in Malta and make it to Santiago de Compostela will be entitled to a compostela, a Culture Ministry spokesperson said.
The longest of the official routes is the roughly 1,000 km-long Via de la Plata, which begins from Seville in southern Spain, although some pilgrims begin their walks in cities as far away as Istanbul in Turkey or Oslo in Norway.
Well over 200,000 pilgrims embark on the walks each year.
The Camino Maltès route.Minister Bonnici thanked Heritage Malta for their work in setting up the Maltese route. Minister Borg thanked Malta’s embassy in Spain for its work with Maltese NGO Xircammini to set up the Camino Maltés and enable Malta to join the camino network.
Correction January 10, 2022: A previous version described Xircammini as a Spanish NGO.