Sardon Half Marathon

Sardon Half Marathon - 22 km - 712 D+

The complete tour of Ermada: trenches, history and the Rilke Trail at sunset

This year the start is at the Fisherman's Village Island: more space, more breathing space, no funnels. The turn is immediately to the left - unlike in previous years - and the first part of the race runs fast along the coastal road and then along the Timavo, in the direction of its mouths.

The Timavo is a river-mystery: it rises in Croatia, sinks into the Caves of St. Kanzian in Slovenia and runs almost forty kilometres into the belly of the earth before re-emerging here, at St. John of Duino - the river with the shortest mouth in Italy, just two kilometres into the Adriatic. Virgil mentioned it three times in his works, describing in the Aeneid a river that bursts through nine mouths with a loud roar.

The ascent to Mount Ermada and Kohišče Houses

At the resurgences of the Timavo, the 17 km turns left along with the 22 and 49. You cross the coastal road and attack the ascent of the Mount Ermadaa technical and steep traverse that requires a sure footing and good pace management.

This year the track does not descend towards the railway. It continues uphill on a comfortable, fast road until it reaches Homes Kohišče, the ancient village nestled in the Karst plateau. Here is the refreshment point. Homes Kohišče is a handful of stone houses where time has stood still: the ancient dwellings of the Princes della Torre and Tasso, the dry stone walls, the silence of the Karst interrupted only by the wind.

The ridge trenches and the panoramic diversions

After the refreshments, the 22 km continues along the ridge trenches of Mount Ermada. Running here means crossing a open-air museumtrenches dug into the limestone rock, casemates, artillery emplacements. The 323-metre Ermada was the southern defensive pivot of the entire Isonzo front during the Great War: thirty kilometres of trenches, armoured observation posts, natural caves adapted as shelters - the Hospital Cave, the Karl and Zita caves. A natural fortress that the Italian army never managed to conquer, despite the assaults of the Tenth and Eleventh Battles of the Isonzo.

We continue in the direction Medeazza-Medjevas, the small hamlet where important paths converge. It is here that the CAI path 79 - the Abraham Schmid Trail - which retraces the Morgan line, the provisional border drawn by the Anglo-Americans at the end of the Second World War. Along this line, the Allied patrols walked on a double karst stone kerb so as not to risk trespassing. A steep descent closes the section.

The 22 km turn right onto a karstic cart trackA fast, but false-flat uphill section - about 1.30 km where the pace picks up and fatigue sets in. Here is where it differs from the 17 km: the Half Marathon adds this scenic diversions that brings extra kilometres and altitude gain.

The border, the Fire Cave and the Ermada summit

We enter one of the most striking and unprecedented sections of the Sardon Run 2026. The trail follows the old route of the garnicciari - karst gravel collectors - running exactly on the border between Italy and Slovenia. Technically you are on Slovenian territory, but with one foot still in Italy: the border passes right under your soles.

You enter a new section of the Great War Park of Mount Ermada: a deep doline dotted with caves and Austro-Hungarian emplacements, where the absolute protagonist is the Fire Cave - an underground shelter used by troops during the conflict. An open-air museum where history can be touched.

It continues through shady pine forests to the summit of Mount Ermada. From up here the view repays all effort: to the north the Karst stretches towards Slovenia, to the west the Friulian plain fades into the horizon, to the south the Gulf of Trieste shimmers in the August sun.

The Descent and the Rilke Path

From Monte Ermada you plunge at full speed onto a paved forest road, in the shade of pine trees. Steady slope, smooth bottom, legs spinning free after trench fatigue. Pure downhill adrenalin.

After finishing the asphalt, we continue on shady karst cart tracks, with a compact bottom, perfect for running hard. With the light of the late August afternoon filtering obliquely through the branches, we reach Visogliano-Vižovlje.

From here you descend to the Sistiana, then into the forest of the bay: a dense wood of holm oaks, where the light barely filters through. Steps, passages between the rocks, rapid descents through the undergrowth. Single track pure. The August heat stays above the tree canopy; down here one runs in the shade.

Coming out of the forest, we take the Rilke Path in the direction of the castle. This natural terrace suspended between sky and sea bears the name of Rainer Maria Rilke, the great Prague poet who between October 1911 and April 1912 stayed as a guest of Princess Maria von Thurn und Taxis in the castle of Duino-Devin. It was while walking along these cliffs that Rilke heard in the wind the words that would begin the Duine Elegies, one of the peaks of 20th century European poetry.

The path winds for over two kilometres overhanging the Adriatic Sea, through the Duino Cliffs Nature Reserve. The white limestone plunges sixty metres into the blue. The bottom is technical - single track on limestone, exposed roots and short equipped passages - a coastal trail running which requires a sure footing and rewards those who can read the terrain.

The finale: Cernizza forest, trenches and the sea

The route crosses the Cernizza forest, then moves on to the Punta Bratina trenches, an identity passage of the Sardon Run. From this promontory, the view embraces the Staranzano lagoon, the Fisherman's Village and the outline of the castle of Duino-Devin. Last effort before arrival on the island.