earth on foot 29
8 Dec 2025
Monti area, Roma
We came, we saw, we ran!
earth on foot 29
https://maps.app.goo.gl/WbKMoLJnYnAz3PSu5?g_st=ic
Riccardo, Dafna, Sebastian, and I stop in the parking area, having arrived at the Baths of Caracalla ahead of schedule. As we discuss the foul-smelling ancients, umbrella pines (pino umbrello, Riccardo tells us)—long-legged, Dr. Seuss creatures everywhere here in The Eternal City—elegantly line the Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, and sunshine flows through their negative spaces.
“i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)”*
A version of the above e.e. cummings poem came bubbling out of my mouth right then and there. It was, after all, the sun’s birthday—and mine, too!
And so the dream of running the seven hills of Rome at dawn came true!
After lots of planning and a mad dash to our US, day-after-Thanksgiving (which we hosted) departure, we would soon be enjoying our cappuccinos by the Colosseo!
You can see from the map link our route, and where we’d been thus far. We set out into dark skies over Santa Maria Maggiore (Esquiline Hill)—after a quick espresso, certo!—layered, gloved, and be-capped (I wore my trusty Silver Tip cap with lights on the brim, one I’ve worn on runs all over the world. Thank you, Gerry!). The air felt cold on my cheeks as we ran by the National Roman Museum (Viminale). As the sky lightened, we waved at fellow cheery runners near Quirinal Palace, then on up Capitoline Hill. Our route ended at an unopened gate across the stairway down; we circled and problem-solved until we found an alternate descent. I chuckled imagining David and other friends watching the live WhatsApp location feed as it reported us going around and around in circles.
We ran by Bocca della Verità (I missed it totally—eye roll here). By now Riccardo had joined us. “You’re going fast!” he said. We ascended Aventine Hill to find the Knights of Malta Keyhole, designed in the 18th century by cool architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Finding and looking through this tiny masterpiece of architecture startled and delighted me from head to toe! It was the highlight for me! Our run was timed so that St. Peter’s Dome sat perfectly luminous at sunrise there, framed on either side by dark evergreens. A perfect miniature composition. Oh, clever, clever Piranesi!
Riccardo said, imagine putting all the time and effort into something like that. I said, it’s a lot like what you theoretical physicists do, too. Solving puzzles of space and time like that. He nodded. “True,” he said. Then he rightly insisted we head into the Giardino degli Aranci to view its sweeping overlook—breathtaking, and completely devoid of tourists. A gentle golden glow swept across Rome.
We descended to Circus Maximus, traversed a strada, and headed across to the Baths of Caracalla (Caelian Hill), where the spontaneous e.e. cummings exploded out of me. In the parking lot we discussed muddy Visigoths.
At our next and final stop, the Colosseum (Palatine Hill), we did a little victory dance, had two kind tourists take our picture, then headed to coffee to celebrate. We did it!
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
*I have to thank my friend and mentor Dianne Connelly for introducing me to this lovely e.e. cummings poem. Listen here: