http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2013/10/31/Protestors-reach-parliament-square-light-flares_9549794.html
At first, we decided to just have lunch at a restaurant where we were, within view of the police vans and yelling, flag-waving protesters. But when the BOOMs started, I expressed a desire to beat a hasty retreat. So, our valiant gentlemen paid for our lunch (which hadn't arrived yet) and got it wrapped up to go, and we retreated to the park at the Villa Borghese.
We had started the morning at the Gallery Borghese. The sculpture rooms were fantastic, with some absolutely amazing works. But the painting gallery left us a little bored. We had a bad case of CAF (Catholic Art Fatigue).
So, we left the Gallery and rented two 4-person multi-cycles in the park. (Our friends from Paris/Sunnyvale are here for the week.) We had a very fun time careening through the park, frightening pedestrians.
Then, we were going to visit the Trevi fountain and have lunch nearby. Oh well.
After we left the immediate environs of the riot, it turned into an interesting Roman experience. And lunching in the park was actually quite nice.
More background on the demonstration here.