3 September 2026
Florence
There are Sundays when Florence changes colour. The one that belongs to Corri la Vita is one of them: the streets fill with people in matching t-shirts, the traffic stops, and for a few hours the city seems to belong to whoever is crossing it on foot. This year it happens on Sunday 27 September 2026, for the twenty-fourth edition. We always notice it from our corner of Piazza dell'Indipendenza: guests come down for breakfast, see the unusual movement outside the windows and ask us what is going on. It is worth telling properly, because it is one of the finest days in the Florentine year — and one of those when the city shows its better side.
What Corri la Vita is (and why it isn't a race)
Corri la Vita began in 2003 and is today the most important charity event in Italy bringing together sport, culture and solidarity. It is organised by Corri la Vita ETS and raises funds for the fight against breast cancer: prevention, early diagnosis, psycho-oncology, rehabilitation. The motto is simple and says everything: "Giving is participating".
It is not a competition, and that is the whole point. Some people genuinely run, but most walk, chat and stop to look around. There are families with pushchairs, groups of friends, colleagues from the office, athletes and people who haven't run in twenty years. More than 40,000 took part in 2025, and the same is expected this year. If you have already read our article on experiencing the race and the city during the Florence Marathon, you will find the same energy here — at a far gentler pace and with an even wider turnout.
Behind the scenes there is a considerable organisational machine: volunteers from Firenze Marathon staff the route, LILT Firenze handles registrations and prevention activities, and the Città Nascosta association curates the cultural programme. It is a collective effort that turns a walk through the city into concrete funding for research and care projects.
Routes, timings and registration: the practical details
The 2026 edition features a longer route than in previous years. Here are the essentials:
- Date: Sunday 27 September 2026
- Start: Viale Lincoln, inside Parco delle Cascine
- Finish: Piazza della Signoria, under the Loggia dei Lanzi
- Two routes: roughly 11 km for those who want to run, and around 6 km for those who prefer to walk and enjoy the cultural stops along the way
- Registration: free, online on the official website, open from 1 September
- Official t-shirt: designed by Ferragamo, this year in the cyclamen pink chosen for the edition, with a minimum donation of 10 euros
All the updated details and the registration link can be found on the official Corri la Vita website. Two practical tips: the t-shirt is available while stocks last, so it is worth moving early; and anyone unable to reach one of the Florence distribution points can order it online and have it delivered.
The t-shirt is also a pass to the city
This is the part that always surprises first-time participants. Wearing the official t-shirt gives you free afternoon access to dozens of cultural venues across Florence: museums, exhibitions, palaces and places that are not normally open to the public. The programme is curated together with the Città Nascosta association, and each year adds a few extraordinary openings.
Among the new additions announced for 2026 are the exhibition BROKEN. The Power of the Fragment at Palazzo Strozzi, the Museo del Restauro with the Palazzo Ridolfi Chapel, the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, the Museo della Misericordia, the Accademia dei Georgofili, and the Anconella water treatment plant — the heart of the Florentine water system, which almost nobody ever sees. There are also destinations beyond the city, from the Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art in Prato to the Straw Museum in Signa.
It is a different way of looking at Florence, very close to the spirit in which we write about the city in our article on authentic places to discover beyond the classic itineraries. Our suggestion, if you have the time: don't try to see them all. Choose two or three close together and take it slowly.
The Health Village in Piazza della Repubblica
Corri la Vita is not only about Sunday. From Friday 25 to Sunday 27 September, from 10am to 5pm, Piazza della Repubblica hosts the Health Village: consultations and activities dedicated to prevention and wellbeing. Over the weekend it is possible to have a mammogram on the Mobile Unit donated by the association to ISPRO, and free melanoma screening on the LILT Firenze van in Piazza della Signoria. Both require booking in advance.
It is perhaps the least visible part of the event, but also the most concrete: prevention is the reason all of this exists in the first place.
From Palazzo Castri, on foot
Our location is particularly convenient on a day like this: from our door on Piazza dell'Indipendenza, the entrance to Parco delle Cascine is around twenty minutes' walk — or you can take the tram, if you prefer. No car, no parking to hunt for — no small thing on a Sunday with half the city closed to traffic. Getting back is just as easy: from the finish in Piazza della Signoria it is a twenty-minute walk home past the Duomo.
For those taking part, we serve breakfast that morning with one eye on the clock: coffee, fruit and something substantial before heading out. And on the way back, when your legs start to complain, our spa with sauna, steam room and outdoor pool is exactly what is needed. Our rooms and suites look onto a quiet, tree-lined square set apart from the tourist flows: after a day like that, silence is a genuine luxury.
September is a good time to visit Florence
Beyond the event itself, late September is arguably the best time to visit Florence: the light softens, the temperatures become reasonable, the summer crowds have thinned and the city returns to its own rhythm. We have written about it on the blog, covering local festivals, events and initiatives: there is far more going on than you might imagine.
If you are thinking about a weekend in Florence around 27 September, take a look at our offers or simply write to us: we will gladly help you organise everything, registration included. See you at the Cascine.
