By Harry Nara · Last updated
- Fun Run, Saturday 5KSaturday 13 March 2027
- Where
- Via dei Fori Imperiali
- Tickets
- Ticketed
- Time of year
- March
- Dates
- Around the same dates every year
The 32nd edition, from the organiser’s rules: Sunday 14 March 2027, starting at about 8:30am. The 5 km fun run is on Saturday 13 March at 9am. At the previous edition, on 22 March 2026, the wheelchair race left at 8:00 and the first wave at 8:15. Expo dates and hours are announced nearer the race.
Rome’s marathon runs in March from Via dei Fori Imperiali, past St Peter’s and out to Ponte Milvio, to a finish inside the Circo Massimo. Entrants must be 20 or over. Italy normally demands a sports medical certificate with an ECG, but runners who live abroad can skip it by entering as non-competitive, which earns a time without a placing. Everyone else meets closed roads across the centre all morning.
What Rome Marathon actually is
A full 42.195 km road race through the historic centre, run in all weathers and now held in early spring rather than the April date that older calendars still give. It is a partner race of the Abbott World Marathon Majors and carries the Italian athletics federation’s Gold Label.
The course is a tour of the city: Piazza Venezia, the Palatine, the basilica of San Paolo and the Pyramid of Cestius, the Tiber embankments, Castel Sant’Angelo and Via della Conciliazione to St Peter’s, then north to the Foro Italico and Ponte Milvio before coming back by Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Navona.
The day before, a 5 km fun run open to all ages goes from the Fori Imperiali to the Circo Massimo. It needs no medical certificate, and dogs can join in.
Where to watch
- Via dei Fori Imperiali is the start, with the Colosseum behind the runners. The waves leave in sequence over about three quarters of an hour, so come early and stay for the last of them.
- Via della Conciliazione gives the picture most runners remember, the field heading straight for the dome of St Peter’s.
- Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Navona come in the final stretch, when encouragement counts for most.
- The Circo Massimo holds the finish, inside the old chariot-racing ground, with room to spread out and meet a runner.
Tickets and what it costs
Entry is online only and closes before race day; if the field fills, a waiting list opens. Runners must be 20 or over in the race year, and the time limit is seven hours, with pacers for fitwalkers who plan to walk it.
For anyone living abroad there are two routes. A competitive entry needs a Runcard from the Italian athletics federation and a medical certificate meeting Italian standards, with a medical examination, urinalysis, an ECG at rest and after exercise, and spirometry, uploaded at least ten days before the race. The alternative is a non-competitive entry, accepted by signing a disclaimer, which records a finishing time but no position. Italians living abroad cannot use it.
Bibs are collected in person at the Expo Village and are never posted. An entry can be handed to someone else for a €30 fee up to a deadline in January.
Official information and booking: www.runromethemarathon.com/en
Getting there
Metro line B serves both ends: Colosseo station for the start and Circo Massimo station for the finish. Trains keep running on race morning; streets do not, from the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia to the Tiber and St Peter’s, until the afternoon.
Bag drop is included in the entry, so runners can arrive in warm clothes and leave them at the start.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Leaving the medical certificate too late
It must be uploaded ten days before the race, and the tests take time to book. If you live abroad and only want to finish, the non-competitive entry avoids it.
Expecting to collect a bib on race morning
Bibs are handed out only at the Expo Village, in person.
Taking a taxi across the centre
The course shuts the roads for hours. Use Metro line B for the start and the finish.
Trusting an old race calendar
Many listings still put the race in April. It moved to March.
Entering a teenage runner
The marathon is for 20 and over. The Saturday 5K is open to every age.
Other Rome events
Frequently asked questions
When is the Rome Marathon?
On a Sunday in March, starting at about 8:30am, with a 5 km fun run the day before.
Can foreigners run the Rome Marathon without a medical certificate?
Yes, if they live abroad and enter as non-competitive runners by accepting a disclaimer: they get a finishing time but no position. A competitive entry needs a Runcard and a certificate meeting Italian standards.
How old do you have to be to run it?
At least 20 in the year of the race. The Saturday fun run has no age limit.
Where does the Rome Marathon start and finish?
It starts on Via dei Fori Imperiali, by the Colosseum, and finishes inside the Circo Massimo. Both are on Metro line B.
What is the time limit?
Seven hours. Runners who miss the intermediate cut-offs are offered the bus for retired runners, or must carry on along the pavement.
Sources
- Run Rome The Marathon, the organiser
- Run Rome The Marathon, official rules for the 32nd edition
- Run Rome The Marathon, the course
- Run Rome The Marathon, the Saturday 5K
Dates on this page are checked against the organiser’s own listing and confirmed through 2027. Written and maintained by Harry Nara.