Filippide Race

The "LA FIDIPPIDE" marathon takes place on the course of the "PLANATA DEGLI IBLEI".

The route takes advantage of a tourist-altimetric peculiarity of connection between one of the symbolic places of the mountain area of ​​the Province of Ragusa (the Ancient Station of Chiaramonte Gulfì) and one of the symbolic places of the coastal strip, namely, the House of Commissioner Montalbano, on the beach of Punta Secca.

The journey begins in front of the Ancient Station of Chiaramonte Gulfi located on the bottom of the valley of Monte Arcibessi at an altitude of 833 meters above sea level. The starting point overlooks the town of Chiaramonte Gulfi, one of the mountain villages in the province of Ragusa, in a suggestive place nicknamed "The Balcony of Sicily", from which you can see in the distance the entire Gulf and the Piana di Gela from the direction West, and Etna with the neighboring mountains from the east.

The "Planata degli Iblei" is an "in line" Marathon, practically designed with the same technique as the Marathons of Padua, Treviso, Carpi, Collemarathon; departure in a place "upstream" and arrival in a place more "downstream".

From the Antica Stazione di Chiaramonte Gulfi, the route winds its way towards Ragusa from the SP n.10 (taken from the railway track of the old train which in the past very slowly connected the villages of the Iblei Mountains).

Altimetrically it is very inviting: a long "ALL STRAIGHT" glide that gently descends to 1 or 2% at 620 meters above sea level of the Ragusa roundabout. In this stretch of the route, the landscape is typical of the Hyblaean plateau: "A Tavolato", with locks and dry stone walls dominating, with the "CAVE" peeping out in the distance: those typical rocky canyons, true inlets a wooded gorge, characteristic of this area of ​​Sicily.

One by one, gently descending from the provincial road, you can see Cava Volpe, Cava del Paradiso, della Misericordia, Cava dei Modicani or Cava Celone, all sites full of charm and ancient history, with necropolis from various eras.

In this section, the route also touches points of the Ragusa Marathon route which takes place in January.

At this point there are some small "Eat and drink" snatches of 50-100 meters (bumps or short overpasses) that break the sweetness of the glide a little. Then, after passing the outskirts of Ragusa, take the small road of C.da Majorana, which leads to a suggestive plateau dominated by farms and dry stone walls.

We dive and arrive in Tresauro, where there will be one of the two real altimetric variations of this race "La Filippide" / "Planata degli Iblei"; 400 meters at 2.5% of a joining gutter between two valleys; after which the landscape begins to take more its form of gentle "hill slope", with the marine horizon getting closer and closer.

Another gliding stretch from the countryside of the Serramezzana plateau, with a short dirt stretch, up to the other elevation variation of a certain relief (100 meters at 3-4%) before reaching the suggestive summit of another of the most spectacular places in the province of Ragusa: II Castello di DONNAFUGATA, which immediately brings to mind "II Gattopardo" by Tomasi di Lampedusa, both literary and cinematographic, as well as the many television dramas, including that of the “Commissario Montalbano”.

After passing the summit of the Donnafugata Castle (a sumptuous baronial manor, now a museum of the City of Ragusa), the route starts to descend towards Santa Croce Camerina, with the landscape steeped in olive and carob trees, which fill the vast estates of the feud of Donnafugata.

After the roundabout of the SP for Comiso, you immerse yourself in the countryside of the town of Santa Croce Camerina, with the path that remains in constant descent, apart from a short stretch in white soil.

With the best wishes of HAPPY FUN to all those who want to honor it in full respect of the Olympic Spirit under the banner of the fateful: "HAPPY TO BE THERE".