One of the peculiar characteristics of the Cammino Materano is its organization: there is indeed a homonymous association that takes care of managing the Cammino in its entirety.
You might ask: what does “management” mean? Let’s explain it well.
The genesis of the Cammino Materano, unlike other more famous pilgrimages, does not date back to the mists of time and is not lost in the folds of history. Much less legendarily, about a decade ago a group of people armed with good intentions and entrepreneurial spirit (as well as – an aspect certainly not negligible – the right skills) decided that this path needed to be composed, shaped and structured.
Once the various Routes were identified, retracing and connecting the traces of old paths, cattle tracks, Roman and medieval roads, they then proceeded to the next step: the involvement of the territory as a fundamental condition for being able to declare a “path” as such.
Obviously this is not a simple operation, nor a quick one, and it is still ongoing. It is for this reason that not all routes have yet been officially declared “open” (although they can be traveled independently); it is not just a matter of completing the restoration of the paths and installing signage like any common hiking trail, work certainly not trivial, but also and especially creating a network of support structures for hikers that are part of the project and feel themselves as an integral part of it.
The association on its official website collects and lists all subjects, stage by stage, who have decided to become part of the project by signing an appropriate regulation: hostels and bed & breakfasts commit to guarantee prices within a certain range and provide basic services not below certain standards, while those operating in catering or tourism commit to offer special prices reserved for pilgrims.
Another interesting aspect, perhaps not common to other pilgrimages, is the existence of “stage committees” and managers who take care – each for their own stretch of responsibility – of maintaining the path, the signage, and are a point of reference available to those walking the Cammino Materano.
This great work is carried out on an exclusively voluntary basis; in fact, all the referents I have known are particularly keen to point out that the Cammino Materano to date stands on its own feet exclusively, without public investments.
If at this point you are wondering “why do they do it?” or “what are their motivations?”, and I cannot answer for them, I prefer to report directly their point of view. This is an excerpt from the introduction of the guide “The Cammino Materano – Along the Peuceta Way” in which the three authors – as well as founders of the Path: Angelofabio Attolico, Claudio Focarazzo and Lorenzo Lozito – explain why all this is “something more than a path”:

Behind this path are personal stories, of failure and success, of falls and rise-ups. […]Running through every kilometer of this path is the terrible crisis that forced a generation to the crossroads between marginalization and emigration; we between these two roads chose a third one. Every arrow traced was an act of will in “stubborn and contrary direction” against the prevailing individualism, the opportunism of “settling”, resigned inertia and sterile complaints. We decided to set out on an uphill road, but one that went in the only direction we could conceive of: that of staying, to help lay the foundations for sustainable development of our territory, the only possible way to guarantee a better present and future. The realization of this project was, despite technical skills, degrees and international experience, the fruit of an obstinacy paid with dignity and pride with hours spent working in call centers and fields, despite the rhetorical idea of a lazy South, unwilling to make sacrifices to change the state of things. […] The Cammino Materano was, and continues to be, a work of groups, of collective vision. With the association we worked not only to physically build the Peuceta Way, but also to spread that “culture of walking” that is one of the main goals of the entire project: because only on foot is it possible to know and fully appreciate the natural, landscape and cultural heritage, and to become aware that it constitutes the most important wealth of a territory.