I walked around the piazza, enjoying a nice peaceful morning out. I took a sip of my coffee and stopped by the fountain, admiring the statues in the fountain and how the water beautifully cascaded over them. I sighed and smiled, leaning on the railing. This was the life. 

All of a sudden, I heard loud snickering and laughing behind me. I looked over at the table behind me that was occupied by three boys. They all had facial hair and slicked back hair and they were all dressed in black clothing. There were a lot of people that looked like that in Italy. But something felt off about them...

I shrugged it off and continued to admire the fountain, when I noticed the boys all had gotten up and vacated the table in an instant. This got even worse when I realized they were now coming towards me with questionable looks on their faces. I was getting out of here.

I nodded my head politely in their direction and gave a slight wave of my hand, letting them know I was no longer going to be in the area. That didn't stop them from coming, and they all positioned themselves; one in front of me, one to the side, and now one behind me. My eyes widened when they all zeroed in on at my purse, then slowly looked up at me. Only one word went through my mind: run. 

I started sprinting away from the piazza and down the street, but they followed, running behind me. They could catch me in an instant. I gasped and let out a small scream as I continued to run, my hair flying backwards and my skirt making it hard to run. I ducked into an alley and waited for them to go. I watched as they ran past, not even stopping to look into the alley.

I breathed a sigh of relief and tightened my grip on my purse. I almost was robbed. Good thing I wore my flats and outsmarted them. I carefully stepped deeper into the alley, deciding to just go home this way. After a couple minutes of me walking by myself, I heard footsteps. I turned back and saw the three men. They found me.

I started running again,  trying to lose them, but they were fast. Much faster than me. I screamed for help, but I was certain there was no one around but the criminals. Suddenly, the alley stopped and now I had trapped myself in a dead end. Hopelessly, I clawed at the wall, but it was no use. The men had caught up and were walking slowly towards me. I closed my eyes, expecting to be mugged.

But instead, a man with a Vespa sped down the alley and knocked all the criminals down. He stopped just short of me and looked at me through the slat in his helmet. "Andiamo!" I nodded and jumped on his Vespa and we took off. I didn't bother to look back.

That is until they started gaining on us. They had found their own motorbikes and were coming after us. I gasped and held on tighter to my rescuer. My rescuer sped up and started to lose them, but that just made them go faster. At one point, they came almost next to us. One of them reached for my purse, but I took it and hit him over the head with it. He lost control of his bike and fell over, the bike tripping up his fellow criminals. I looked back and saw them, cursing us, but they had given up. They picked up their bikes and went in the other direction. 

I breathed a sigh of relief and felt a bit proud of myself for aiding in their demise. That is, until the adrenaline wore off and I started to cry. I didn't realize how scared I was until the event was over. My rescuer looked back at me and, with only seeing his eyes, I could tell he was concerned. He pulled off to a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean. He stopped the Vespa and took off his helmet, turning back to me. He was incredibly handsome. 

"Signora, stai bene?" He asked in a deep voice. I cleared my throat and wiped my tears from my eyes. "Si, sto bene. Grazie mille." Two simple words were said with so much gratitude. The man smiled. "Prego." He sighed. "Tu sei Italiana?" I nodded. He nodded. "Anche'io, sono Italiano." He looked over at my purse. "Volevano prendere la tua borsetta, no?" I nodded. "Si..."  

He sighed and opened his mouth to say something, but his phone rang. "Oh! Mi scusa..." He answered the phone and started speaking in English, but with a charming Italian accent. "Yes, I am coming. I got a little, um..." He looked my way and smiled. "Distracted along the way." They spoke more and he ended the call with, "I'm on my way. Ciao." He huffed. "Mi dispiace, ma devo andare in biblioteca." I smiled. "You speak English?" 

He gasped. "Yes, I do! And so do you, now I see." I nodded. "My mom was Italian, but my father wasn't. English is my first language. Mia prima lingua!" I added in Italian. The man laughed. "Well, you are very good at Italian anyways." I laughed. "Grazie. And thank you for saving me back there. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't step in." 

The man smiled. "È niente. It's nothing." He stuck out his hand. "Mi chiamo Leonardo. Come Da Vinci." He laughed, obviously joking about the Da Vinci part. I shook his hand. "Mi chiama Daniela. Piacere." "Piacere." We shook hands, still smiling at each other. "So, you are off to the library? Are you a student?" 

Leonardo laughed. "No, I just like to read. But today I am meeting someone there. My manager." I tilted my head. "Manager? For what, if you don't mind me asking?" He smiled. "Not at all. I am a singer of opera. We have to go over some performance dates and wanted to do so in a quiet place." I gasped. "Una musicista!" He laughed. "I hope so." He thought for a moment, then held out his hand. "Il tuo telefono?" I raised an eyebrow, but gave it to him. 

He programmed in his number and email in my contacts, and then put my number into his phone. "I have a performance soon. I will send you the details. I would love to see you there." He hopped back on his Vespa and put on his helmet. His eyes seemed to smile at me. "Ciao!" He said before taking off. 

I just stood there and watched him leave. What an entrance and an exit. I couldn't believe all that had happened. It was so scary and exciting. I looked down at my phone and saw Leonardo's face in my contacts. How did he even do that?

I smiled and chuckled, turning around and heading home. "Grazie, Leonardo."