For about three months, it's been hyped at least once a week on German news of the rescued Mediterranean refugees....who've been brought into Italy....now facing the reality that Italy is not the place that they want to remain. So the story typically goes to an interview where two or three African guys explain how they had miserable lives in the homeland and this 'escape' is the only future for them. Then the dismal layout of the future in Italy is discussed. The Italians aren't as pro-migrant or pro-immigrant as the German (yes, amazingly so). There'll be some brief mention of the EU attempt to force EU member-states to accept individuals in this 'stuck-in-Italy' situation and how it's going nowhere. And then they will lay out this attempt by some individuals to leave Italy and head north (obviously to Germany).
The Italians, Swiss and Austrians have put up various checkpoints now at the border, and trucks are routinely checked now. In the past couple of weeks....more intense railway inspections have occurred and refugees/migrants are attempting to attach themselves underneath railway freight cars.....to make it across the border. From border to border....reaching Germany from Italy....the least amount of mileage is 90 km (straight-line).
Walking paths? This is a curious thing. There's maybe six to eight valleys along the northern region of Italy that you could find appropriate foot-paths and walk the distance. You can figure 120 to 140 km....depending on which path you'd choose. Some of the paths go up to 2,700 meters (8,800 ft roughly). Walking time? A healthy guy....good weather...some pauses...maybe three days.
Border folks checking the walking paths? I would imagine hour-by-hour reviews are taking place. A fair number of Germans would take this path in the summer period, and stop in small villages along the way to sip a beer and enjoy the Alpine scenery.
Trying to walk this....off-the-trail? All you need is one bad weather front to set in, and you'd be in the wrong place for chances of survival. My guess is that people will reach some point of desperation and attempt this over the next year.
My suspicion is that some discovery of a dozen migrants frozen dead on some Alpine hillside this winter will get everyone hyped up that they need to save migrants in some fashion. The German news media will tell the story and entice some group of political folks to craft another agenda of sorts. You can shake your head over how this all has developed but these are the consequences of society in 2017.
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