On a brisk spring morning in Rimini, I stood in a hushed cathedral with 11 other hikers, waiting for a bishop’s blessing. Ahead lay days of strenuous trekking through Italy’s mountainous Emilia-Romagna region to the Sanctuary of La Verna, a Franciscan monastery in Tuscany. Together we would climb and descend for 75 miles on paths, some rugged and steep. So far, we had walked just three flat city blocks. Given the rigors ahead, pausing for celestial aid seemed wise.

We were following in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi, but we weren’t on a religious pilgrimage. My husband and I joined this trip, offered by the Minneapolis-based nonprofit Esperienza — which reinvigorates rural Italy through philanthropy and tourism — to visit hilltop towns where trains don’t stop and tourists rarely roam. And we would take the slow approach — by foot.