Running tour · Rome

Emperors, Popes and Fountains

6.3 mi run

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The stories on this route

1. The Circus Maximus

   Look along this long grassy hollow, under the ruined palaces on the Palatine. It follows the line of the Circus Maximus, ancient Rome's first and largest stadium. It was about 621 metres long and held more than 150,000 people. Pliny the Elder claimed 250,000. Today's figure is a modern, lower estimate.

2. The Mouth of Truth

   Look at the porch of the church with the tall brick bell tower. See the queue? Everyone's waiting to put a hand in the Mouth of Truth.

3. The Vittoriano

   Look up at the huge white monument, with the king on horseback in the middle. People call it the Wedding Cake, or the Typewriter. It honours Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy. It's 135 metres wide, and the chariots and winged Victories on top take it to 81 metres high.

4. The Pantheon

   Look up at the front: AGRIPPA, in big letters. The Latin says 'Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made this when consul for the third time.' Except this isn't Agrippa's building. His temple burned down.

5. Piazza Navona

   Look to the middle of the square: Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers. Four river gods, for four continents: the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges and the Rio de la Plata. On top of the obelisk sits a dove with an olive twig, the emblem of the Pamphili family.

6. St Peter's Square

   Look at the obelisk in the centre, up on its bronze lions. It's red granite, about 25 metres tall, with no inscription at all. It came from Heliopolis in Egypt. The emperor Caligula brought it to Rome and set it in the Circus of Nero. And here's the thing: it's the only ancient obelisk in Rome that has never fallen.

7. Castel Sant'Angelo

   Look at the long brick wall heading away from the castle toward St Peter's. That's the Passetto di Borgo, an elevated corridor about 800 metres long. It was built as the Pope's protected escape route from the Vatican, and popes used it at least twice.

8. The Spanish Steps

   Look at the foot of the steps: a fountain shaped like a half-sunken boat. It's the Barcaccia. Pietro Bernini built it in the late 1620s, possibly with help from his son, Gian Lorenzo. It sits slightly below street level, because the aqueduct that feeds it has low water pressure.

9. The Trevi Fountain

   Look high up on the fountain, at the reliefs. One shows a girl pointing out a spring. That's where this story starts. In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a young girl, Roman engineers found a source of pure water.

10. The Rome Marathon

    Look down this straight road to the Colosseum at the end. This is Via dei Fori Imperiali, and the Rome Marathon starts and finishes on it.

11. The Colosseum

    Look up at the top storey of the tall north wall. See the row of stone brackets? There were 240 of them, and they held the masts for the velarium, a retractable awning that kept sun and rain off the crowd. The crew that worked it were sailors, brought in from the Roman navy's base at Misenum.

12. The Arch of Constantine

    Look at the three arches, the big one in the middle and two smaller ones beside it. This is the largest Roman triumphal arch. The Senate commissioned it for Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in 312. Read the long inscription on top.

Stories researched October 2026 · every fact checked against a source