I'm going to Rome for ten days, where do you run?

When I was in Rome, I found it best to get up and run early. It would be impossible to get in a good run during the day in any part of the city that I was in. Traffic is crazy and the streets are crowded. But when I got up fairly early to run, the streets were pretty much deserted and I could run anywhere I wanted.

its like impossible to run there. the streets are all stone and are winding and disorienting. in my week long stay i saw only one runner.

it's not at all "like impossible" to run in Rome. All you have to do is, like, get up before dawn. The you have the whole "disorienting" city to yourself. You can run the empty cobbled streets and find yourself the only person in the Piazza Navona, or in St. Peter's Square, or winding through the Ghetto section or the Forum. It's incredible. And for real running, the best place is the Villa Doria Pamphili, up on the Gianicolo hill, on the Trastevere side of the TIber. There are miles of trails and incredible views. It's where many of Rome's runners go.

Enjoy!

There is a path along the Tiber, but it is a relatively uneven surface, something like cobblestone. Try the Villa Borghese, depending on where you're staying. It's a large park with lots of paths and trails. Runner's World had an article about a year or so ago about places to run in Rome.

See if you can locate that. If you can't, let me know, and

I'll try to dig it up.

Best advice is to get up early--it's great to run through the deserted streets. All you have to do is orient yourself to the Tiber. Villa Borghesi is great, too.

I spent a semester in Rome and lived in Trastevere. It is similar to running in any city - try not to get hit by speeding taxis and motorbikes. My favorite way to run there was to try to leave the city on smaller roads - you will see some strange stuff that way. Heading up towards Giancolo hill (the neighborhood up the hill from Trastevere) is also worth a try there are parks up there that people do actually run around. If you are able to go on some less traveled roads to villa Borgese (that is spelled way wrong) you won’t be judged too harshly for running in there and it’s really pretty. Running by the Tiber is gross. It smells and you will roll an ankle. As a final note I ran in the early evening and other than the lack of well lit areas of was always fine.

The Tiber is gross, true (I saw some pretty crazy stuff going on in the nooks and crannies of the wall) but if you run serious mileage it's your best option. The Villa Borghesa is nice but pretty short (I think I got maybe 6 miles out of it without repeating anything) so I was on the river a lot.

I'll second the Villa Borghese option. A bit short at 6-7 miles per loop, but no car exhaust. That's a huge plus in Rome. There is also a small stadium inside the gardens, but I can't remember if it had a paved track.

I am 90% sure that it was cinder. Probably indoor-size too I think.

Can you really do 6-7 miles around Villa Borghese? My recollection is it was only ~ 3 miles around the perimeter. Mind you it's been a while. Also, I don't remember there being a track. But when we were in Rome (first week of a two week visit to Italy), I was pretty jetlagged, so maybe I'm way off base.

I enjoyed running in that park (we stayed close by), and had a hard time running anywhere else (too much traffic). Never tried running along the river, though (we weren't really close enough).

Have fun!

You can do repeats at the Flavian Amphitheatre.

here's a variation-on-a-theme question: i'll be in/around rome the weekend of july 5/6 and a few days thereafter with work commitments beginning july 9. it would be great to do a race while i'm there, preferably a trail race, but roads would be okay, too; i'm game for pretty much any distance 5K-100K. anyone have a link to specific races or a good race calendar for the region?

Circus Maximus also has cinder sort of track

Run in the old stadium, not sure if its exactly 400 meters around, but at least the pests are around anymore

Pete wrote:

Can you really do 6-7 miles around Villa Borghese? My recollection is it was only ~ 3 miles around the perimeter. Mind you it's been a while. Also, I don't remember there being a track. But when we were in Rome (first week of a two week visit to Italy), I was pretty jetlagged, so maybe I'm way off base.

There are trails throughout the park so you don't have to limit yourself to just running the perimeter. I could do around 45 minutes without revisiting the same sections (much).

The stadium is somewhere close to the center of the park. When I was there it was being set up for some kind of an exhibition, so the track wasn't accessible.

i dont mean to be rude at all when i say this but, this past summer i spent some time in rome and did do a lot of running. look out for the homeless people along the tiber. i'm serious.

I agree that Villa Pamphili on the Gianicolo is the best.

Why? Sure, they're all over, and have some pretty elaborate set-ups (clearly their turf). But with a nod or a wave I never sensed a threat. People run along the river every day, the homeless there are just like anywhere else, still people like you and me.

I am in Rome.

Villa Pamphili has been a second home so i am likely biased. It is approx 180 hectares in the middle of the city and it is amazing. There's trails and grass. Wooded areas and open spaces. For me, the fact that it is totally closed to traffic and the amount of non-urban views makes it even better than Central Park. It is best at lunchtime and early morning.

The Tiber run is interesting and relatively new. There are different types of undesirables in the area but relatively manageable. Not my favorite but a good break.

Villa Borghese has way too much asphalt but it is in the epicenter of Rome. There's also Villa Ada which is gorgeous and less known to visitors. Not to mention that you can always go to Ostia with the subway and run on the beach or in a pine park (unfortunately the latter also patronized by hookers...)

Overall the downtown air quality has improved over the years but still could get better.

Leave an email or a phone number if you want a guided tour (depending what pace you want to cruise) while in the suprisingly-green eternal city.

For early morning runs i would suggest Sunday. During the week the roads get congested quite early.

There are two main tartan tracks which are just bustling with runners at lunchtime: Caracalla (close to Colosseum) and Paolo Rosi stadium. But there's also the Farnesina and Marmi stadium track which are quite nice. The Marmi track is particularly gorgeous with the huge marble statues of athletes towering above it. And if you are looking for a major hill to climb, they are both at the foot of Monte Mario which offers and unparalleled and non-trafficky slope (unlike Gianicolo hill) to attack...