Tag Archive for 'vivicittà'

Vivicittà, the race that has crossed borders since 1984.

Less than a week remains until the start of Vivicittà 2025. This event, first launched in 1984, will bring runners of all ages to the streets of numerous Italian cities in the name of peace, environmental protection, rights, and Europe. The event is set for Sunday, April 6, at 9:30 AM, when the race will simultaneously begin in all participating locations.

Vivicittà is a race that breaks down barriers, just like the roads that connect places and people. It is an experience of discovery and encounter, symbolized by Piazza Transalpina in Gorizia, which links Italy and Slovenia, representing the end of all borders. This year, the event will also take place in several other countries: some races will be held in France and Bosnia, while the non-competitive version will even reach Japan, with events in Osaka and Yokohama.

Another distinctive aspect of Vivicittà is the connection between the inside and the outside, between the center and the outskirts. For this reason, the event will also take place within twenty penitentiary institutions, transforming these spaces into places of participation and inclusion. With the slogan “Open Doors,” Vivicittà promotes sports activities in prisons throughout the year, thanks to the commitment of Uisp territorial committees, which collaborate with prison administrations to organize disciplines such as volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, and dance.

This race is also a symbol of cultural integration because sports belong to everyone and are for everyone. There are no distinctions between professional athletes and enthusiasts—anyone can be a protagonist, regardless of age or ability. There are no exclusions, nor foreigners, because Vivicittà celebrates equality in sports. Thanks to a route compensation system, all participants are included in the rankings, reinforcing the idea of a competition that unites rather than divides. From large urban centers like Turin and Palermo to small villages full of history and charm, Vivicittà is a journey through landscapes and cultures.

Every participant can choose how to experience the event: there is a competitive 10 km race for the more trained runners, but also 3-4 km recreational walks for families and schools, bringing life to squares and parks with the colors of peace, represented by the multicolored official T-shirt. Last year, thousands chose the non-competitive version: 6,000 in Reggio Emilia, 5,000 in Bra, 1,600 in La Spezia, just to name a few.

Taking part in Vivicittà also means caring for the environment. In many cities, including Bari, Cagliari, Palermo, and Turin, awareness initiatives are planned for waste separation and proper plastic disposal, in collaboration with Uisp and Corepla, the National Consortium for the Recycling of Plastic Packaging.

“Vivicittà is like a relay race, a baton passed from hand to hand, reaching different cities and realities,” said Tiziano Pesce, Uisp national president. “It is a symbol of peace, inclusion, and environmental sustainability. This is the value of sports that we want to promote, together with the 40,000 participants expected this year. Once again, Vivicittà will connect historic centers and penitentiaries, disadvantaged neighborhoods and urban parks, demonstrating that sports can truly create connections and break down barriers.”

Vivicittà: the greatest race in the world

VIVICITTA’ – 2 APRILE 2023

It started in 1983 promoted by UISP and has not stopped since. The “greatest race in the world” continues to be the great protagonist of sports for all, embracing in a single, original formula, professional athletes and Sunday sportsmen with the competitive 10km in addition to the recreational motor walk in many Italian and foreign cities, departure for all at the same time, single ranking based on compensated times. And every year, a theme to fight for: peace, human rights, environmental respect, social equality, solidarity among peoples. So that freedom (to run) is not a privilege of the few.

Let us then follow together some of the most significant stages:

1984 - “Italy, ready, go!”: after the prologue in Perugia in 1983, the Vivicittà adventure starts. 30 thousand people run simultaneously in twenty Italian cities to defend the historic centers. In the Rome trial, the overall winners, both Russians, Vladimir Kotov and 26-year-old Palina Gregorenko, impose themselves.

1986 - Vivicittà lands in New York launching a message of friendship and solidarity among people. Participants grow to 60,000. The route is reduced to 12 km to standardize the courses and make the compensated rankings more truthful. The overall winners are running in Rome: Britain’s Tim Hutchings and Italy’s Anna Villani.

1989 - Vivicittà runs with a mask. A system to detect pollution levels during physical activity is tested in Rome by having some athletes run with a special mask. On the occasion of the European Year for Combating Cancer, a vademecum of rules for prevention is distributed to all participants. 80 thousand athletes run in the 33 Italian and 7 foreign venues. Salvatore Antibo wins over all, winning for the second consecutive time in Palermo.

1990 - after the fall of the wall, the event is in reunified Berlin. Record number of cities entered: 34 in Italy and 7 abroad: in addition to Berlin, Seville, Barcelona, New York, Budapest, Lisbon, Brussels. The winner runs in Siena and is Rwandan Ntawulikura while the German capital gives the female winner, Uta Pipping.

2000 -With everyone’s reasons for everyone’s rights” is the message accompanying Vivicittà in its debut in Baghdad. Roman marathon runner Giuseppe Papaluca walks the 1,000 km from Amman to Baghdad to bring a message of peace. Catania reintroduces compensated winners with Kenyan Robert Kipchumba and Italian Agata Balsamo.

2008 - two more iconic cities united by Vivicittà’s message. Running in Beirut and Bucharest in the name of tolerance and integration. 70 thousand athletes participate in the 40 Italian cities. Victory goes to Kenyan Philemon Kipketer Serem and Italian Renate Rungger.

2011 - runs in the name of 150 years of the Unification of Italy. 100 thousand runners at the start in 38 Italian cities and 16 around the world. Vivicittà also involves 17 penitentiary and juvenile institutions and the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, as the concluding event of the Palestiniadi. Among the winners, absolute primacy to Africans with Moroccans Khalid Ghallab among men and Hafida Izem among women.

2016 - #Freetomove, the theme of Vivicittà 2016 was related to welcoming and the social value of sport, which manages to overcome geographical and social borders. The symbolic place of this edition – which saw 60,000 participants in 43 Italian cities and 11 in the world – was Lampedusa.

2022 - after a two-year stop caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Vivicittà returns throughout Italy, with a special dedication to Peace. Vivicittà – the race for peace, gathers 20,000 participants in 30 Italian cities.

Vivicittà 2014, the run for all

Sunday is the day of Vivicittà 2014: The race for all. It’s the biggest race in the world because it takes place simultaneously in 45 Italian cities and 10 overseas. This is the 31th edition, which takes place about 12 km away and joining together has always been some of the fundamental human values ​​: the need for sport, environmental protection, international solidarity and to livethe historic town centers. These themes are present up since the first edition of the event organized by UISP and Franco Fava in a 1984 article published by Espresso already presented this way:

” This first edition of Vivicittà is not just a sporting event, even if the sporting and technical certainly not lacking today … do run 30,000 people is no longer a novelty. Distribute though so many runners in twenty different cities, starting at the same time, using as a backdrop the historic town centers among the most beautiful in Italy and make sure to compensate for the run times under the different difficulty of the route is likely to leave almost in disbelief … Surely in the great day of Vivicittà, no one can say that the Italians have finally put aside the bad habits of sports fan but not actives. Certainly no one can deny, however, that a new era is coming on the horizon and a more healthy and democratic sport mentality is close to establish itself for the good of all. THe cities will rise from twenty to forty and one day, perhaps due to Vivicittà , the run made ​​in Italy could be exported.”

Well these predictions have come true and to emphasize the value of sport as a right of all, without exception, the race will also take place in a number of Italian prisons but also in Osaka and Yokohama, in Bosnia in Tuzla and Sarajevo. In other dates will take place in Lebanon in Balbeeck and Sidon in solidarity with Syrian and Palestinian refugees. The fundraiser this year (1 € per participant) will be finalized in the project “Sport and Dignity” in collaboration with UNRWA – UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to achieve 12 gyms for gymnastics, 12 spaces for volleyball and the training of trainers for these sports.