Hiking Statistics Updated November 2026

Human Written & Fact Checked · Updated

100 Italy Hiking Statistics for 2026

If you need Italy hiking statistics, first decide what you are trying to measure. Club membership, surveyed cammino walkers and farms offering trekking describe different parts of the walking market. None is a substitute for a national count of everyone who hikes.

This hub combines original records from Club Alpino Italiano, Terre di mezzo's cammino survey and ISTAT's agritourism statistics. It preserves their different populations, periods and definitions so that individual observations can be quoted without implying broader coverage than the source supports.

Headline figures

  • CAI reported 367,856 members, including its benemeriti category. (2025 CAI records). (Club Alpino Italiano, Jun 2026)
  • CAI membership increased by 11,736 from the previous year. (2025 CAI records). (Club Alpino Italiano, Jun 2026)
  • CAI's accommodation inventory reported 14,597 beds in total. (2025 CAI records). (Club Alpino Italiano, Jun 2026)
  • CAI created 42 new youth groups during the year. (2025 CAI records). (Club Alpino Italiano, Jun 2026)
  • Women: 48.5% of surveyed cammino walkers. (2025 voluntary cammino survey). (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Aged 56–65: 32% of surveyed cammino walkers. (2025 voluntary cammino survey). (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Regular trekking participation: 87% of surveyed cammino walkers. (2025 voluntary cammino survey). (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Nature rated important (4 or 5 on a five-point scale): 80% of surveyed cammino walkers. (2025 voluntary cammino survey). (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Walking solo: 30% of surveyed cammino walkers. (2025 voluntary cammino survey). (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Italy: 1,694 agritourism farms offering trekking. (2024 farm records). (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Agritourism farms offering trekking increased by 8% year on year. (2024 farm records). (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Campania: 398 agritourism farms offering trekking. (2024 farm records). (ISTAT, Mar 2026)

Where are CAI members organised across Italy?

Club membership measures an organised mountain community, not the number of people who hike. CAI's regional and provincial records are useful precisely because their administrative scope is explicit.

What do northern regional and provincial groups report?

The northern groups report membership registrations, instead of hikes or visitors. Their boundaries identify CAI's organisational geography and should not be treated as verified residential locations for every member. Nor does membership establish that someone practised hiking during the year: the association supports several mountain activities. The figures below use the same reporting table and year, allowing organisational comparisons without mixing tourism demand into membership counts.

What do central and remaining Alpine groups report?

These groups cover central regions together with remaining Alpine provincial and regional entries. Each value belongs to CAI's membership register, not a regional population survey. Trentino and Alto Adige are separate provincial groupings here, while the agritourism table later combines them into one region. That difference is retained instead of silently harmonised. Regional membership cannot establish how many routes exist locally or where those members chose to walk.

What do southern and island groups report?

Southern and island entries complete the regional group coverage, but the regional rows do not exhaust CAI's national total. National sections are reported separately in the source and are not allocated to home regions here. Smaller membership counts should therefore be read as organisational scale, not as evidence that residents rarely hike. Informal walkers and people belonging to other organisations remain outside this register.

What infrastructure and membership structures does CAI report?

A mountain club's contribution is broader than its membership total. Accommodation assets, membership categories and younger-member organisation describe distinct parts of that contribution, without becoming measures of trail use.

How are the main membership categories distributed?

Ordinary, junior, family and young categories describe registration types, not mutually interchangeable age bands or household counts. Family membership counts individual members in that category instead of entire families. These selected categories are not the complete category list, so their sum is not presented as the association total. The report's membership chapter includes the benemeriti category in its overall total; an earlier demographic section explicitly excludes that category. Preserving the chosen table's definition avoids treating the difference as an unexplained discrepancy or combining incompatible totals.

Which types of mountain accommodation are recorded?

CAI distinguishes several forms of mountain shelter in its property and entrusted-management inventory. A staffed refuge is therefore not interchangeable with a bivouac or support point. These are structures linked to CAI, instead of every refuge or lodging business in Italy. Counts describe available assets, not annual guests, overnight stays, opening days or the capacity accessible on a particular trip. Operational availability still requires checking the individual facility.

What does CAI report about its younger members?

The younger-member figures combine an age-defined membership measure with organisational measures such as groups and section leadership. A youth group is not a member, and a section president can also be included in the age-band membership total. These indicators therefore overlap instead of forming categories to add together. Growth compares the stated age band with the previous year; it does not isolate new hikers from transfers, returning members or people ageing into the band. The leadership figure shows representation within CAI, not the age distribution of mountain organisations across Italy.

Who responded to the cammino walking survey?

A voluntary walker survey can describe an engaged audience without representing every Italian hiker. Terre di mezzo's original profile covers responding cammino walkers, including people whose routes were outside Italy.

How does the sample divide by age and gender?

  • Men: 51.5% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Aged 0–25: 2% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Aged 26–35: 11% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Aged 36–45: 14% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Aged 46–55: 21% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Aged over 65: 21% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)

The age and gender entries describe the composition of respondents, not the probability that someone in each population group goes walking. Published age shares are rounded and need not sum perfectly. The original gender chart is used consistently: its male figure differs slightly from the accompanying prose, a discrepancy retained in the inventory instead of averaged away. No population weighting or national demographic participation estimate is inferred from these responses.

What work situations do respondents report?

  • Full-time employees: 40% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Retired: 30% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Self-employed professionals: 14% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Part-time employees: 10% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Students: 2% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Unemployed: 2% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Homemakers: 1% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • People in religious life: 1% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)

Employment categories describe respondents' circumstances, not reasons for walking. In particular, retirement does not establish trip duration, while full-time work does not show how leave was arranged. The survey does not provide a causal comparison between employment status and participation. These rounded shares belong to the voluntary cammino sample.

What educational backgrounds appear in the sample?

  • University or postgraduate education: 49% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Upper-secondary education: 36% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Post-secondary diploma: 8% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Lower-secondary education: 7% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)

University and postgraduate qualifications form a combined category in the original chart. Post-secondary diplomas remain separate from that grouping and from upper-secondary education. These are educational profiles of survey respondents, not estimates of hiking participation within each educational group. A concentrated response pattern may reflect the audience reached by the questionnaire as well as who undertakes cammini. Without a representative population comparison, the results cannot establish that education caused participation or that people with a particular qualification walk more often. They describe this sample and should retain that scope when quoted or compared with future editions.

What experience and motivations do cammino walkers report?

Experience, travel arrangements and motivation answer different questions. Keeping those measures separate avoids turning self-described expertise into a claim about skill, safety or the number of walks completed.

How experienced are respondents and how frequently did they walk?

  • Self-described experienced walkers: 60.2% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Self-described beginners: 7.4% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • First cammino completed during 2025: 15% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Completed two cammini during 2025: 29% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Completed at least three cammini during 2025: 19% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)

Self-described experience and completed cammini are different measures. A beginner label does not necessarily mean a first-ever route, while completing several routes says nothing about their distance or difficulty. The annual counts refer to the survey year and should not be confused with lifetime experience. Reported expertise is not an independently assessed qualification, and the survey does not show whether more experienced respondents made safer decisions or encountered fewer problems.

What do lifetime walking history and trip arrangements show?

  • One lifetime cammino: 13% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Two to four lifetime cammini: 34% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Five to nine lifetime cammini: 29% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • At least ten lifetime cammini: 24% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Walking in a two-person party: 39% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • A cammino in Italy: 81% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)

Lifetime route counts accumulate across years, whereas party size and destination describe the survey's travel reporting. Someone with substantial lifetime experience may still complete few routes in the latest year. The Italy destination entry also explains why the full respondent profile cannot be labelled a sample solely of people walking Italian routes. Party size does not identify relationships between companions or demonstrate that every outing used the same arrangement.

Which reasons for walking receive high importance ratings?

  • Mental and emotional wellbeing rated important (4 or 5 on a five-point scale): 80% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Physical wellbeing and training rated important (4 or 5 on a five-point scale): 72% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Curiosity, meeting people and new experiences rated important (4 or 5 on a five-point scale): 71% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Culture, villages, places and territories rated important (4 or 5 on a five-point scale): 68% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)
  • Religious or spiritual reasons rated important (4 or 5 on a five-point scale): 26% of surveyed cammino walkers. (Terre di mezzo, Mar 2026)

Respondents could value several motivations simultaneously. The reported threshold combines the upper importance ratings on the source's scale, instead of asking walkers to choose one exclusive reason. These responses measure stated motivations, not demonstrated health improvements, training outcomes or spiritual effects produced by a walk.

Where do agritourism farms offer trekking services?

Rural trekking provision is a supply measure, not a count of hikers. ISTAT records the service offered by agritourism enterprises, allowing regional comparisons within that specific business category.

What trekking provision is recorded in northern regions?

  • Piedmont: 0 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Aosta Valley: 0 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Lombardy: 64 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Liguria: 62 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol: 1 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Veneto: 5 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Friuli-Venezia Giulia: 11 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Emilia-Romagna: 85 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)

Northern values count agritourism enterprises in the trekking category. A recorded zero means no enterprises in that category in this table, not an absence of hiking routes, walkers or other outdoor businesses. Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol is reported here as a combined region, avoiding double-counting its provinces. Facilities may offer additional activities, so trekking cannot be added to other service categories to obtain distinct enterprises.

What do central regions and the central-southern transition report?

  • Tuscany: 293 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Umbria: 256 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Marche: 32 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Lazio: 163 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Abruzzo: 0 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Molise: 16 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)

The service definition concerns excursions lasting a day or longer in relatively remote natural settings, as specified in ISTAT's glossary. It is narrower than treating every farm stay as a hiking holiday, and the report also maintains a separate excursions category. These regional counts therefore describe the registered trekking offer, not all businesses that might direct a guest towards a nearby path. They do not indicate whether guests actually used the service or how often.

What do the remaining southern and island regions report?

  • Apulia: 54 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Basilicata: 50 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Calabria: 20 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Sicily: 157 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)
  • Sardinia: 27 agritourism farms offering trekking. (ISTAT, Mar 2026)

The remaining southern and island entries complete the regional coverage after the Campania figure showed above. Farm counts are not adjusted for region size, resident population, route length or visitor demand. A larger count consequently indicates more recorded enterprises in this category, instead of a higher participation rate or greater service quality. The data also do not identify whether each trekking offer is guided, included in accommodation prices or available throughout the year. Those operational details require information from the individual business instead of inference from this statistical classification.

Glossary

Methodology and sources

Every figure on this page comes from the organisation that produced it: regulators, statistics offices, public bodies, research institutes, and companies reporting their own data or surveys. Each one links to the original report or dataset and carries its release date. Survey results keep their population and fieldwork period, and financial figures keep the measure the producer used. Figures from different producers are not added together or ranked against each other. The page is reviewed monthly and updated when a producer releases newer data.