For each stage of the Cammino Materano there are volunteers who take care not only of the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of the piece of the trail under their responsibility (they paint the signage arrows, plant and replace the signs, keep the trails in order, etc…) but also take care of the relationships with the territory understood as public bodies and as accommodation, catering and tourist facilities.

The contact details of the stage contact persons are posted on the official website, available to all walkers. They are often at the same time managers of accommodations, but regardless of whether you stay overnight in their facilities they can be contacted in case of problems or emergencies, or in some cases to receive a stamp on your credential.

As if that were not enough, some of them voluntarily and willingly become authentic tour leaders willing to devote even a couple of hours of their time to take pilgrims around and show them the surroundings (see Ester in Bitetto, or Paolo in Cassano). They do this with preparation and competence, and from the passion they put into it emerges a convinced attachment to the area and the project of which they all feel, and are, an active and integral part.

Let it be clear that these activities should not be understood as “services included in the price,” so much so that they are open to all pilgrims, not just those staying in their facilities; rather, they are volunteer work offered spontaneously and free of charge by the stage contact persons. So it cannot be assumed that they are continually free and available every day of the year, nor that all the experiences I have written about in my accounts of the Hellenic Way and the Via Peuceta can always be repeated.

Undoubtedly knowing some of the stage contacts and having had the opportunity to be accompanied by them in exploring the area was a great added value during my Cammino Materano.