Description
Tiber Island is the only urban island in the Tiber, a small strip of land in the middle of the river, in the center of Rome. Two ancient bridges link it to the two banks: the Fabricius Bridge and the Cestius Bridge.
It has a shape reminiscent of a ship, and it is also called the "stone ship." In the 1st century BC its banks were faced with travertine in the form of a hull, with a prow still visible, and in the middle an obelisk served as the mast.
Today people come for the Basilica of St. Bartholomew, built in the 10th century on the ruins of the temple of Aesculapius, with an ancient well. Opposite is the Fatebenefratelli hospital, founded in the 1500s by the followers of St. John of God.
Since 1995, in summer, the Isola del Cinema has brought films and cultural events here.
According to the myth, in 292 BC the Romans came back from Epidaurus with the symbol of Aesculapius, god of medicine, to stop a plague, and the serpent that represented him slid off the ship right here. The god's temple rose on the island and the plague, the story goes, vanished.
Ever since, this piece of land in the middle of the river has never stopped caring for the sick: the Fatebenefratelli hospital is its continuation, and the island also has a Jewish hospital. Its birth, too, has its legends: the island is said to have been born from the grain of Tarquin the Proud, thrown into the river by the rebelling Romans.
In reality underneath is a bank of tuff, like that of the Capitoline, on which the sands carried by the current have settled. For this reason, already in antiquity, the riverbed here was shallow and the river could be forded: two bridges and an island became an important crossing between the two banks.
On August 24 the watermelon festival was held, with swimming races between the bridges to grab them. In 1870 it was banned: the current had caused too many accidents.
It has a shape reminiscent of a ship, and it is also called the "stone ship." In the 1st century BC its banks were faced with travertine in the form of a hull, with a prow still visible, and in the middle an obelisk served as the mast.
Today people come for the Basilica of St. Bartholomew, built in the 10th century on the ruins of the temple of Aesculapius, with an ancient well. Opposite is the Fatebenefratelli hospital, founded in the 1500s by the followers of St. John of God.
Since 1995, in summer, the Isola del Cinema has brought films and cultural events here.
According to the myth, in 292 BC the Romans came back from Epidaurus with the symbol of Aesculapius, god of medicine, to stop a plague, and the serpent that represented him slid off the ship right here. The god's temple rose on the island and the plague, the story goes, vanished.
Ever since, this piece of land in the middle of the river has never stopped caring for the sick: the Fatebenefratelli hospital is its continuation, and the island also has a Jewish hospital. Its birth, too, has its legends: the island is said to have been born from the grain of Tarquin the Proud, thrown into the river by the rebelling Romans.
In reality underneath is a bank of tuff, like that of the Capitoline, on which the sands carried by the current have settled. For this reason, already in antiquity, the riverbed here was shallow and the river could be forded: two bridges and an island became an important crossing between the two banks.
On August 24 the watermelon festival was held, with swimming races between the bridges to grab them. In 1870 it was banned: the current had caused too many accidents.