Campo de' Fiori means field of flowers. The name goes back to the years before the 1400s, when the square was still an untidy meadow outside the medieval city. It grew into one of Rome's busiest crossroads, ringed by inns for pilgrims and merchants, and it holds a quiet distinction: it is the only major square in the old center with no church facing it. For centuries it doubled as a place of trade and, more grimly, of public execution. The philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned here in 1600, and a brooding bronze statue of him has marked the spot since 1889.
Come at dawn and the square fills with a market that has run here for generations: stalls of tomatoes, artichokes, lemons, cut flowers, and spice, though souvenirs and pasta gifts now crowd in beside the produce. By afternoon the awnings fold away, the cobbles are swept, and the piazza turns into an open-air room of cafes and wine bars that stays loud into the night. The hooded bronze figure of Bruno stands at the center of the square through all of it, from the morning market to the late-night crowds.