RST Top 40: #4: Campo de' Fiori at Sunrise

market stalls opening up in the Campo

Campo de’ Fiori, in the heart of old Rome, has a storied history but we are ambivalent about its present.

The large piazza is named after the meadow of flowers that once occupied the land there, now replaced with an equally colorful, bustling market place much of the day. At night, it is a lightning rod for drunken young people of all nationalities, and a scourge of much of the neighborhood.

Still, how can one not be seduced by a piazza where a church heretic was burned at the stake (see our earlier post on Giordano Bruno - and the interesting comment to that post)? Where the cry for Italy’s independence was most heartfelt (think Tahrir Square)? Where Romans once built theaters?

bread coming out of the ovens at 5 a.m.

For us, the magic of Campo de' Fiori was restored when we scootered into it one weekday morning at 5 a.m. – to watch the market stalls being set up, the bakery bread being readied for the ovens. One could see, smell and feel the authenticity of a true market square.

And so, Campo de’ Fiori – at 5 a.m. anyway – makes our Rome the Second Time’s Top 40 at #4.

Dianne

PS – see also the University of Washington Rome Center’s lovely view over the piazza to St. Peter's in our post, Campo di UW.

Campo di UW

Last night we attended Jeffrey Collins' delightful talk, "Pompous Baloney? Telling the Time in Batoni's Portrait of Pope Pius VI," the last in the University of Washington's series at the UW Rome Center on Campo dei Fiori. Jennifer Wilkin puts these evenings together and contributes her curiosity, charm, and networking skills, and we are grateful to her and to the University for the kindness, hospitality, and sense of community that are a feature of these events. The evening ended on the terrace high above the Campo, with this magical vision of the sun setting squarely behind the dome of St. Peter's. Too much. Bill