A walk in the centre of Rome - Part 2

I'm on the site of the ancient stadium of Domitian, Piazza Navona. The piazza is oval shaped as the race track would have been. It is encircled by buildings and churches with narrow roads leading to and from it. Along its sides there are numerous restaurants and cafès, most are best avoided. 

Except for the famous Tre Scalini, with its speciality of 'tartufo' ice-cream.The restaurant claims to have created a dessert known as 'Tartufo Tre Scalini' in 1946. It is made according to a secret recipe and includes 13 types of Swiss chocolate. The ice-cream dish it sells is different from the bland supermarket version. Its a lot heavier and more consistent with shaved rolls of dark chocolate in place of the cacao dusting and served with a healthy dollop of cream (panna) and a wafer. The tartufo ice-cream dessert actually originates from Pizo in Calabria.

As I amble around the old stadium I'm pestered by waiters calling out in English to entice me to their restaurants.

" Pizza?"

"Pasta?" It's only 11.30.

"Too early," I answer back in Italian, but they don't hear me, their gazes have turned to the next lot of passers-by.

I pass the shops that sell multicolored pasta and scented olive oil - the type of shops where only foreign tourists can be found - I head to the northern end of the Piazza. That famous balcony is adorned in flowers. I don't know who lives there but every year they put on a great floral show for the passers-by who care to lift their gaze above the piazza.

I've been told that most of the flats looking on to the piazza are owned by the Vatican and inhabited by visiting members of the clergy and aspiring priests. Long gone are the days of living in sparsely furnished cell like rooms. Or maybe it depends on which order they are affiliated.

I start my walk down the piazza at the Fountain of Neptune where a gull is enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame as tourists snap away.Despite the circling people the bird seems perfectly content, maybe digesting a filling meal from one of the many over-flowering rubbish tips, maybe enjoying the slight breeze.

I head towards the piazza's masterpiece, The Fountain of the Four Rivers, designed by Bernini to represent the four continents through their principal rivers: the Danube, the Nile, the Rio de la Plata and the Ganges. The four river gods are supported by Travertine rock from which rises an Egyptian obelisk bearing the emblem of the Pamphili family: a dove with an olive branch in its beak. The work was commissioned by Pope Innocent I in 1650 whose family palace overlooks the piazza.


The making of the fountain was controversial. Pope Innocent I used public money during a period of famine (1646 - 1648). Hand written protests, known as Pasquinades, were attached to the stone blocks used to make the fountain.

"We do not want Obelisks and Fountains. We want bread. Bread, bread, bread!" Innocent had the protesters arrested.


Rising beside the fountain and adjacent to Palazzo Pamphili is the Church of St. Agnese in Agone. Pope Innocent I is also behind its construction, built on the alleged site of St. Agnes martyrdom in the ancient stadium of Domitian.

It was begun in 1652, the original architects' design faced much criticism and they were replaced in 1653 by Borromini, Bernini's rival for papal commissions. The church, after having gone through a number of architects (Borromini resigned in 1657), was completed in 1672 and consecrated on 17 January of that same year

The oft repeated tale I heard when in 1997 I took my one and only guided tour of Rome was that the statue of the Nile river has an arm thrown up in horror to protect his eyes from the vision of the dome which had been built by Bernini's rival Borromini. Some suggest that it is fear, as if the powerful river god were afraid that the poorly built edifice would crumble on him. The tales are apocryphal.
The fountain predates the building of the church's façade. Therefore, rivals or not, Bernini could not have intentionally designed the river god in such a way as to sleight Borromini. 

I admire the façade of the church and the dove statues bearing their twigs, emblem of the Pamphili family said to represent peace and happiness. I amble past the Brazilian embassy and stand at the piazzas southern end beside the Fountain of the Moor, which like that of Neptune was designed by Giacomo della Porta in 1575. The original design included the dolphin and the four tritons. The central statue ,the Moor, was added in 1653 by Bernini.

Pamphili family emblem

The clouds which have accompanied this walk are beginning to clear and the temperature is rising. I head down a narrow alleyway towards the traffic-congested Corso Vittorio Emmanuele. I pass a picturesque trattoria. The translated menu, display of plastic food and waiters calling 'hello, hello! You want eat," mark it firmly as for tourists only. The food will be over-priced, unoriginal,bland and far from good but will conform to a lot of tourists expectations.

I cross Corso Vittorio in front of the Museo di Roma in Palazzo Braschi. I pause at the famous Il Fornaio on Via de' Baulari to gaze at the Nutella cakes and pistacchio cakes. I can't help wondering why the Nutella tortine are sold by the piece whereas the pistacchio tortine, of identical dimension are sold by the weight. A large mortadella sausage is exposed in the entrance, large slices are carved off for lunchtime panini or to bring home

Piazza Navona from its Southern end

Ahead I can make out the bustle of people going to and from Campo dei Fiori Rome's most central and well-known markets if not its best. There are too many tourists for that. Inevitably, I find stalls selling multi-coloured pasta shapes, multi-flavoured liqueurs, and scented olive oils. Among them are stalls selling seriously marked up vegetables and cheese.

They are prettily displayed but a tomato sold on the market at Campo dei Fiori will be the same as a tomato sold on the market in Garbatella. There are mountains of Parmesan atop the counter of a cheese stall though it turns out that the owner is from the Piedmont region of Italy. His cheeses seem to be the only genuinely artisanal product on the market. The rest is there for the tourists who have read about the market in their guide books. As I head towards the far end of the Campo past the vineria and a delicatessen I see stalls selling Roma T-shirts alongside tourist T-shirts and I love Rome bags. 

The bronze, hooded statue of Giordano Bruno rises above the canopies. Giordano Bruno was tortured by the Inquisition, convicted for heresy and executed by burning on Campo dei Fiori in 1600.

I consider a drink at one of the bars that surround the square. In the end, I leave. It's getting hotter and hotter and hotter, the morning breeze has stilled and the air is heavy and cloying. The campo is busy but other than a few market sellers playing at being colourful by shouting out their wares in Romanaccio this really is tourist only territory. It's sad that such an attractive part of Rome, in its bid to attract tourists, should have lost so much of its genuine appeal.