The Su e zo per i ponti (''Up and Down the Bridges'' in the

Venetian language Venetian, also known as wider Venetian or Venetan ( or ), is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken natively in the northeast of Italy,Ethnologue mostly in Veneto, where most of the five million inhabitants can understand it. It is som ...

) is a non-competitive walk held in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in April. The walk starts in the

Piazza San Marco Piazza San Marco (; ), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal Town Square, public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as ''la Piazza'' ("the Square"). The Piazzetta ("little Piazza/Square") is an ext ...

, in front of the

Doge's Palace The Doge's Palace (''Doge'' pronounced ; ; ) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic architecture, Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace included government offices, a jail, and th ...

. Walkers follow a route characteristic of the city, which leads them through ''calli'' (streets), ''campi'' (squares) and ''ponti'' (bridges). The ''Su e Zo'' is also known as Solidarity Walk (it. ''passeggiata di solidarietà'') because the revenues of the event go to charitable projects. Different routes are laid out for various age groups: the main circuit runs over 47 bridges and is 12 km long whereas a shorter route is 7 km long and crosses 27 bridges. Beverage is provided by the organisators along the track. About 400-600 volunteers help with the organisation and implementation of the event, which is visited by about 10 to 12,000 participants every year. The event is managed by the TGS Eurogroup (Turismo Giovanile Sociale, it. Social Youth Tourism), a non-profit organisation founded by a Salesian of Don Bosco, Dino Berti, who has started the Su e Zo walk in 1975. Walkers receive a commemorative medal on completing the event, groups from a given size up will receive a larger badge. There are special prizes for schools in different categories and special groups. After the award ceremony other festivities follow such as a performance of flag-wavers and folklore groups. The revenues from starting fees are donated to charity projects, often in developing countries such as Peru, Brasil, Syria, Etopia, Haiti or the earthquake affected town of

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...

External links

The official website
in Italian and English
BBC World News on the 2009 ''Su e zo per i ponti''

References

Sport in Venice Athletics competitions in Italy Road running competitions Spring (season) in Italy {{italy-sport-stub