Our first ceremony with the small children today happened rather unusually in a church.

The Franciscans order received us in the San Antonio da Padova with very young children from Kindergarten, and we all ran together, priests, kids and runners, out of the church.

Arriving at Gambatesa, a different child was waiting for us to carry the torch every hundred meters: Cosantino Giuliano, who organised this relay.

The name of Gambatesa actually means something like straight leg or making a step. And we really felt that every individual in this small village had made a step with us. We enjoyed very much running together with a very kind hearted police lady and children.

We were invited on the balcony of the city hall with the mayor Emilio Venditti.

The crowds of children were cheering us from the streets.

In accordance with the name of he name of their city, the Gambatesa guided us through the streets. These people suddenly seemed to be one big family.

At the Instituto comprensivo de Gambatesa, the school we visited, the principal Caserio Antonio, teachers, the police women who escorted us, and all of the children, met together to share a nice pizza and lunchbags prepared by the teacher themselves.

We felt something very special in this village. The smiles of these two friends perfectly represent the moods that flooded that place.

The secret charm of Italy is an indescribable game of contrast, not only with the taste of the foods but also with the variety of colours in every new kilometre of road.

These Romanians farmers were surprised to see us running next to their fields. When we explained them that we will pass in their country in about a month they seemed very interested.

During the last kilometre of the day, just before the sanctuary we were all in very diverse physical conditions, but the path lined by old trees gave us the feeling that they were there waiting for us.

And this sensation finally happened to be the premise of the other important meeting of the day. In the sanctuary of Incoronata, where the mother Mary appeared thousands of years ago.

We were positively surprised to observe how young the public were in the church. Nataliya became a friend of these Italian teenagers, and who knows, next year we could have an Italian girls team running with us.

We definitely had a very nice reception at this sacred place, nonetheless this fire works were not for us but for a special mass that some of us attended.

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Team Members:
Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Pierre Lantuas Monfouga (France), Valentin Bebik, Oleh Ivaniuk and Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Janos Derekas (Hungary), Stefano Lanzalone and Stefano Cenni (Italy), Artur Janczak (Poland).

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

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