Parco Della Storga is to the North of Treviso. I walked there from the station, about 5k, because I had plenty of time, but there are buses. It would make a nice run, too – you start following the city walls and moat, then into quiet streets, before heading into even quieter ones through Madonnetta (and past its tiny church, with glassed doors allowing you to peer in), before heading up a dirt road and into the park. The last few hundred metres are a walk in the park, in a real and lovely sense. Normally I’d use maps.me to find the more interesting, footpathed route, but Google maps was aware of this back entrance to the park.

The course is two laps, starting on the main gravelly road. Essentially, the West side of the course is on that surface, the rest on hard-packed trails, weaving through the woods. Occasional tree routes and tiny bridges, currently being repaired, to keep you alert.

I walked up, with my buongiorno ready, only to be greeted with “Morning!” That came from an Irish visitor and Italian marshal. We also had Scots and other English folk, lacking only Welsh to make up the whole British contingent.

The meeting place is marked with a banner. Behind it on the right is the finish area; they leave a marshal there for your security if you want to leave belongings, though the park is pretty quiet. Off to the right, not pictured, is the start line.

The whole thing is a lovely run, assuming you don’t trip over a root as a fellow Brit did, leaving him slightly bloody, but unbowed. The organisers provide water, tea and cake at the finish – it was set up on the table shown above as we finished. No marshals out on the course, but good signage shows you the way and lets them run with 3 or 4 volunteers, quite comfortably. We had 28 finishers, and the record is just 36, so for now this is a lovely small event; smiles and chat all round at the finish.