Campo de' Fiori

Lonely Planet review

Noisy and colourful, 'Il Campo' is a major focus of Roman life: by day it hosts a flower and vegetable market, while at night it becomes an open-air pub, beloved of hard-drinking students and young Romans. The square's commercial character dates to the late 15th century, when the transferral of the city market to Piazza Navona revitalised much of what is now the centro storico .

Traders moved into the area and artisans began to set up shops in the neighbourhood. Many of the streets near Campo de' Fiori are named after the artisans who traditionally occupied them, so there's Via dei Cappellari (hatters), Via dei Baullari (trunk makers) and Via dei Chiavari (key makers). Via dei Giubbonari (jacket makers) is still full of clothing shops.

Il Campo was also the site of public executions. Most famously, the philosophising monk Giordano Bruno, immortalised in Ettore Ferrari's sinister statue, was burned here for heresy in 1600.