If you are in Rome, even for a brief period, you cannot miss a magic place, in the very heart of the eternal city. Between the Piazza Farnese, where you’ll discover the most impressive and magnificent Renaissance palace in Rome (headquarter of the French Embassy) and the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, not far from the Piazza Navona: “Campo dei Fiori”. Literally, “the flower’s square” or even better “the flower’s field”, as it was probably once, a long time ago… Now the square it is still filled with colours and perfumes thanks to the flowers and the plants you can buy on the most famous and probably one of the oldest (from 1869, when Rome wasn’t yet the capital of Italy) roman market.
Splendidly coloured also with mountains of fruits and vegetables, spices that look like contemporary art installations, all types of pasta etc… And if you need some meat, or fish, or cheese, you’ll find it in high quality little shops all around the square, between two bars, or attached to a restaurant. For example, the famous bakery “Forno di Campo dei Fiori” (the oven of Campo dei Fiori) where you can find delicious bread, pizza, torta rustica (vegetable pie) and also marvellous crostate (sweet pies), still warm, with home made jams. It is just next door (number 22 and 23 of the Campo) of a historical “trattoria ”, La Carbonara, well known for her old roman receipts.
In the sixties, it was a gathering place for the roman artists. Pier Paolo Pasolini, for example, was one of the permanent clients. Today, perhaps, you’ll find even a better “pasta alla Carbonara” walking just two minutes to get to via dei Giubbonari, at “ Roscioli , Salumeria con Cucina” that has both a marvellous delicatessen shop and a little restaurant.
Going a bit more back in time, in the forties of last century, one of the most popular “commedia all’ Italiana” with Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi took place on that square and the title was, of course, “Campo dei Fiori”.
But it was not a very nice place a few centuries ago. During the Counter Reform, in the 15th century, the executions took place on the Campo. In the middle of the square, there is a statue of the Dominican father and philosopher Giordano Bruno that reminds us that this marvellous man, opened to the revolutionary scientifically discoveries of that time about the infinity of the universe, was burned alive, there, on the 17th February 1600. Just because he pretended freedom of thinking for the human beings! Perhaps it is that spirit of freedom, still present, that gives to Campo dei Fiori his unique magical atmosphere.
