The market square

This square is everyday Trastevere: a covered market hall on one side, kids on the little pitch, and older folks on the benches around the edge.

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 isn't a coincidence. The complex was converted into a hospital for the poor in the nineteenth century and still works in healthcare today, so the place has been used for 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 follow it to the quiet square with the wall and the gate in front of it.