About this journey

A pilgrimage?

Going on a pilgrimage has become fashionable.

The Way of St. James is possibly the most famous pilgrimage route in Europe. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people set out towards Santiago de Compostela - on foot, by coach or car, on horseback or with pack mules.

I have not chosen to walk an "official" and acknowledged pilgrimage route, but nevertheless my project is a true, real pilgrimage.

It follows an unknown, quiet route, and its spiritual significance is perhaps accessible to only a few.

Why Aldo Moro?

The "patron" and the destination of my pilgrimage is not a saint.

Aldo Moro was a politician. A profession that is not usually associated with spirituality. You will find his short biography at Wikipedia. I may also talk here about one or the other political or historical aspect, but in moderation.

Should you still perceive all this as being "too political" or simply "too strange", the best approach might be to see Aldo Moro not as a politican but as a human being. As a friend from another age and time.

Somebody the author feels personally close to.

In 2012, it was indeed proposed to the Vatican that Aldo Moro should be beatified (the preliminary stage to sanctification). I am not a Catholic, and my spiritual perceptions are totally different.

Whatever the Vatican's decision will be, I will respect it. However, it will not alter my own position towards Aldo Moro in any way.

Why on foot with a pack donkey?

Aldo Moro lived in our modern age. He travelled by car and airplane.

But behind this superficial reality, an other, deeper reality lies hidden.

Some of the old films that depict Aldo Moro seem to convey this other reality. When Moro explains his ideas, the interplay with the mysterious, flickering black-and-white film creates something like a dream reflection from a far-away, ancient time.

A world that is located somewhere between the individual frames of the film strip.

My journey is an expedition into this unknown world. I know intuitively that no modern means of transport will grant access to it.

This expedition can only succeed with the muscle power of both human being and animal. Travelling paths that still exist today, hidden away next to the large, crowded and noisy transport routes.

This pilgrimage is an expedition with the methods of the 19th century and the heart of the 1970s - in the reality of 2015.

It leads into the unknown.