Alternatively you can cross Corso Vittorio Emanuele and head straight into the medieval market square of Campo de' Fiori. The sinister figure in the middle is Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake here by order of the Pope in the early 17th century. The statue dates from 1870, when the unification of Italy liberated Rome from direct papal rule. Behind Campo de' Fiori is the elegant Piazza Farnese, dominated by the renaissance Palazzo Farnese, now the French Embassy. take Via dei Giubbonari out of Campo de' Fiori and follow it straight across Via Arenula (where it turns into Via Mattei) until you come to Pizza Mattei with its charming 16th century fountain depicting four boys with tortoises (which are believed to have been added by Bernini the following century). The narrow winding streets round about are the Ghetto; Rome's Jewish community is the oldest in Europe dating from the first century BC. There is a massive late 19th century synagogue on the river bank. From the tortoise fountain turn left up Via Paganica to Largo Di Torre Argentina where there are remains of four temples and traces of far earlier buildings going back as early as the 5th century BC, making these some of the oldest remains in Rome.
