Campo dei Fiori

Campo dei Fiori, which translates into “Field of Flowers”, is an important and famous piazza, or square, in the center of Rome. Historians are uncertain about the origin of its name, and some attribute it to the fact that before the 1400s, the square was merely an open field. Others claim that the name derives from Flora, the lover of the Emperor Pompey, while others state that it derives from the fact that the square fell into complete abandon in the 16th century, essentially reverting back to a field. Whatever the origin of its name, the square became famous on February 17, 1600, as the location where the philosopher and monk, Giordano Bruno, was burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition.