Piazza

                Walking through Rome I am sometimes unsure if there are more fountains or piazzas, or if they somehow balance each other out.  The piazza is something I have found to be synonymous with Rome once I had spent enough time here.  They are small, or sometimes very large squares where people meet, talk, greet one another, eat or just enjoy people watching.  There are venders on the outskirts and fountains usually comprise the middle portion.  However there is the very large piazza de Navona which has three fountains, the middle of which is quite large, complete with an obelisk.  Although all piazzas are essentially the same, they all seem, somehow, different.

                On sunny, pleasant days, I find them to be crowded and teeming with conversation and life.  It seems as though everyone is drawn to them; as though they gravitate to the piazzas out of secondhand nature, probably picked up from their parents over the years.  And yet tourists and travelers gather here as well, so it could also simply be that this is where so much life is going on that it is irresistible to avoid.

                On cloudy, rainy days there are less people, however they are still out.  At home, no one would be out at all.  They would be tucked in with blankets and a remote in their hands.  If they should venture out they would find the closest parking spot available and rush to the store’s doors.  In the piazzas no one was really rushing, despite the fact that it was rainy and not very pleasant.   They took their time for the most part.  They conversed with other people and observed the fountains (that are truly remarkable), met up with people to venture elsewhere, or just sat at one of the trattories that were around every corner.

                What surrounds the piazza is important.  There are varieties of trattories and cafes and bars.  Some of them are open and flow into the piazzas themselves.   They invite you in to dine, sometimes at reduced prices if you don’t seem eager enough.  And from these places you get an even better view of what is going on.  There are sometimes public speakers there.  There are painters.  There are musicians.  And people congregating around this all.  It seems a busy mess sometimes and at the same time it feels just the opposite.  Everything has a flow to it.  Everything feels as it should, even if it is very busy.  Italian people don’t seem to want to stay in.  They want to meet their fellow people out.  They want to see what’s going on.  They want to observe and drink expressos.  Life simultaneously seems hectic and very calm, as though they have no real place to go but the next piazza.