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Campo de' Fiori and the Ghetto: a market and a quarter

Campo de' Fiori and the old Ghetto are a few streets apart in the bend of the Tiber. One is the city's market, the other holds the oldest Jewish community in Europe.

A stall piled with vegetables at the market of Campo de' Fiori.
Daderot, CC0
What it is
Walk
Time to allow
1.5 to 2.5 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
Morning for the market, evening for the Ghetto

Rome this week

    Why Campo de' Fiori and the Ghetto is worth it

    Campo de' Fiori means field of flowers, and it was a meadow until it was paved in 1456. It is the one big square in the centre without a church on it. In the morning it is a market of fruit, vegetables, flowers and spices. At night the stalls go and the bars take over.

    It has a darker memory. Executions were held here, and on 17 February 1600 the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive on the square for heresy. His hooded bronze statue, put up in 1889 on the spot, faces towards the Vatican.

    Ten minutes south-east is the Ghetto. There have been Jews in Rome since the second century BC. In 1555 Pope Paul IV shut them into a few flooded streets by the river, behind walls and gates locked at night, and they stayed shut in until 1870. The walls are gone, the community is not, and its cooking, fried artichokes above all, is the pride of the city.

    What to see

    1. The market

      On the square every morning except Sunday. Look past the souvenir pasta for the stalls of puntarelle, artichokes and courgette flowers.

    2. Via del Portico d'Ottavia

      The Ghetto's main street, lined with restaurants and bakeries, ends at the columns of a portico Augustus built for his sister. Behind it stands the Theatre of Marcellus.

    3. The Great Synagogue

      Finished in 1904, with a square dome of aluminium you can see across the city. The Jewish Museum of Rome is inside.

    4. The Turtle Fountain

      In the tiny Piazza Mattei: four bronze boys push turtles up into a basin. It is the most charming small fountain in Rome.

    How to do it well

    • Do the market before eleven and lunch in the Ghetto.
    • Carciofi alla giudia, whole artichokes fried until the leaves open like a flower, are a winter and spring dish. Out of season they are not the real thing.
    • The Ghetto's kosher restaurants close on Friday evening and Saturday until sunset.
    • Look down as you walk: small brass plaques in the paving name the people taken from each house in the round-up of 16 October 1943.
    • From the Ghetto it is two minutes to the Tiber Island, and across it to Trastevere.

    Where it is

    Address

    Between Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Tiber

    Nearest station

    No metro. Buses and tram 8 stop at Largo di Torre Argentina, five minutes away

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line.

    Tickets and tours: Campo de' Fiori and the Ghetto

    Campo de' Fiori and the Ghetto: common questions

    When is the Campo de' Fiori market open?
    In the morning and early afternoon, every day except Sunday. In the evening the stalls are cleared and the square fills with people drinking at the bars round it.
    Whose statue is in Campo de' Fiori?
    Giordano Bruno, the philosopher burnt alive on the square for heresy on 17 February 1600. The statue was put up in 1889.
    What is the Jewish Ghetto in Rome known for?
    For its history, as the quarter where the city's Jews were confined from 1555 to 1870, for the Great Synagogue and the Portico d'Ottavia, and for Roman Jewish cooking, above all fried artichokes.
    How much time do you need for Campo de' Fiori and the Ghetto?
    Allow 1.5 to 2.5 hours. That is this site's estimate for an unhurried visit.

    What visitors say about Campo de' Fiori and the Ghetto

    Rating from Google

    4.4

    71,649 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 6 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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