Day two in Rome was as blissfully perfect as the first. We woke early for our free pastry breakfast, and after filling our bellies and Martin’s morning coffee, we were off into the streets with a destination in mind this time.
The Campo Di Fiori market is Rome’s oldest market. An open air market that sells fresh fruit, vegetables and fish, as well as spices, cheeses, wines and all kind of other goodies. It has a good balance of touristy and local gems, making it an interesting market to wander around on a sunny morning. It’s not really a farmers market, most of the produce might not be local or organic, but it has a nice vibe and it’s great to see one of Rome’s outdoor markets is surviving and thriving.
Beautiful jewel corn! The produce was in abundance with some strange looking things I’d never seen before.
Oh but if there one reason to make it to Campo Di Fiori square, it’s the little pizza shop located at one of the far sides. You might miss it entirely if you didn’t know you should be looking, but Forno Campo de’ Fiori has the best pizza I’ve ever tried. I’m not kidding you, and I even only ate the plain base and tomato as I can’t eat cheese, but both Martin and Molly were wholeheartedly in agreement. It’s not the kind of pizza you might imagine (circular and extra greasy!), instead it’s baked in very long rectangles, it’s incredibly fresh and actually served at room temperature (not hot!). It’s like a fresh delicious bread with toppings, which is probably what pizza was intended to be. You tell the man behind the counter how much you want by indicated with your hands the size of slice, he’ll chop it off the long rectangle, weigh it, and you’re on your way.
After our indulgent lunch, we decided to go wandering in the Jewish quarter, one of the oldest and most beautifully shabby parts of Rome. I was mesmerised by the ancient buildings, tiny winding streets you slipped through small wholes in the wall to get to. We were offered tastes of fried vegetables and lots of smiles when we passed the restaurants.
With tired feet we decided to take an afternoon rest at Tiber Island, lying on the white concrete with closed eyes listening to the running water of the river and the chatter of ducks strolling by. The sun was warm and welcoming, it was nice to slow down in a city filled with so much liveliness where normally you can’t tear your eyes away for even one moment.
Day two and another visit to the best gelato in the world? Don’t mind if we do 😉
We spent the rest of the afternoon ticking off as many ‘must see’ sights as we could. Including the colosseum! I think sometimes as a tourist we can get too caught up in seeing all these iconic things that are on the tourist map our accommodation handed us on arrival, or maybe you google the “10 things to see in Rome” obligatory blogpost.
Martin and I have now been travelling so long now that the sights aren’t really top on my list. I’d rather explore the oldest, most authentic neighbourhood, eat at a tradition restaurant, people watch in a city park, eat the best gelato known to man, just soak in the essence and culture of a new, unknown place. So we didn’t actually go inside the colosseum, we gazed at it’s vastness from all sides and it was beautiful. But we only had three days in Rome, with already empty pockets, and I knew I was spoilt to just be there. It’s okay to ‘miss out’ in some people’s eyes, because I already felt the richest I ever have felt.
