Heart of Rome walk

This post is a bit out of order but bear with me.

The evening before leaving Rome, we decided to do Rick Steves' "Heart of Rome" walk.

The walk begins in Campo de Fiori.  The neighborhood is known for its antiauthoritarian stance, its market and its rowdy spirit.  It's also known for this statue of the philosopher Giordano Bruno, who was burned to death (for heresy) ON THIS VERY SPOT on 17 February 1600.  In 1889 Ettore Ferrari dedicated a monument to him on the exact spot of his death: He stands defiantly facing the Vatican, reinterpreted in the first days of a reunited Italy as a martyr to freedom of thought.  The church didn't think much of this, and the neighborhood didn't care what the church thought so the statue stayed.  It's not quite as cool as Galileo leaving his middle finger to the church, but it's not bad.

Leaving Campo de Fiori.

Piazza Navona.  I know I've posted other pictures of it but it's pretty darned beautiful at sunset.

Piazza Colonna

Parliament

The Spanish Steps

This hardworking young man very graciously agreed to let me take his photo.  Like many other immigrants (he told me he was from Bangladesh) he is a street vendor, selling selfie sticks.  THERE ARE SO MANY SELFIE STICK VENDORS IT'S RIDICULOUS.  Almost as ridiculous as the number of tourists walking around taking selfies *with* selfie sticks.

Obligatory dinner shots below.  If someone would be so kind as to cross-post them to Instagram I'd be obliged.