Ammazza Quant'é Bella!

It was a beautiful day, the Campo de’ Fiori basking in warm sunlight, the market awash with colour, people strolling this way and that and weighed down with bags of fresh produce, the cafés packed with tourists (their faces turned to the sun; can’t go home without a serious tan) and locals alike, all enjoying coffee, wine or whatever. Smiling and knowing how lucky I was to have this to look forward to every morning, I sipped my cappuccino and returned to my newspaper.
“Ammazza quant’é bella!” a male voice suddenly cried out. ‘Wow, she is so beautiful!’
I looked up in time to see a man walk straight into one of the Campo’s handful of lampposts. I laughed, thinking it only happened in films. Then I noticed a group of men staring in the same direction. I turned to look and… No! It can’t be!  As star-struck as the rest of the Campo’s male population, I got up and walked over to get a closer look.   It really was her.  Gwyneth Paltrow! Listening to director Dennis Hopper (they were shooting a commercial), she happened to glance my way, see me and smile. Yes, all right, the smile was probably induced by the place, the atmosphere, and was meant for all the men there, but I smiled back, fantasizing for the briefest of moments that her smile was meant for me...

... and me alone.