If the award for Best Market in Europe was dished out by name alone, Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori (or ‘field of flowers’) would win hands down. (Well, it’s certainly better than Barcelona’s Boqueria, which translates as ‘slaughterhouse’).

Campo de’ Fiori is primarily one of Rome’s most beloved squares, even though it lacks the formal architectural arrangements of the city’s other great piazzi such as the Piazza Navona or del Popolo. However this one-time meadow has always been a hub of the city’s commercial activity and the nomenclature of the surrounding streets reflect this. In the Middle Ages, you could have picked up a bespoke cape in Via dei Giubbonari (Tailor’s street) and a bow and arrow in Via dei Balestrari (Crossbow makers street) before heading off to one of the many inns in the square for a night of bawdy revelry.

This still happens once the sun sets on the Campo de’ Fiori, when hoards of young people, mainly tourists, pack out the outdoor cafes that line the piazza. But every morning (except Sunday) the Campo de’ Fiori comes alive with a genuine local experience; Rome’s biggest (and possibly Europe’s prettiest) open air market. This being Italy the stalls of fruit, vegetables, flowers and fish border on works of art. As you wander around, you will marvel at the exquisite bunches of vine tomatoes, cascading walls of strawberries, perfectly balanced pyramids of peaches and plums and curtains of wisp-like red peppers flapping in the breeze. Marvel at the fact that someone has the patience to sit there all morning trimming artichokes and how flowers are displayed in antique baskets where stems, textures, shapes and colours intermingle to make the most glorious compositions.

As a result, the Campo de’ Fiori market attracts is fair share of curious tourists. But first and foremost the market serves the residents of the centro storico and acts, as all good markets should, as a community meeting place. So, don’t stand back. Buy some ingredients for a classic Roman dish such as Spaghetti alla Carbonara and you will take home a genuine slice of Roman life.