The Magnificent Bell Tower of Florence Duomo.

Running along Florence streets....

....among breath-taking monuments.

The David from Michelangelo.... but just a copy of the original (!) outside Palazzo Vecchio.

Meeting with the Regional Council. We were warmly welcomed, and were both surprised and delighted to find our names and country flags by our assigned sits!

The Vice President of the Tuscan Regional Council, Mr. Fedeli.

The Head of the Cabinet, Mr. Pacini, holding the torch together with Mr. Fedeli.

Ponte Vecchio - one of the most famous bridges in the world..

...greetings from Florence!!!

We were invited to visit Palazzo Vecchio, in Piazza della Signoria square....

...this is what we call a ceiling!...

Another "David" statue, also from Michelangelo! We were told that this is the most precious treasure kept in Palazzo Vecchio!

We were greeted by the President of the city Commission for Peace and International Relations, and by the Mayor's Representative for International Relations.

We exchanged gifts...

A view of Florence from the rooftop of Palazzo Vecchio.

.... search for the U.F.O. in this painting!!!!

On our way out of the city while crossing the bridge "Ponte Vecchio".

Our friend fron the local running club "Gruppo Podistico Maiano".

After leaving Florence we eaded towards Empoli and San Miniato passing through the beautiful tuscanian countryside.

In Cigoli, in the hills of San Miniato, we met with some local runners and were led us to the village primary school.

THIS was the first school we were able to visit in Italy.... as schools just opened two days ago!

Finally!!! We couldn't wait to meet the cheerfull italian school children!!!

The children greeted us....

... and then run with us to village center....

Good runners!!!

... Helping the smaller ones!

We introduced the World Harmony Run to the children and then we passed the torch among them.

Our good friend Ivano Leoni who organized the meeting, with David Spalletti, the sport representative of San Miniato and Chiara Rossi, the Representative for Culture of San Miniato.

What a joy the kids get from holding the torch!

And finally a group picture! Thank you Cigoli!

Our next and final destinaton for the day was the famous city of Pisa.

We were welcomed by local runners from "La Galla Pontedera Atletica PISA" running club.

Our good friend Elena Jaccheri, who gave us a big, big hand in Pisa, thank you Elena!!!

We ran into "Piazza dei Cavalieri" square...

...where we were greeted by the Deputy Mayor of Pisa, Mr. Paolo Ghezzi...

We wish to thank whole-heartedly the A.L.A.P. Association, who gave us the possibility to introduce the World Harmony Run to their distingued guests.

Andrea Bocelli held the World Harmony Run torch. A big Thank You for giving us the oportunity to meet such a great artist!

The Mayor of Pisa also joined us...

... and took the torch inside the church...

...where it was placed on a special holder for the whole evening.

During the following Ceremony Andrea Bocelli was awarded by the A.L.A.P. Association with the prestigious "Campano d'Oro" award, and received many other gifts.

We also want to thank Stefano Sbarra, president of the "La Galla Pontedera Atletica PISA" running club, who took a lot of photos.

At the end of the official program we were very happy to meet the nuns from the Franciscan order of Sait

Clair. They kindly invited us to visit their place the following day, and we will do our best to make it fit in our tight schedule..... check out tomorrow's report if you want to know if we were able to meet with them!!!

The last goup picture of the day: the Prefect of Pisa, the Mayor of Pisa and the head of the City Council, Dottoressa Maccione. (picture will follow...)

– Sumandala

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Distance: 87 km

Team Members:
Dipavajan Renner (Austria), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Sumahat Strohn (Germany), Barbora Tabackova (Slovakia), Mladen Vujaklija (Croatia), Dennis Gribok (Luxembourg), Daniel Rubin (New Zealand), Vanya Popinska (Bulgaria), Balavan Thomas (UK), Sergey Sidenko (Ukraine), Peter Repka (Hungary), Mena Seguy (France), Italian runners

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

Gallery: See more images!

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