In 2023, I returned to Rome for the first time since studying abroad there in 2010. For years, I told myself I would only go back with someone I loved. By this I meant a romantic partner, and I realized on the flight from Santiago to Rome I finally loved myself, and the wish had come true even if it was in a way I hadn’t expected.

I stayed in an Airbnb just off Campo de’ Fiori so my routine would be similar to when I studied abroad for eight months. It was summer, and the heat was relentless: over 100 degrees most days! The rhythm quickly returned: long walks in the sun exploring the city, late afternoons cooling off indoors, showering and getting ready for dinner out. One night, I went back to a restaurant I where I celebrated my final night in Rome in April 2011, the same one featured in the movie Eat Pray Love. I loved it then dining outside with a friend, and I wanted to relive the memories. I put on a nice dress I bought in Santiago for this purpose and went.

Afterward, I walked through the city as it cooled. I crossed Ponte Sisto and made my way to St Peter’s Square at night. Rome is different in the evening—quieter, softer, more romantic. All of the nights walking to St Peter’s after studio closed at 10 PM came rushing back. Sometimes I came alone, sometimes with a big group to get gelato around the corner.

The next day was slower. I walked through Campo de’ Fiori, picked up yogurt from a local market, and sat at Fontana delle Tartarughe (the Turtle Fountain) watching the light hit it briefly before moving on. I visited my other haunts: Santa Maria in Trastevere, the Pantheon, and the Janiculum Hill. I found my way back to a small local shop we used to call Carmela’s, ordering the same simple sandwich—Sienna Caciota cheese on focaccia—alongside locals, just as I had years before. For dinner I returned to a favorite restaurant, Cassetta di Trastevere, ordering penne all’arrabbiata and pizza. It was as good as I remembered. Something you take for granted is the restaurants you loved so much in a place you lived will still be there when you return years later. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. When I turn a corner and it’s still there my heart soars, and when I discover the restaurant has closed in many ways it feels like a death because I went often enough for it to be a favorite and to be a regular.

I let the days unfold: walking the city for six to eight hours, guzzling water, stopping for gelato, buying a new skort and shirt from Patagonia after wearing the same two sets of clothes on repeat for a month and a half. One moment stands out, from the last day of my stay. I opened the shutters and paid attention to the carved plaque with the street name across the way: Via del Pellegrino or ‘Street of the Pilgrim’. I smiled and laughed because without planning I happened to book a stay on this street, with a window which had a direct view of the street name. I spent around 35 days walking as a pilgrim on the Camino and it followed me. God has a sense of humor.