The mayor of Santiago, Ángel Curras, and the Tourism Councillor, Reyes Leis, welcomed in Pazo de Raxoi the visitors of the Certo Project’s educational tour, featuring teachers and tour operators from Norway and Italy. During their stay in the city, they will visit the Pilgrimage Museum, Rosalía de Castro Secondary School, the Cathedral rooftops and the historic city centre. They will also walk along a small stage of the Way of St. James and hold a meeting with the Xacobeao manager, José Paz.

There are currently 36 European Cultural Itineraries declared by the Council of Europe. The first was the Way of St. James, which was recognised in 1987. Another two of the most important ones are the Via Francigena and the Route of St. Olav.

The Via Francigena started in Canterbury (England) and crossed France, Switzerland and Italy as far as Rome. It was the most important pilgrimage route to Rome in the Middle Ages. The Route of St. Olav was the most important pilgrimage route in the north of Europe. Its destination was Nidaros Cathedral, in the Norwegian city of Trondheim, which houses the remains of St. Olav, the king who brought Christianity to Norway at the beginning of the second millennium.

By means of the Certo Project, five entities from four countries are jointly promoting these three European Cultural Itineraries, which share the fact of being popular medieval pilgrimage routes. The participating entities are Santiago City Council, Routes of Europe (Parma), European Association of the Via Francigena (Fidenza), National Pilgrimage Centre for St. Olav Route (Trondheim) and the European Institute of Cultural Itineraries (Luxemburg).

The Certo Project’s promotion activities include press trips to highlight the different routes, joint presence at fairs and different tourism forums for professionals, presentations at destinations, programmes for sharing experiences and knowledge, and especially the creation of a tourist package for promoting the routes.