Heading to the following places and staying in the listed area. Looking for suggestions on where to run while I am there. Should I be concerned about safety in any of those areas?
Naples - Near Piazza Carità
Amalfi Coast - Praiano
Rome - Near Casa natale di Enrico Fermi
Venice - Near Basilica San Marco
I visited Venice and Rome this winter. I think the only safety issue might be with cars in Rome. Crowding will be the biggest issue. In Venice you'll have to go very early to be able to run much in the city. Your best bet is probably to get to the south side of the islands south of the Grand Canal, and then take an edge road up to the long bridge. I never found anywhere to run much on the other side of the bridge, so that may just kind of be an out and back thing for the most part. There's a little park at the eastern end of Venice where you could do some very little loops, but it doesn't seem all that worthwhile. You may also want to look at taking a ferry out to the Lido and do running along there. I didn't check that out, but that might be something usable.
Your spot in Rome is pretty near to the Villa Borghese, and that's pretty nice for running. To get more mileage from there, you can easily pop out to the river, and just follow the shore side path for some miles to the south.
tally7 wrote:
Heading to the following places and staying in the listed area. Looking for suggestions on where to run while I am there. Should I be concerned about safety in any of those areas?
Naples - Near Piazza Carità
Amalfi Coast - Praiano
Rome - Near Casa natale di Enrico Fermi
Venice - Near Basilica San Marco
Best place to run in Naples in my experience is Waterfront from the top hotels like Ambassador to US consulate. They block off the road to traffic for a stretch of maybe 1 to 1.5 miles.
Out and backs on the Tiber are the way to go. Otherwise you're dealing with insane crowds of pedestrians and reckless drivers.
tally7 wrote:
Heading to the following places and staying in the listed area. Looking for suggestions on where to run while I am there. Should I be concerned about safety in any of those areas?
Naples - Near Piazza Carità
Amalfi Coast - Praiano
Rome - Near Casa natale di Enrico Fermi
Venice - Near Basilica San Marco
Rome.... you can run some decent miles in Villa Borghese - i seem to remind there is an old cinder track (Galoppatoio) used by horses. When you go to the river from Piazza di Spagna turn to the right toward the Olympic Stadium you'll get a cycle path at some point. The area around the stadium is nice to run through, there were also a couple of tracks at the time (Stadio dei Marmi and Farnesina).
Venice... apart from the crowds and the smell when it gets warm... lots of cobblestones. I would probably stick to a treadmill if you have access to one.
Amalfi... same. Lots of ups and downs and fairly narrow roads
I lived in Venice for 3 months (all a normal visa will allow) because I fell in love with it while on vacation. Running is not easy there, it's always crowded.
You will have to get used to running many smallish loops. But, you are staying in San Marco area so you will be closer to the "best" running spot. I was in Cannaregio area and it was a bit of a hike to get there (really, you won't be running in the city proper if you are not up at like 5 am).
What you do is go to south east side. You can go to Doge's palace and take Riva della schiavoni east (usually runnable unless super busy) all the way to Parco delle Rimembranze at which point you can do loops, or if the run out was ok, back and forth there.
Also like someone else said, Lido island is better for longer runs, but you have to ferry and that is time and money (but not much).
Trying to run the bridge to from old Venice to the mainland is very unpleasant in my opinion, and if you are in San Marco it would be a hike anyway to get there (because you won't be running there!).
Don't forget the daily flooding!
Ciao.
Agree with most poster.
In Venice you can do some decent running in smallish loops only if you go out very early (5-6AM); after 7AM, forget it.
In Rome, Villa Borgese is good and close to your place, but Villa Ada is better and Villa Doria Panphilii is great. For a long and flat run you can run on the cycle path along the river. From Ponte Milvio to the end of the cycling path and back is almost exactly 13.1 miles. There is a water fountain at Ponte Milvio and one at the end of the cycling path; otherwise no water and no shade. To get access to a track in Rome you need to be registered, so forget it.
In Amalfi, the best place to run is inland on the trail along the "Valle dei Mulini" or "Valle delle Ferriere". It is shaded and a gorgeous hike: highly recommended. From the town of Amalfi, take via Paradiso and then follow the trail into the woods; you can go out-and-back, or do a loop going to Pontone and back to Amalfi. Don't even think of running along the coast; the road is two-lanes, super-narrow, windy, and there is no sidewalk.
Good luck!
I stayed in Praiano two years ago...beautiful town, not the best for running.
Amalfi Drive is hilly and curvy and cars like to go fast, especially locals. I recommend crossing the street during straightaways to be able to stay on the outside of the curves.
Some of the roads inside the proper town itself and less crowded but the are hilly and not overly long. Be prepared. :)
And definitely don't recommend running when it's not daylight or if it gets foggy, which happened 2 mornings before quickly burning off.
Enjoy!
Venice is a difficult city to run in, crowds and cobblestone, never a fun combo.
I stayed in Praiano last year for two weeks. I didn't run. I saw some people jogging on the main road but they were doing about 12 minute miles and always seemed like going for a 1-mile run was a long run for them. I hated not running but I couldn't find a safe way to do it. I suggest finding an alternative. The 800 steps or so down around the water are a great workout, compared to doing nothing. Just don't run them or you might run someone over or injure yourself falling.
I live in Rome. I've found that for the most part, finding enjoyable running routes is much more difficult in Italy than most other places I've been. Often the roads are windy and / or narrow, sidewalks are narrow, uneven, nonexistent or clogged by tourists, and drivers on the roads are - ahem - aggressive.
For Rome, I agree with the suggestion to run along the Tiber River, or else run around Villa Borghese. You likely wouldn't be near it as a tourist, but Villa Pamphili is a far nicer choice for running in a park, and Parco degli Acquedotti is also fairly nice (entirely flat, but containing some really cool old aqueducts, and an exposed section of old Roman road. Trying to run on roads in central Rome isn't impossible (I've seen large running groups do it), but it would not be stress-free...
Amalfi area is very hilly, with narrow, windy roads. I wouldn't dare run along the coastal highway that connects the various towns, for fear of dying (perhaps 5 times out of ten you might have a near-death encounter with an Italian driver). I have stayed up on the hillside for a couple of weeks in Ravello and run down the road toward the coast, then back up again. If you are alert and careful, you can avoid being killed by a car, but may need to fight off stray dogs. And it's out and back, all uphill or downhill (depending on whether you start from the coast or up above). Other roads from the coast inland are likely similar.
Naples is a $hithole. I advise just not going there at all, let alone running there. Full stop. Do try to visit Vesuvius, though, and also Pompeii. Thinking some more, let me revise my first statement. Naples is the world's arsehole. I have no idea how people live with themselves in that place among the garbage they freely throw all over the place.
People have already told you about Venice. In the town, running is nearly impossible. You can do laps around the main square when it's not flooded. Better bet is to stay somewhere with a treadmill and grit your teeth. Great place to visit though. If you like music, I recommend wandering into some of the numerous music recitals. Even if you don't like classical or chamber music, it's a world class experience to hear people play in the bzillion little churches that have unimaginably great acoustics.
Oh and hey, have fun!
600m Repeats wrote:
tally7 wrote:
Heading to the following places and staying in the listed area. Looking for suggestions on where to run while I am there. Should I be concerned about safety in any of those areas?
Naples - Near Piazza Carità
Amalfi Coast - Praiano
Rome - Near Casa natale di Enrico Fermi
Venice - Near Basilica San Marco
Best place to run in Naples in my experience is Waterfront from the top hotels like Ambassador to US consulate. They block off the road to traffic for a stretch of maybe 1 to 1.5 miles.
Exactly. Naples is quite nice place to run when compared to many other Italian places. I walked from my hotel the night before to watch the football game Germany vs. Italy in a bar. Therefore I knew the route already. It was easy to run because I didn't have to worry about getting lost (33C and sunny, didn't want to carry a phone or even a map for navigation). Scooters are causing some trouble but you get used to it. The waterfront itself is a very nice place to run.
No experience about Amalfi Coast but I have stayed for example in Liguria maybe 100 times and honestly normally all coastal roads in Italy are dangerous for running. People are driving fast and there is either no room or they don't care about runners. Small villages might not have sidewalks and if they had It's only for few hundred meters and after that you have to run in dangerous conditions again.
Venice. The city itself is problematic. Lido di Jesolo for example is much nicer because you can run along the beach which is one of the longest in Europe. Of course they organize a marathon also in Venice. So there are some places to run like Zettere is quite nice but getting there is problematic from San Marco. You need to run early. Venice is not a very nice place to stay. All locals have moved away because it is so crowded. Also the local shops, bars and restaurants have left. Everything is for tourism. Not nice at all.
Someone said that Naples was a shithole. In my opinion it is nice compared to Rome which is honestly a shithole because of so many tourists. It's like a giant museum without Italians. I cannot stand it. It honestly is like a Chevy Chase movie. There are so many ignorant Americans everywhere who compare everything to that what they have at home and everything is so wonderful. I absolutely hate it. When I go to Italy I want to speak Italian and live like the locals and in Rome it is very difficult. The only possibility is to know people who live there and let them show the places where locals go but I prefer Northern Italy anyway.
Baltsu wrote:... it is nice compared to Rome which is honestly a shithole because of so many tourists. It's like a giant museum without Italians. I cannot stand it. It honestly is like a Chevy Chase movie. There are so many ignorant Americans everywhere who compare everything to that what they have at home and everything is so wonderful. I absolutely hate it. When I go to Italy I want to speak Italian and live like the locals and in Rome it is very difficult. The only possibility is to know people who live there and let them show the places where locals go but I prefer Northern Italy anyway.
Hahaha, I can't really disagree entirely...
To me, Rome is two different cities: the old / ancient, place full of marvels; and the new, corrupt, dumpy, tourist-overridden. For all its warts, I love the place. I love to head into the heart of the city and start walking in random directions, discovering new and different things every time. At the same time, of course, the density of (mostly ignorant and often oblivious) tourists can be pretty irritating.
Similarly, Italy is kind of two different countries: the beautiful, scenic place where everyone lives slow and easy, eating the best diet in the world; and the third-world-dressed-up-as-first-world corruption-laden, sexist, misogynist, immigrant-hating society. Some days the place drives me to distraction, but on the whole, most days I love the place as a temporary adopted home.
Be aware that you must wear a shirt when running in Venice. I am not sure about elsewhere in Italy. I come from the USA where it is common to run without a shirt on a hot day, and as I ran through San Marco Piazza I was approached by some unhappy policemen. They brought me into their station, questioned me for about an hour, and charged me a 250 euro fine for being out in the city with no shirt on. They pointed to a sign in the police station that spelled out the rules, but I just wasn't aware of that one before running and saw no other similar signs.