July featured events
 | Emilia Romagna - The second Sunday of July in Busana, in the Reggio Emilia mountains, the Ecomaratona del Ventasso features four different distances (42k / 30k / 18k / 12k) on the trails surrounding Mount Ventasso, from the top of which the eye can embrace the whole Reggiano Appennine, the Parmesan Appennine, and the ridge that separates this area from Tuscany. The courses alternate between chesnut woods, beeches, and moorland passing by villages made of stone, small chapels hidden in the woods, fresh springs, and a lake filled with turquoise water. www.ecomaratonadelventasso.it |
 | Lombardia - Livigno, in the heart of the Alpes near the Swiss border, offers a breathtaking pristine landscape that is second to none, comprised of natural forests, crystal-clear mountain torrents, wide valleys and pastures in bloom. The Stralivigno offers a great opportunity to visit this Summer wonderland. It is an international event winding through the local valley. www.stralivigno.it |
 | Lombardia - The town of Vestone, near Brescia hosts the Tre campanili half marathon, that is the "Three belltowers half marathon". It is an international event on the mountain surrounding the former capital of the Stoni, a pre-Roman population that inhabited this area in the centuries before Christ. Each participant will receive a medal, technical socks and shirt, and a free post-race meal. www.trecampanili.it |
 | Sicilia - Take a week off and enjoy the "Black Pearl" of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the island of Ustica off the coasts of Sicily. Populated at least since about 1500 bC by the Phoenicians, the island is today home to only a thousand people, and they are welcoming the participants to the annual Giro podistico a tappe dell'isola di Ustica. This is a week-lasting relay event, with a couple of rest days in between daily runs spawning from 7k to 10k in lenght. www.usticatour.it |
 | Sicilia - Here is an offer you can't refuse - running with the Godfather. The town of Savoca near Messina in Sicily - hosting the Trofeo podistico città di Savoca, a mountain race featuring a 8.25k distance - was the location for the scenes set in Corleone of Coppola's "The Godfather". Bar Vitelli in Savoca, which is still a functioning establishment, was featured in the motion picture as the place where Michael Corleone asked Apollonia's father to meet his daughter. Despite years since its making, "The Godfather" continues to appeal for its cultural value as an iconic movie that portrays not only the Italian culture but also the struggles for the American Dream. Now leave the gun and take your running shoes. www.polisportivaodysseus.com |
 | Sicilia - The Barocco Race, a 24k event held in Ragusa Ibla is the perfect opportunity to visit the fine Sicilian Baroque architecture, as the course winds through the "pearls" of the Val di Noto: Ragusa, Modica, and Scicli where the finish line is placed. These towns are inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage List as "representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe". The settlements of the Val di Noto were mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1693. The rulers of the time, the kings of Spain, granted the nobleman Giuseppe Lanza special authority to redesign the damaged towns, which he did in a Baroque and Renaissance style. www.maratonadiragusa.com |
 | Sicilia - The Trail dei Nebrodi, one of the events of the Circuito Ecotrail Sicilia, held in Cesarò near Messina, is not for the faint of heart. It is a partially self-sufficient ultramarathon in the pristine environment of the Parco dei Nebrodi on the Sicilian Apennines, the largest protected natural area of the island. Along the 65k course (but there is also a shorter 20k trail) participants are required to bring their own emergency supply, leave no trace, pick up their trash (or be disqualified) and run with no iPods or music players of any sort. www.ecotrailsicilia.it |
 | Toscana - The Reggello-Vallombrosa is held in Reggello. It is the classic Summer event for those living around Firenze. The course is a point-to-point one measuring 13.2k. It starts from the quaint little town of Reggello and ends up in Vallombrosa, a Benedictine abbey surrounded by forests of beech and firs, founded by Giovanni Gualberto, a Florentine noble, in 1038. The entry fee is 12 euro. Make sure to pack some food along and have an after-race picnic in the park in front of the abbey. www.podistiresco.it/reggello-vallombrosa |
 | Toscana - The Salitredici delivers what its title promises - a 13.2k point-to-point uphill course. The route brings the participants from the medieval town of Abbadia San Salvatore, near Siena, to the top of the Amiata mountain on a shaded street completely closed to traffic. The area the race goes through was once important for the extraction of cinnabar, a historic source for the brilliant red and scarlet pigments used since antiquity in cosmetics and to color lacquerware. www.amiatarunners.com |
 | Trentino Alto Adige - The Alpe di Siusi Half Marathon is held in Castelrotto, near Bolzano, in the German-speaking region of South Tyrol. The "Alpe di Siusi Half Marathon" on Europe's largest mountain pasture is a fascinating running event for its breathtaking scenery and a particular challenge due to its 601 meters of elevation gain. The run is limited to 500 participants. http://running.seiseralm.it |
 | Trentino Alto Adige - The Giro Lago di Resia is held in Curon, on the shores of the Reschensee, an artificial lake in the western portion of South Tyrol, between the borders with Austria and Switzerland. The lake is famous for the steeple of a submerged 14th-century church. The race is 15.3k, one loop of the lake, and starts at 5 pm. The entries are limited to 3000 participants. www.girolagodiresia.it |
 | Trentino Alto Adige - Runners participating in the Brixen Dolomiten Marathon will be impressed both by the fascinating historic city of Bressanone and by the adventure on the mountain in the hearth of the Dolomites, a Unesco World Natural Heritage site. This uphill and mostly offroad marathon starts from the central square of Bressanone (Brixen in German), 560 meters of altitude, and finishes near the snow-capped Italian Alpine Club shelter of Plose, 2450 meters high up in the mountains. All finishers will receive a T-shirt and a medal. www.brixenmarathon.com |
 | Umbria - Introduced by the Roman legions during the expansion of the empire into the countries of the European continent, the "gnocchi" dumplings have been around for the past 2000 years. The Corri sul Nera in San Liberato di Narni, near Terni, is a 9k running event held within the local gnocchi festival. Not only runners will enjoy a panoramic course along the Nera river natural environment, but after crossing the finish line they will also be able to taste several gnocchi-based specialties. www.asddelnera.it |
 | Veneto - The Transcivetta Karpos is held in Alleghe, near Belluno. It is a mountain trail run for 2-person teams on a 23.5k panoramic course on the Dolomites mountain range. Snow is expected on several places along the trail. www.transcivetta.com |
 | Veneto - The Antico Troi degli Sciamani is an 80k long distance mountain trail running with a positive difference in altitude of approximately 3300 metres, starting at midnight. The course develops entirely through mountain and forest trails and the conditions can be difficult and sometimes extreme due to cold, wind, rain, fog. Most athletes will take more than twelve hours to complete this ultramarathon. www.fregonatrailfest.it |
 | Veneto - Only 2k in lenght, the Vertical Km in Pieve di Livinallongo, near Belluno, is an uphill point-to-point event reaching the top of Col di Lana. The course features stunning views while paying homage to the tragic history these mountains witnessed during World War I. Dubbed "Col di Sangue" ("Blood Mountain"), the area was the scene of heavy fighting between Austria and Italy. It is now a memorial to the War in the Dolomites, and a chapel stands on the summit, along with the remains of a barracks and trenches. There is also a small war museum. www.v-km.it |
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