Rome Marathon-Effects?
 

I have been lurking here for quite a while and I have learned a great deal.

My wife and I will be in Rome from Mar 21-30 and will be staying at the 47 Hotel.

I have noticed that many tours aren't running on Mar 26 because of the Rome Marathon. Does anyone know the route of the marathon? Will we be able to navigate the streets on that day and will restaurants be accessible?

We have plans to tour Ostia Antica during our stay. Would that be a good day to get out of the city?

If you google Rome Marathon you will find the official site - it shows a route map - which really seems to go through centro storico - twice! up and back! We arrive in Rome on March 25th and I'm wondering about this, too.

Wow! You're right. It goes right by our hotel. Thanks for the info. I think we'll head for Ostia Antica that day.

bispence-
I ran the Rome Marathon year before last and the Streets around the Colisseum will indeed be a challenge (unless you're into the event intself, which can be great fun). The Centro Storico (Vatican area) are also on the route, but most participants have passed by midafternoon so I am sure restaurants will be open.

In fact, we were running directly through crowds of tourists and shoppers around the Piazza di Spagna, which was kind of funny in itself! Enjoy your stay inRome- a good friend of mine stayed at the 47 this past year and had glowing things to say about it.

Thanks for the info Bellastar. It sounds like you had a great time. I assume you finished. What was your time?

It might be worth watching the runners for a while.

Oh, my gosh, this was one of the funniest stories of our first trip to Rome. We were staying west of the Vatican and went to Mass that Sunday at Santa Susanna (near Piazza della Repubblica).

We had a hard time taxi-ing to Mass. The driver made more turns than we thought necessary and kept saying a word that I had not learned in Italian class or was in my dictionary. We kept seeing police officers.

The word sounded like "martona" but I just didn't get it because I never saw runners. I only saw police and we were afraid of a big accident or something, so I kept saying "accidente" or "sciopero" for strike, and he kept saying no emphatically. He was really nice but frustrated.

To make matters worse, my parents taxied back to get my brother after Mass and that was a huge mistake. They should have given him money to join us.

Their cab ride was even MORE of a nightmare. My brother wisely had them all take the metro back to the centro storico, but got off a couple of stops too early so they had a lot of walking to meet my grandma and me at Trevi.

I would recommend taking the METRO to get out of the centro storico and then catch a cab after you leave that area if you want a cab for something.

Going to Ostia Antica would be a good choice that day. Or the Catacombs if they're open. In fact, as I recall the Via Appia is closed to cars on Sundays, and you can rent bikes or walk part of it? Never done that.

Or the churches around John Lateran if they aren't impacted, I don't know the route enough to know. St. Peter's and Castel Sant'Angelo would be another alternative if they're open on a Sunday. Again you would need to check that.

Good luck!

bispence-
oh dear My time was very Italian! As they say- Piano a piano- but the blood oranges they give out along the way are worth the pain of running on cobblestones....

If you decide to go tour Ostia Antica that day- it might still be worth watching the start- they have bands from various parts of Italy playing around Piazza Venezia, and as sport goes in Rome, there is the great roar of the crowd around the Colosseum but it's much nicer than feeding Christians to lions!

We were in Rome last March during the marathon. We had no idea that it would be happening, but our first full day - there it was. It did make it a bit difficult to navigate, as many streets you could not cross so you had to walk around quite a bit. I recall it being particularly difficult around the Trevi Fountain. I would say however, that it did not ruin our day nor stop us from doing anything we wanted to.

Great stories all! I think we'll watch somewhere near the start, then duck into the Metro to Piramide and then on to Ostia Antica,

There is also a 5k "Fun Run"(which looks more like an Italian stroll from the pictures!) which starts at 9:20 AM right after the big race. Looks very fun and inclusive and festive . . .the only issue is you have to register by Mar. 25 out in EUR.