Moreno –

Moreno di Giacomo is an iron worker in an independent workshop just off the Campo de’ Fiori. He primarily repairs antiques for antique shops in the center of the city. He is a specialist on lamps from the turn of the century, roughly from 1890 – 1910. He is kept very busy by the antique shops because they always have new pieces for him to repair, but he says that he would like to work more on his own line of lamps. He showed us several examples of lamps he made in his shop in addition to a portfolio of photos of his work. He builds a metal frames that he then drapes in silk, creating very artistic and beautiful frames. He was anxious to get back to work, and showed us how he bent the “tondini” (iron rods) using what looked like big metal tweezers on our way out.

New words learned during the interview:

Ferro – Iron

Seta – Silk

Lampeda – Lamp

Tondino – Iron rod

Paola –

Paola was born in Rome and has lived here for all of her life. She started working as a clerk at Forno Campo de’ Fiori five years ago. We tried one of the specialties of the shop, a small ball of orange flavored dough covered with almonds on the outside. It was amazing. The bakery has been around since Pope Alexander VI. They like to say that they baked that Pope Alexander VI gave to his “amante” (mistress) as a gift. The shop has been under the current ownership since 1970. They still bake all of their own pastries and breads in their bakery in the back. They let us look into the bakery, and it was very busy and smelled great. We asked Paola what her favorite thing was in the shop. Surprisingly enough she did not pick a pastry, but rather a sandwich of eggs and artichokes, called a frittata di carcioffi. We asked what Paola did in her free time, and she laughed and asked, “What free time?” She told us that she has two beautiful kids named Giada and Alessia.

New words learned during the interview:

Carciofi – Artichokes

Giada – Jade

Amante – lover/mistress