Day 376 – EU – Italy [Fondi to Gianola]

15/04/21

26km

  From Fondi (Italy) to Gianola (Italy)

Europe

A short run to the sea via the Natural Park of Mount Aurunci, beautiful and sunny

The Appian Way, Mount Aurunci Regional Park

A short lazy day on the road! With so few kilometers, the issue was to arrive in Gianola at a time where I would be allowed to check-in. That meant, I was going to start at 9:30am, allowing for a lazy morning in bed. It almost never happens on a run day, I really enjoyed it. I left Fondi and headed straight to the Mount Aurunci natural Park on the Appian way again. I had 5 kilometers of uphill to go through on a terrain that was impracticable with the stroller. I made it a very slow walk, pushing BoB the stroller up 300m elevation within these 5km on rocky ground. Not bad at all, and the environment was splendid.

Roman Aquaduct of Formia

Halfway through I ran past the medieval city of Itri. The castle and the wall stood tall against the mountainous background. A little later I ran past the roman aqueduct and the tomb of Cicero. Impressively well preserved. Suddenly the sea was in front of me again with a view on the gulf of Gaeta. The Volturno is the primary river draining into the gulf and that is where I will run tomorrow. I’m glad to be by the sea again though it’s still way too cold for a swim.

Gulf of Gaeta

Quick note about the plans. As far as Italy is concerned I am running south towards Naples and Pompei. I will then cut across the country towards Brindisi and run north towards Trieste (a city I ran by last June). Once in Trieste, I will fly to Thessaloniki in Greece, a city I ran through in September last year. And from this point I will run towards Istanbul to conclude (finally!) my crossing of Europe. If all goes well (ahem…) I should reach Istanbul by the end of June. That’s “just” the plan – let’s see how it unfolds!

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: