The market square

This is where Trastevere does its shopping, where the children play on the little pitch and the older folks sit on the benches around the edge, with the covered market hall along one side.

The name comes from the monastery that once stood here, San Cosimato, dedicated to two brothers who worked as doctors in the fourth century and refused to take money for their treatments. Two courtyards survive from that monastery, the oldest from the twelfth century, and they're tucked away inside the hospital that occupies the building now.

That tradition of care runs on to this day, because the complex was converted into a hospital for the poor in the nineteenth century and still works in healthcare, so the place has served the same purpose since the Middle Ages.

The market itself is a leftover from the days when every Roman neighbourhood had its own supply of food. A kilometre to the south lies Porta Portese, where on Sunday morning you'll find the city's biggest flea market, with everything from tools to bicycles that have changed hands rather suspiciously often.

We take Via della Luce east and keep going to the quiet square with the wall and the gate in front of it.