Italy-USA: Los Angeles will host the ‘Italy 5K Run’ on June 2

If your idea of Italy is sitting in a cafe, drinking an aperitivo on a sunny afternoon, you’re in for a surprise. This year, Italy’s consul-general in Los Angeles is organizing a five-kilometer run to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the founding of Italy’s modern republic.

The basic idea is to host an Italian-style Piazza party, with the intent to “gather all the communities in the area around June 2 and our flag,” says Consul-General Silvia Chiave. “It’s a race for everyone and families with strollers are welcome too.”

Los Angeles is home to some historic Italian communities, but also to a new wave of emigrants. including tech researchers, students and entrepreneurs, Chiave said in an interview with LaPresse. The run will take place on June 5th through the streets of Los Angeles Harbor, facing the Pacific, and start at 8 am from the San Pedro neighborhood, with a street party, with entertainment, music, games for children and families, food, coffee, and ice cream. “It will be fun,” said Chiave.

Italian energy company Enel X Way, a new division of the leading Italian energy firm Enel, and active in sustainability and electric mobility is sponsoring the event. The guest of honor at the event will be Joe Buscaino, the only Italian-American member of the Los Angeles City Council and a former candidate for mayor of the city.

The Run offers a number of prizes to participants, including two round-trip tickets from Los Angeles to Rome, with two nights in luxury hotels in Tuscany, offered by Ita, the main Italian airline, which is inaugurating a direct flight from the City of Angels to the Eternal City on June 1.

Proceeds from the event will go to two non-profits: the Little Italy Los Angeles Association and the Italy Foundation, which will use them for projects including teaching the Italian language.

“The number of our compatriots continues to increase and we are working at full capacity,
says Consul-General Silvia Chiave,” said Chiave. “Enrollments in Aire (the register of Italians residing abroad) have increased. This square attracts a lot, we try to keep our services at the level of this very demanding Italian-American community.”

One factor attracting many Italians to Los Angeles is the combination of world-class universities, capital and companies, as well as a climate similar to that in Italy, creating what Chiave calls “a unique ecosystem for startups” in the technology sector.

Chiave noted that the San Pedro neighborhood, near the port, is seeing the birth of a new Little Italy.

For information and registration for the ‘5K Run’ please visit www.italyrun.org.

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