Up And Down In Milan!

- Nico de Corato

The routes; 25km, 15km, and 9.9km all started from the historical, Arena Civica, passed over the top of Mont Estella Park and then return to the starting point, after a magnificent trail winding across the city of Milan, giving all the participants the possibility to explore wonderful views of the city, the Duomo, the roads in the centre of town, and the Sforzesco castle. Of course, I went for the fantastic 25km race!

The “Arena Civica”, starting point of the competition, is a multipurpose stadium opened in 1807 as an Amphitheatre and later on was transformed into the “Arena Civica” after having been handed over to Milan Municipality. In 1895 the Arena opened its doors to modern sports, including Italian Cycling Championships. In 1910, it was the debut place for the Italian-French football match, where the Azzurri beat there rivals by an amazing 6-2! In the first half of the nineteenth century, between 1930 and 1947, the Arena hosted Inter-domestic football matches. For a short period, from October 1941 up to June 1945, the place was the stadium of the Milan team, which is the second football team in the city.