vivicittà « Alberto Cei

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.

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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.

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