Maratona Antonello da Messina

The Maratona Antonello da Messina is Messina's flat, coastal city marathon on the Strait of Messina, named for the Renaissance master painter Antonello da Messina, who was born in the city around 1430. Organized by Polisportiva Odysseus Messina under FIDAL and commercially branded the "Fontalba Marathon" after its longtime sponsor, the 42.195 km course starts and finishes at Piazza Unione Europea, running along the seafront Via Garibaldi and through the historic center past the Duomo before returning to the start. The race has had an on-and-off run in recent years: the 14th edition went off as planned on 10 March 2024, but the scheduled 15th edition (9 March 2025) was cancelled outright when roadworks tied to Italy's PNRR recovery-fund program made the usual route impossible to close safely. Organizers used 2026 to rebuild momentum with a standalone half marathon and 10K instead, and race director Antonello Aliberti has confirmed the full marathon returns "starting next year" — 2027. No exact 2027 date has been published yet; based on the event's historical pattern of running on the second Sunday of January, the next edition is projected for 10 January 2027, with registration expected to open online through endu.net. It remains a small, local-flavor race: past editions have drawn around 90-100 marathon finishers within a total field of a few hundred runners across all distances, with a 5-hour marathon cutoff and a minimum age of 20.