Rome Hotels near Compo dei Fiori

Although the vendors begin setting up their stalls at 3:30 AM, the best time to visit the Campo de’ Fiori market is around 9:00 AM; the vendors begin to pack up at around 1:00. Those who spend enough mornings at the Campo de’ Fiori market and enough evenings at its many eating establishments may eventually begin to recognize their previous evening’s chefs negotiating for the next evening’s fare.

Those chefs are the hearts and souls of the restaurants, cafes, pizzerias, and bars which serve as gathering places for the Campo de’ Fiori’s creative spirits, who begin arriving when the cafes are set up after the market closes in the afternoons, and are joined in the evening by both locals and tourists to share a meal and a common love for Rome and her history.

And the Campo de’ Fiori has history to spare. Standing at its center, in silent witness to all the goings-on, is the statue erected in 1887 to commemorate Giordano Bruni. He was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600 on spot the where his statue, its back to the Vatican, now stands. Not far from the Campo is the site of the Roman Senate annex from which the body of Julius Caesar was carried on the Ides of March; and one of the Borgia men is said to have been poisoned in his palazzo bordering the Campo.

The great painter Caravaggio was for centuries thought to have killed his tennis competitor Rannuccio Tomassini over a disputed score after one of their tennis matches on the Campo de’ Fiori. Later research revealed that Caravaggio very probably killed Rannucio by attempting to castrate him over a shared mistress, but the legend of Campo de’ Fiori gains a certain macabre luster with either explanation.

Hotels Near the Campo de’ Fiori

Located in a refurbished fifteenth century palazzo, with a terrace overlooking the Piazza Della Cancelleria and Piazza Farnese, the Hotel St. George is a five-star accommodation just minutes from Campo de’ Fiori, Vatican City, and Piazza Navona.