ROMA: DAY 3 CAMPO DEI FIORI OPEN MARKET

After our visit to the catacombs we called for a taxi to our next destination near the Pantheon neighborhood.

Thanks to the little booklet of events and museum exhibits in our Roma Day Pass pack we planned on going to see the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit on this day. The exhibit was held at the Palazzo della Cancelleria which happens to be right next to the Campo dei Fiori piazza.

When our taxi driver pulled up in the piazza to drop us off we were surprised to find the piazza lined with vendors selling pasta, fruit, vegetables, bread, and souvenirs. Apparently this piazza is known for having this open market everyday. Which is very convenient for may tourists and the residents that live in the buildings surrounding the piazza. We were both quite parched and hungry at this point and decided to stroll the market in search of something to eat. I purchased some apples, blood oranges and cucumbers from one vendor in the market. This woman was quite old but she had some spunk to her. She had me walk all the way inside her circle of tables so she could bag up my choices and give me a price. Right below our feet her little chihuahua pup was roaming around under all the tables. If I did not look down I would have stepped on that little cutie.

Since these fruits would not be enough sustenance for us we kept walking until we found a panini stand. They were selling cold cuts, cheese and these great prosciutto panini's for 1.50 Euro. These were not only delicious but also the most inexpensive meal we had during our entire stay in Italy. Our panini's looked so appetizing that a fellow Italian girl asked us where we found them. We ried to point out the tent where they were selling them but due to the little english she knew and the little italian we knew she was getting very confused. Thus we decided to just walk her over to the tent and eliminate any further confusion. She ended up being really nice and friendly and asked where we were from and why we were here. As we walked over to the Palazzo to eat our panini's we both commented on how nice she was and how this experience definitely changed our outlook on all Italians after the mayhem with the taxi driver the day previous.

The lovely vendor who we purchased our panini's from, he spoke no english at all!

Some of the things we saw while strolling through the market;

Tomorrow's post will be about the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit. I took many photos as this was one museum where we were not forbidden from taking photographs.