Looking for elements of composition

While strolling with my wife one evening, I came upon this scene.  At first, I was drawn to the repeated elements of the steps, and the placement of the couple.  I didn't want to be too obtrusive, so I just snapped the shot without taking too much time and moved on.  My thinking at the time was that the vertical composition would work with the steps going upward in the frame.  And while it was not a wonderful photo opportunity, I felt certain that something interesting was in there.  

So, I got back to do the post processing and at least straighten up the frame, etc.  But in the process I decided to crop out some extraneous dead space and such, so I switched to landscape orientation so I could emphasize the couple. 

And that's when a sort of magical thing happened.  I realized that there were additional compositional elements in the photo that I had, frankly, not noticed at first.  Here is my crop:

First of all, I like this much better because the crop has pulled the foreground couple closer and made them more of a focus.  But by doing that I noticed a happy accident in the background.

There are actually three couples arranged in a triangle on the right side of the frame.  Ok, I know my red markup looks more like Mickey Mouse head, but I was just pointing out the location of the three couples.  The steps work to direct the eye upward to the right, toward the couples.  So that was cool.  But from a balance standpoint, something else was there.

This guy.  Standing off the the left.  In this crop he is prominent enough to actually become a compositional element in two ways.  First, he works in opposition to the foreground couple on the right.  Imagine a balance with the fulcrum near the center of the frame, near the couple, and the guy off on the long arm of the balance.  They are 'heavy' on the lower right, but he is trying to balance the composition by being separated at a distance.  The long lever arm leaves the impression that he could weigh down the long arm and balance out the weight of the couple.

So, whatever, right?  It's kinda thin, I admit.  But still the balance of weights in a composition is important and provides another element of subliminal experience in the viewer.  But here is the most important compositional element in the storytelling sense:

On the right side of the frame are three couples, and on the left side is a single man.  Plus, there is something about the way he is standing there that also creates tension.  It's a place where couples go to stroll and sit and look at the streets of Rome, but he has no partner.  At a glance, you might not notice, but if you look at the photo for a minute, you begin to think about the back story possibilities, why is he alone, etc.  At least, that's what I do.