"Just keep walking" I said to my wife. She was lingering in front of an artist’s portfolio, focused on a painting. We had walked by this artist in the Piazza Navona the last three nights and focus of my wife’s attention was still on display. But now, the artist knew my wife was serious. He lowered the price, keeping his voice low, just so she could hear. My wife hesitated just slightly before picking up the canvas. "How are we going to get this home?" I asked. "We can ship to the states." the artist offered. He also volunteered to roll the painting, which he did and encased the canvas in a makeshift cardboard tube. "It’ll fit in the suitcase." my wife assured me.
Piazza Navona is a conglomeration of everything Italian. The lawn is full of artists with their paintings, people posing as statues (with jars for tips), Bernini fountain, beautiful churches, touristy restaurants and obnoxious advertising billboards. The area was consistently quiet in the morning, with the fountains covered with pigeons (flying rats as we heard them called by one Italian!). The restaurants begin filling up for the lunch crowd, but the main crowd of people arrives in the evening.
The restaurants have ample outside seating, with propane heaters to warm the area. The evenings in November were just cool enough to appreciate the extra heat. Most of the waiters speak English to accommodate the tourist crowds and the higher prices reflect this tourist catering. We did not eat a meal at any of the restaurants, but opted to have drinks while watching all the people at the piazza. One waiter identified the Italian hobby of "strolling", casual walking to see and be seen. We opted to participate in this style of walking after enjoying several glasses of wine at the restaurant. This gave us time to really look at the fountain and the church. We had read the "story" from our handy guide book, so appreciated the statues on the fountain as they looked away from the church in disgust.
The location of this piazza was perfect for us. It was easily within walking distance of our hotel, and quickly became a meeting point for our group and landmark for getting to/from other places in the city. From Piazza Navona, we walked to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and to numerous restaurants. We could easily catch busses along Corso Vittorio Emanuele as this major street was just two short blocks from Piazza Navona.
Oh, the painting…. It did fit in the suitcase, padded with clothes to keep it protected. We had it stretched and framed, costing over $200 due to the texture and type of canvas. Fortunately, we had the perfect place to hang the painting as an excellent reminder of our Italy vacation.