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of eating long and late was tonight suiting us just fine. We asked our college-age waiter if it was frowned upon, or worse, outright prohibited, to "hang out" in the piazza all night. No, he assured us, it was allowed. We returned to our open-air accommodations and propped our packs and backs against that ironically named Fountain of Joy. We surveyed the scene.

No doubt the youthful late-night revelers wondered why these two middle-aged tourists were not yet safely tucked in bed. Even so, we felt comfortable in their presence. Maybe ignored, but never threatened, we sat as the night crept on, the antics of youth more entertaining than any TV show. Music and laughter filled the square until a new sound rumbled in the not-so-distance: the ominous boom of thunder followed by startling cracks of lightning, giving pause to our impromptu show. Splats of rain began to fall from the now-obsidian sky, sending all of us scurrying for cover into the adjacent corridors which branched out from the piazza like spokes of a fallen wheel. Despite the increased anxiety the rain brought to our already less-than-ideal plight, our relocation to the stone tunnels added a new dimension to this improvised concert. Ever zestful, the voices of our unlikely companions lifted in song, echoing against the heavy rock walls and creating a reverberating harmony that tingled our spines. No church choir could have been as awe-inspiring.

Cold, hard stone can only provide respite for so long and eventually even our tireless partiers began to seek the comfort of home. Our merry-makers drifted off, one by one, until only we were left. We hefted our bags and returned to the piazza, nestling into the doorway of what served as a business by day. Tonight it was our ringside seat to the theater of the night, but all the actors and audience had gone home. As we contemplated our circumstance, our private light show began. The rain let up, but the air crackled with electricity and suddenly lightning torched the sky, bathing everything in vibrant light. For the next several minutes we were treated to the most breathtaking display rarely seen by those safely ensconced behind doors. Each time the lightning broke loose, the piazza blazed, the windows of the ancient Medieval buildings all around illuminating off and on as if in a horror film. But we were not afraid and sleep was a state unimagined. We watched this nocturnal spectacle, feeling as though we had been granted special admittance to a sacred celebration.

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