Dreams of a Roman Birthday!

La Terra a Piedi 21

October 9, 2025

I’m in Baltimore on a chilly morning touched by autumn. Close to me sit musicians who talk with many gestures and laugh constantly.
“I have a lot of goals—I have an Excel file with my goals, and also my gigs,” one of them says.
My fingers are cold and numb, but I prefer the morning air, fresh and crisp, the men and women of Saint Paul Street—even the frenzied boy to whom I just gave my muffin. It’s lively.
A window of a Hopkins University dormitory opens near me, emanating some very nice classical music. Wind travels over two abandoned books on the cafe table, one by Roald Dahl. Its pages dance.
Autumn inspires, exhales, and the seasons change. Winter cometh. As will my house painter, whom I need to meet shortly, for a ceiling repair and repainting job.
But first! My December Roman Run plan has emerged: an 11 km loop of the Seven Hills:
• Start: 6am, pre-dawn at Santa Maria Maggiore on Esquiline Hill
• Caelian Hill—passing San Giovanni in Laterano, Santo Stefano Rotondo, and the Baths of Caracalla
• Aventine Hill—Giardino degli Aranci (hopefully there at sunrise!), Santa Sabina church, swinging by the Knights of Malta keyhole to view St. Peter’s from afar
• Palatine Hill—along Via dei Fori Imperiali to see the Colosseum and through the Roman Forum area including the Arch of Constantine
• Capitoline Hill—featuring the Cordonata steps designed by Michelangelo, the Marcus Aurelius statue, and the Tarperian Rock on the south side, where, according to Wikipedia, “murderers, traitors, perjurers and larcenous slaves” were flung to their deaths (it bears the name of the daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, who died there in a tragic tale of betrayal and retribution with the Sabines)
• Quirinal Hill—location of the presidential residence, close to the ever-illustrious Trevi Fountain (bound to be the least crowded I’ve seen it, at about 7am!)
• Viminal Hill (the smallest hill)—near Termini train station and the Baths of Diocletian area (circa 300 AD, practically new!)
I’m contemplating a victory theme song for my return to Circus Maximus. I’m hearing the Rocky theme in my head… but maybe there’s a good Roman victory chant or something. Any suggestions?