The best seasons to set out on the Cammino Materano are undoubtedly spring and autumn, and looking at the statistics that are published every year we immediately have confirmation of this: the months of April and May are at the top of the list of departures, followed by September and October and, further apart, December and August.

The reasons are obviously related to the weather-climatic conditions: the summer temperature is likely to be too high to enjoy the walk, and can become a serious obstacle especially since there are few points at which to refuel with water and some of the stages, which I discuss in the report, are mostly without any shelter from the sun. This means that almost every morning you will also have to put all the water you will need during the day on your shoulders.

The early part of spring will also offer you the spectacle of flowering and wheat fields ready for harvest; on the trees you will also find waiting for you a good number of ripening cherries from which you can draw from time to time.

I have no direct experience of this, but there is no doubt that color-wise autumn also reserves equally spectacular colors and atmospheres for wayfarers, and certainly the temperatures return favorably from mid-September onward.