Italy: Piazza del Popolo

Italians love Piazzas. This should not be confused with Pizzas which they also love. But if you are looking for one and find the other they are rarely able to substitute for what you originally wanted. Piazzas are fun, people come and sit in them to talk, do street art, have concerts, or bike rallies. They are also a sure fire place to find a fountain to refill your water bottle. 

One of the most popular piazzas is Piazza del Popolo. I'm still not sure what a popolo is. The first night we were in Rome we were fortunate enough to discover that there was a concert in the Piazza. We stayed and watched it for a while. We walked up the hill behind the piazza and watched it, which is how we discovered the band had a teleprompter. I feel like if your music is so unmemorable you need prompts to remember it yourself, maybe you should change something. Also from this vantage we saw a whole bike rally that went past. The bike train blocked traffic for at least 10 minutes. The cars were rather displeased. 

We went back several times during our stay and watched the street performers. Our favorite was the man who had had giant bubble wands. He would fill the air with bubbles attracting all the small children in the square. They were really cute. Their parents paid the man for making their kids so happy with the bubbles. When I start my career as a street performer this will be my plan. Not only is the clientele very cute, I think this set up has the largest profit margin.