Campo de’ fiori is a lively piazza where a flower and vegetable market is held every morning except Sunday. Now lined with bars and trattorie, the piazza was once a flowery meadow before it became a place of execution during the Inquisition. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy in the piazza in 1600 and his statue now stands at its centre. Many of the streets near Campo de’ Fiori are named after the artisans who traditionally occupied them, for example Via dei Cappellari (hatters), Via dei Baullari (trunk makers) and Via dei Chiavari (key makers). Via dei Giubbonari (jacket makers) runs off the southern corner of the piazza and leads to the Chiesa di San Carlo ai Catinari built in the 17th century. The church and the beautiful dome were designed by Rosato Rasati. Inside, there are altarpieces by Pietro da Cortona and Giovanni Lanfranco among others. It is open from 7.30 am to noon and from 4.30 to 7 pm.

The northern corner of Campo de’ Fiori leads to Piazza della Cancelleria which is dominated by the Palazzo della Cancelleria, a Renaissance palace built in the late 15th century for Cardinal Raffaello Riario. At one time it housed the Papal Chancellery and it is still used by il Vaticano. It is thought that Bramante designed the double loggia in the magnificent interior courtyard. Recent excavations beneath the palazzo have revealed ruins of one of the most important early Christian churches in Rome, the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso, which was finally demolished in the 15th century to make way for a new church (of the same name) and the palazzo into which it is incorporated.

Heading towards Piazza Navona, on the corner of Via dei Baullari and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, is a small palazzo known as the Piccolo Farnesina, built for a French clergyman, Thomas Le Roy, in 1523. It is now home to the Museo Barracco, one of the city’s most charming museums. Senator Giovanni Barracco presented his exquisite collection of Greek, Roman, Assyrian and Egyptian sculpture and artefacts to the city in 1902. Underneath the museum are remains of what is said to be a Roman fish shop, complete with counter and a water trough (ask for access). Fresco fragments found there are displayed on the ground floor. The museum is open from 9 am to 7 pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and from 9 am to 1 pm on Sunday.

Opposite the Museo Barracco is the Palazzo Braschi which houses the Museo di Roma (ph 06 687 58 80), founded in 1930 to illustrate the history and life of Rome from the Middle Ages to the present. Many of the exhibits, which include paintings, statues and architectural decorations, came from buildings that have since been demolished.

Heading in an easterly direction along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, you come to the late 16th century Chiesa di Sant’Andrea della Valle. The elaborate facade was completed in the 17th century and is in high baroque style. The church’s dome is the highest in Rome after that of the Basilica di San Pietro and was designed by Carlo Maderno. Frescoes by Giovanni Lanfranco and Domenichino decorate the inside of the dome. Domenichino also did the frescoes around the apse and altar. The competition between the artists was fierce, especially when they were working at the same time, and legend has it that Domenichino once even took a saw to Lanfranco’s scaffold. The church is open from 7.30 to noon and from 4.30 to 7.30 pm.