After wandering Rome non-stop for a month, I thought I had seen all the romance the city had to offer. I’d seen the Centro Storico under a nearly supermoon, walked through the Spanish Steps in the rain, caught the sunset from Campidoglio and spent long nights in Trastevere.

But all this paled in comparison.

On my second-to-last night, the city unveiled perhaps its most potent surprise upon me yet: estate a Roma; summer nights in Rome. It’s not fair, I thought to myself, already saddened to leave such a beautiful city (and country), only to have even more enchanting sights thrust upon me. Restaurants and shops lined the Tevere river, offering a beautiful setting for a drink or a game of foosball. Near the Castel Sant’Angelo, singers performed to intimate crowds as couples took turns on the nearby carousel. In Trastevere, ragazzi filled the piazza in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere (as usual), while street vendors sold their illuminated, flying toys and gelatinous blobs.

It definitely made leaving Rome even harder, but I was grateful to experience such magic at least once before heading home.