Ms. Surprenant, who has served the hungry throngs here for 46 years, longer than any other Hilltop waitress, said that as recently as two weeks ago, she would see only three or four customers in the cavernous dining rooms.
Visitors from all over the world throng here throughout the year, and both the medieval town centre, around romantic Piazza delle Erbe, and the imposing Piazza Bra near the Roman Arena are packed with trattorie and pizzerie.
It's a holiday town too, especially in winter when skiers throng here for the famously steep runs of Taos Ski Valley, and for the area's snowboard ban (to be lifted in March).
What needed to be big was the audience, and the cheering throng here, for one of the Collegium's most ambitious undertakings to date, put its seal on the effort.
That must surely be the point of the sale, that people do throng here, and anywhere that people throng to, there's a way to monetise it: no owner, old or new, could hope to develop the land, which is all protected.
Unlike in more famous spots, where it can be hard to see the art for the throngs, here you can enjoy masterpieces such as Caravaggio's the Flagellation, Titian's Danaë with Eros, and Breughel Senior's the Blind Leading the Blind – almost alone.
On auspicious days, villagers throng here to pray, while vendors sell vermillion powder, sweets, beads and bangles and folk musicians strike up their instruments to accompany bhajans (hymns) sung soulfully by wandering mendicants.
They weren't looking for a Tiergarten-sized throng here.
Crowds estimated by the police in the hundreds of thousands thronged Rizal Park here to hear Mr. Estrada's inaugural address.
The six-figure crowd that thronged the Downs here on Derby day had had a tip for the big race.
