Viaggio della Fiaccola
""""The initial organizational phase relating to the 1960 Olympic Game Torch itinerary can be considered definitively concluded. In fact, the Italian National Olympic Committee has made arrangements, on a general basis, for the torchbearers who will carry the Olympic Flame from Greece to Rome. The Flame, which will be lit at Olympia, will descend to the mouth of the river Alpheus, and immediately afterwards the Gulf of Arcadia will be embarked and reach Italian soil at the Island of Ortygia. Exactly near the Fountain of Arethusa the Torch will light the first tripod on Italian soil. The following day, after an overnight stop, the torchbearer set off on a long journey of 1,283 km, which took 108 consecutive hours, interrupted only by a second overnight stop in Taranto. From the Island of Ortygia the torchbearer will travel along the Epipolis plateau, where each wall bears witness to the golden age of Syracusan civilization. It will stop in Lentini, cross the Catania plain, reach Messina, and cross the Strait reach Reggio Calabria. The lit torch will then leave the characteristic Sicilian landscape, and illuminate the ancient Ionian cities of Locri, Caulonia, Crotone, Siri, Heraclea, Metaponto, Taranto. The next route will start from the City of the Two Seas and proceed along the Appian Way through Lucania; it will include Matera, Tricarico, Potenza, Muro Lucano, Pescopagano, S. Angelo dei Lombardi; then, still along the Appian Way, the torch will proceed to Avellino, Naples, Caserta, Minturno, Terracina, Velletri, Castelgandolfo, the Ancient Appian Way, the Sacred Way within the Roman Forum, the Capitoline Hill, and the Olympic Stadium. The Olympic Torch, a symbol of peace among men and the fundamental spiritual significance of the modern Olympics, will remain lit for the duration of the Games which, as mentioned, will take place from Thursday 25 August to Sunday 11 September inclusive..""""
Me and Giancarlo Peris during the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Rome Olympic Games
Giancarlo Peris, the last torchbearer, lights the Olympic brazier