Day 385 – EU – Italy [Foggia to Cerignola]

24/04/21

39.6km

  From Foggia (Italy) to Cerignola (Italy)

Europe

Concluding the lateral crossing of south Italy and back on the coast

What a good night sleep does to the body! I was refreshed and full of energy again as I left this morning. The only remnants of the past three days of running are the bruises on the right side of my body, running from the tight up to the bum and back. Legacy of Wednesday’s fall in the mountains. A tiny bit painful on the hip as I run, other than that I was alright today.

I ran on the main road to leave Foggia, then got on some countryside roads. As I got closer to the coastline, I once again got confronted with the reality of migrant camps and awful living conditions. I ran past three camps today. And these are not even camps I guess. Just makeshift shanty towns. I spotted children going to the toilets in the middle of the “camp” as I ran, they just put their pants down and went. There did not seem to be any sanitary commodities or electricity. How truly inhuman. Left to their own devices and unassisted.

A bunch of people were sitting by a brasero. I turned my head, waved and shouted a “ciao” which was answered in chorus, the most jovial “ciao” I heard so far. It was heartbreaking. Both coasts of Italy, especially the south ones, are confronted with the issue of incoming migrants. It has been going on for so long you would assume they (along with international organisations) would be ready to welcome them by now. Except they are not. The region I am running now is another one that is again ruled and governed by the mafias (Ghanan it seems, the other coast was ruled by the Nigerian mafia – both working with the local italian mafia…).

The Duomo (cathedral) in Cerignola

The city of Cerignola is beautiful in appearance. But it was quite deserted as I got in. Tomorrow is a public holiday (and it’s a Sunday) celebrating Liberation Day. 25th April 1945 is when Italy got free from the Fascist Regime and Nazi occupation – the victory of the Resistance movement. Tomorrow is my last running day before taking my weekly rest day, one that I feel I truly deserve!

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: