Rome Note: Campo de' Fiori

Would it be my imagination or--no, I think it would not be my imagination that the world-famous (and world-class) street market in Rome's Campo de' Fiori is slowly fading away?

No, not the Campo itself, which is still a lively place--in the daytime awash in happy tourists and busy shops; at night exploding with ragazze and ragazzi from around the galaxy.

But the market itself, a fixture of the Rome street scene since 1869, really doesn't look anywhere near as good as it did when I first traded there more than a quarter of a century ago.

Then, it buzzed with activity. These days--well, for one thing, the fishmongers appear to have disappeared altogether (or at any rate, they took last week off). There are still a lot of veggie stands, and the produce is still topnotch. But I don't think there are as many as there used to be. Some of been simply replaced by smalltime clothing or housewares operations. And the remainder are ever a bit more aimed at the tourist trade.

Why exactly, I wonder? For fish, I suppose the answer is just that there are fewer of them, and they sell at ever more astronomical higher prices. But as to the produce--are there simply fewer locals living in this best-of-all inner-city neighborhoods? Is market gardening just that much tougher in the EU, what with competing outside competition (I note that some, at least of the product is labeled "came from Italy!"--something I suspect they wouldn't have had to specify in 1869)? Is it tougher to find good gardening space in the Rome suburbs? Or are dollars--even little teeny emaciated American tourist dollars--simply a better opportunity?

No point in lamenting over this kind of change. Stuff happens. One door closes, another opens. I am consoled, however, by the fact that the melons do taste just as yummy as ever. For the moment, at least.