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Field of Flowers is one of the many squares of Rome famous for the morning food market. The origin of the name goes back to the Middle Ages when the area was one vast meadow (Field of Flowers Square). At the centre stands a statue of Giordano Bruno, a monk who was burned here for heresy in 1600. Today is one of the venues preferred by young, thanks to the presence of many pubs and local.
Campo dei Fiori, translated literally from Italian, means "field of flowers."
The name was first given during the Middle Ages when the area was actually a meadow.
In Ancient Rome the area was unused space between Pompey's Theatre and the flood-prone Tiber. Though the Orsini established themselves on the south flank of the space in the 13th century, until the 15th century the square remained undeveloped. The first church in the immediate vicinity was built during the pontificate of Boniface IX (1389-1404), Santa Brigida a Campo dei Fiori; with the building-up of the rione, the church has now come to face that part of the former Campo that is now Piazza Farnese.
In 1456 under Pope Callixtus III, Ludovico Cardinal Trevisani paved the area: this was part of a greater project of improvement of the rione Parione. This renewal was both the result and cause of several important buildings being built in the surroundings; in particular, the Orsini palace on Campo dei Fiori was rebuilt.
Campo dei Fiori it self has never been architecturally formalized: the illustration above shows that the edge of the facade of the 17th-century Palazzo Pio offers no finished formal front in the direction of the Campo.
Instead, the square has always remained a focus for commercial and street culture: the surrounding streets are named for trades
With new access streets installed by Sixtus IV? Via Florea and Via Pellegrino? the square became a necessary corridor for important people passing between the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano and the Vatican, thus bringing wealth to the area: a flourishing horse market took place twice a week (Monday and Saturday) and a lot of inns, hotels and shops came to be situated in Campo dei Fiori.
Campo de' Fiori in the 1740s, etching by Giuseppe Vasi Capital punishments used to be held publicly in Campo dei Fiori: in Vasi's etching the tall permanent gibbet stands in the horse and cattle market.
Here, on 17 February 1600, the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive by the Roman Inquisition because his ideas were deemed dangerous. In 1887 Ettore Ferrari dedicated a monument to him on the exact spot of his death: he stands defiantly facing the Vatican, reinterpreted in the first days of a reunited Italy as a martyr to freedom of the spect.
The demolition of a block of housing in 1858 enlarged Campo dei Fiori, and since 1869 there has been a vegetable and flower market there every morning.
The ancient fountain "la Terrina" (the "soupbowl") that once watered cattle, resited in 1889, now keeps flowers fresh.
In the afternoons, local games of football give way to set-ups for outdoor cafes. At night, Campo dei Fiori is a popular meeting place for young people, both Italian and foreign.