On a recent trip to Rome, I left the major tourist city behind ... In part because of all of the restoration work, Solomeo felt like a postcard. The town, which is called a medieval hamlet ...

Ernests (70) and Alvine (64), two married postal workers, have developed a scheme to win a trip to Rome, but Alvine's rapidly progressing Alzheimer's disease complicates their scheme.

All around him, Rome struggles awake at dawn. A lengthy marathon from St. Peter's to the Appian Way, a single shot crammed with centuries of history, freak encounters, and a wacky, vivid sincerity.