The Foro Italico (Italian Forum) is a pedestrian path and park along the seafront of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Italy. In 1582, viceroy

Marcantonio Colonna Marcantonio II Colonna (sometimes spelled Marc'Antonio; 1535 – August 1, 1584), Duke of Tagliacozzo and Duke and Prince of Paliano, was a Roman aristocrat who served as a Viceroy of Sicily in the service of the Spanish Crown, Spanish gener ...

created a walking path in this part of the coast, that became a favorite destination for the leisure of the upper classes of the city in the 17th and 18th centuries. Until the integration of Sicily into the Kingdom of Italy, the park had been called Foro Borbonico or Siciliano, but by the 20th-century, it had been renamed Foro Italico. It is entirely pedestrian, is approximately 40,000 m² in size, with large lawns, Mediterranean flora of various kinds, benches, trees, ceramic sculptures, a bike path, night lighting and a wide scenic walk along the coast. It was redeveloped in 2003, when the lawn, the pedestrian paths, the public lighting, and an irrigation system were improved. The project was carried out by the technicians of the municipality of Palermo. Since April 2018 the Foro has hosted a weekly 5km Parkrun.

References

*The athletic complex called the

Foro Italico Foro Italico is a sports complex in Rome, Italy, on the slopes of Monte Mario. It was built between 1928 and 1938 as the Foro Mussolini (literally Mussolini's Forum) under the design of Enrico Del Debbio and, later, Luigi Moretti. Inspired by t ...

was built under Mussolini in Rome.

Bibliography

G. Venturini, ''Sicilia'', Touring Club Italiano, Milano 2002, p. 59. Gardens in Palermo Parks in Palermo {{Sicily-geo-stub