BAREFOOT WELL-BEING

San Martino di Castrozza is the first area in Italy to participate in the ‘Barefoot Trail’ project of the Barefoot Academy ‘Il silenzio dei passi’ (The silence of steps) founded by writer and barefooter Andrea Bianchi.


Barefoot Trail
The Barefoot Trails are trails – already part of the local trail network – that can be walked at least in part barefoot without particular difficulty even by those with no barefoot hiking experience.The marked paths in San Martino di Castrozza are three, and have been identified and marked in collaboration with the Barefoot Academy ‘Il silenzio dei passi’, and accompanied by video tutorials that can be viewed through the QR codes shown on the signs at the beginning of the trails:

Barefoot hiking

Barefoot hiking is the practice of hiking with no footwear. Walking barefoot is an experience made of mechanics, physical and mental strength, emotions, concentration, poetry, and silence.

Taking off your shoes and walking barefoot on a wooded trail, through a meadow wet with dew, or on the natural steps of a high altitude path, and learning to perceive under the soles of your bare feet the flow of heat of the stone exposed to the sun and its different textures: all this is within everyone’s reach and it takes very little to relearn how to walk barefoot.By walking barefoot in nature, you develop mental attention and body balance, improve blood circulation, and most importantly you develop your relationship with the roots of the earth, rediscovering your connection with nature. (from ilsilenziodeipassi.it)

The Barefoot Academy ‘Il silenzio dei passi’ (The silence of steps)

‘Il silenzio dei passi’ is the first barefoot hiking school in Italy, founded by writer and barefooter Andrea Bianchi.It takes its name and inspiration from the book of the same name (‘Il silenzio dei passi’, Andrea Bianchi, Ediciclo 2016) and aims to bring people closer to walking barefoot in nature, intended as a practice of psychophysical well-being accessible to all and ideal for fostering a reconnection with nature and with oneself.

Andrea Bianchi

He hosts barefoot walking workshops just about everywhere, from the Dolomites to the Via Francigena, and is the reference point for barefoot hiking in Italy.
In 2017 he founded ‘Il silenzio dei passi’ (ilsilenziodeipassi.it), the first Italian school of barefoot hiking, which proposes barefoot walking as a practice of psychophysical well-being accessible to all, to reconnect to the energy of the earth but also to learn to become light and silent within oneself.
On 16 September 2018, at Villa Welsperg, in Val Canali, he set the record for the longest single line in the world of barefoot people in the mountains, to promote a more respectful and conscious relationship with nature. A yoga scholar and practitioner, when he wears shoes he is an engineer and communication consultant, journalist, founder and editor of the online magazine Mountain Blog, one of the most followed websites on the world of mountains and outdoor sports.
His latest book, released in 2020 for Vallardi, is ‘La via del freddo alla felicità’ (The cold way to happiness), whose German-language edition for Lűbbe Life was published in March 2021. He published three books on the philosophy and benefits of walking barefoot in nature: ‘Con la Terra sotto i piedi’ (2018) for Mondadori, ‘A piedi nudi’ (2017), and ‘Il silenzio dei passi’ (2016), both for Ediciclo.