Tomas Hill has turned Rome’s love of the cornetto into one of its fastest-growing running clubs. He explains why the pastries were never really the point.
At Labricana Bistrot, a shell-shaped sfogliatella goes slowly stale on the table. Tomas Hill isn’t going to eat it. There’s a hard training session to follow, and running on a full stomach, he admits, is rarely a winning combination.
For Hill, founder of Outrageous Club, a run club that moves from bakery to bakery across Rome, declining the pastry is a small irony. But it sits close to the truth of the thing – the pastries were never really the point.
It is morning in Testaccio, the neighbourhood known as Rome’s kitchen rather than its parlour. The shutters are going up by hand, and the first espresso hisses out behind a counter. Runners arrive in ones and twos, most strangers to each other, some new to the idea of a morning run.
“For a lot of people who come, it’s their first time running,” Hill said. “Some turn up by themselves to meet new people.”
On a Sunday, the 26-year-old leads a pack of forty runners across the city, stopping at each bakery for something sweet. In barely a year, he has built Outrageous Club into one of the fastest-growing running clubs in Rome. Places are limited to 40, and they don’t stay open long.
Strip away the pastry trail, and the real draw is the company. Regular runner, Lorenzo Fagini, 30, takes his pleasures seriously – and shares them.
“The first time I went, I met one of my now good friends,” he says. “There’s something beautiful about meeting people and sharing local spots you might normally pass up on.”
What is on offer is a way to belong to Rome rather than simply visit it, on nodding terms with the bakers and skipping the tourist queues.
“There’s a real mix of Italians and international people,” Hill says. “Many students or foreigners who’ve just moved to Rome attend.”
From Morning Runs to a Rome-Wide Community
But before there was an organised club, there was just a morning jog rewarded with the scorched custard of a pastel de nata, posted to Hill’s personal social media. “I started making videos for my Instagram, I’d go out for my run, have four or five pasties, and the first one went completely viral – people were messaging me to organise breakfast runs.”
The idea didn’t come from Rome. Hill brought it back from a stint in London, where he’d fallen in with the kind of British run club that ends, without fail, at the pub. “I wanted to replicate it, but I don’t think Italians handle alcohol the way the English do, so that’s where the bakery came in.”
Italian breakfast has always been a sweet, unhurried affair – an espresso taken standing at the bar, a cornetto, and a few minutes of doing very little. Hill has given it a cardio streak.
A Different Way to Discover Rome’s Bakeries
The route begins in Testaccio, at Forno Ritorno, an artisanal bakery tucked into a back room off a neighbourhood wine bar. From there, the pack moves on to Casa Manfredi for its much-loved maritozzo, then Forno da Milvio, Luna by Faro and Marzapane – one pastry at each stop.
Eight kilometres on, the run ends at Love, known for its specialty croissants. “Love is my favourite – very good coffee, very good pastries. Probably the best in Rome,” Hill says.
Forty runners descending on a Sunday-morning service might sound like a recipe for chaos. Instead, the bakeries have their trays timed to the pack’s arrival, handing out warm pain au chocolat to a crowd of flushed faces.
It wasn’t always so smooth. “I was quite worried, but they were all really excited about it,” he says. “The first one actually charged me full price, until they realised the concept.” Now, €20 covers a pastry at every stop. As Hill puts it, “if you go out for breakfast these days, you’re easily paying fifteen to twenty euros.”
Knowing where Rome eats best on its feet is, in fact, Hill’s other job. Alongside the run club, he runs a street-food tour. Eat Drink Rome Repeat – three hours on foot, from pizza by the slice to gelato, with a route tailored to each guest’s preferences.
The Outrageous Club returned in September. The route takes runners through Rome’s backstreet bakeries, but the company is what turns a morning run into a way of getting to know the city.
How to Find Tom:
Eat Drink Rome Repeat
Instagram @tomassshill | TikTok
