*Visit IV - Piazza del Popolo

Though I started out thinking I would write on the Campo di Fiori – a place many of us have been several times, I changed my mind. The Piazza del Popolo, though I have only had a chance to visit twice, is still one of my favorite piazzas.

I suppose part of that is nostalgic. When I was last in Rome, we did not stay too far from the piazza. Every morning when we would go to our various places to tour, we would drive past the piazza. And every morning, without fail, our driver would point it out. It dawned on us that in English, this meant “Piazza of the People,” and though we looked out onto the space daily, we didn’t actually believe he was serious. Here we were snickering in the backseat, thinking, “oh the piazza of the people, isn’t that cute”. We didn’t believe it was real until later, a tour guide mentioned it. “Oh that’s a real thing!” was the reaction on all our faces.

After all those times driving by it, I don’t believe we ever actually stopped there. Our time in piazzas anywhere was usually a lunch hour, stopping to snack under an umbrella before moving on to our next part of the agenda.

This time, I was thankful to wander around and snap pictures, as well as loiter before dinner and talk to people. Unlike other smaller piazzas, the sense of open space in Piazza del Popolo is refreshing. Maybe it was the time of day, I do not know if it is busier in the afternoon, but either way the peace was nice.

Watching fellow classmates pose with one of the four lions around the obelisk, I snapped shots of the giant monument with a beautiful sky in the background. The golden hour settled onto the piazza, and we listened to a nearby musician and watched others wander as we did.

Before leaving for dinner, a cluster of us watched as nearby a saxophone player belted out a few tunes, little paying attention to him until a young child and his mother came by. She stopped the stroller and gave the boy a coin, intending for him to go put it in the man’s pile. However, the boy was enthralled by the music, and watched the man for a long time before almost tripping over to the case, and placing the coin on top. What was cute to watch was how he didn’t understand that the coins were not for playing with – he went back and forth between putting it down, and then picking it up again.

After going back and forth several times, with the mother laughing on the sidelines, the man finished his song and knelt down, letting the child stumble over to him and place the coin in his very hand. We all laughed and clapped, and may of us felt we wanted to contribute ourselves.

By the time this little show ended, the golden sun was setting over the churches at the far end of the piazza, and dinnertime was approaching. It lit up a few statues and facades, and many of us hurried across the road with our cameras before setting off for food. Though Campo di Fiori has some wonderful food and shops to offer, the atmosphere of the Piazza del Popolo is much more calming and refreshing, especially at that nice hour at the end of a day.