Chess in the street

In New York City chess boards are incredibly common around several small parks and people are always waiting for a match. In Rome though, as I was out exploring, I came across a few older men playing chess in the middle of their street. Scooters slowed and turned to avoid them and no one batted an eye. I drew the comparison between the first 5 feet of a roman street and a stoop of an apartment building in any of the boroughs of NYC. This is a place where privacy and the public domain meet. A chess match or social interaction is common in this place and getting hit by a vehicle is far from a chief concern.