“Our homeland is our villages, our altars, our tombs, everything that ours fathers loved before us. […] But what is their homeland? Do you understand it? They want to destroy customs, order, tradition. So what is this homeland that throws away the past, without loyalty, without love? For them it seems that the homeland is nothing but an idea, for us, however, it is the earth, we feel it under our feet, it is more solid.” (François de Charette)
It is from this extract that the idea of embarking on a journey was initially born, not a pilgrimage or even a trekking “into the wild”, but a path that would allow me to cross, to see and feel my Heimat, literally under my feet, cas beautifully described by de Charette in contrast to the sterile and insensitive Napoleonic interpretation.
And which path could best respond to this desire of mine? I don’t think anyone else, outside ofAndreas-Hofer-Weg. For the route it proposes, for the figure it celebrates, for the meaning and inspiration this figure holds for me and for many others.
“My Heimat a is not pretentious, it does not have a high-sounding name. […] My Heimat is that rectangle divided between the blue of the sky and the green of the field, cut by the fence of a path that has kept me company for years”. (Andreas Hofer)
This is what Andreas Hofer said when describing it his (and our) Heimat. And the best way to observe it from this dimension or perspective is that of the journey. This degree of detail, these sensations and this awareness can only be achieved by walking.
Moving from the Giudicarie to Passiria by car takes two hours, even less; walking takes six days! This is because on foot spaces and times expand, as do the details, the particularities, the views and the landscapes explode.
Only on foot can it be distinguished and appreciated “the blue of the sky and the green of the field cut by the fence of a path”, as Andreas Hofer vividly describes to us. The journey places us in a different, authentic dimension compared to the places we pass through. And that’s what I was looking for. The Andreas-Hofer-Weg is the path that I wanted to travel.
