Isola Tiberina, Rome

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The island is reached by two bridges, Ponte Fabricio and Ponte Cestio.

Ponte Fabricio dates from 62 BC and is the oldest original bridge over the Tiber still in use.

In the island's central piazza is San Bartolomeo all'Isola, this church dates back to the 10th century. The other main building on the island is a hospital.

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Isola Tiberina is connected to Rome by 2 bridges (Ponte Garibaldi and Ponte Fabricio). Its old name was "the island between two bridges". The island was associated with the God of Greek medicine, Aesclepius.

During plagues the sicks were isolated on the island to be cured. Even today the island has a strong reputation for curing people that spend the night here. Italians consider the hospital on the island to be one of the best in Rome.

The Temple of Aesculapius was located where the San Bartolomeo church is today.

As you cross the Ponte Cestio bridge into Trastevere, you stroll through Tiber Island, which is a fascinating stopping point on your journey. In ancient times, a temple to the god of medicine used to be located on this island; later, Romans suffering from some medical ailment were brought here to spend a night and pray for recovery; later yet, during severe plagues those who were smitten were quarantined on this island. A lot of history for such a tiny island.

Today, the island is dominated by the Fatebenefratelli, Rome's favored and most famous hospital for mothers-to-be. A small church adjacent to the hospital contains Rome's oldest working bell tower, built in 1069. The inside of this church is quaint, but with the beautiful artwork and detail symbolic of all Rome's churches.

The short walk across the Ponte Cestio Bridge for a brief visit to Tiber Island is definitely worth the little bit of effort and time that it takes.

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Tiber island ( isola Tiberina )is situated in the middle of the tiber river.This natural ford is connected to the city with the bridges Fabrizio and Cestio .This was place dedicated to the medicine god (Esculapio) .
In the island you can visit the bell tower of St Bartholomeo Basilica and the bell tower of St Giovanni Calibita plus the Caetani tower and the jewish Hospital .

A little ways to the south of the Tiber Island in the middle of the river stands a large ruin; it is the only surviving arch of an old bridge. Its upper part still shows, in relief form a winged dragon, which is the coat-of-arms of Pope Gregory XIII (1502–1585). Over the centuries it has been called by different names; today it is commonly known as Ponte Rotto, Broken Bridge.

On this crucial location the two sides of the River Tiber have been in connection since the third century BC. Originally, there was a wooden bridge at this point. At the start of the second century BC it was destroyed by flood; it took over 35 years to replace it with Rome's first stone bridge. It was also the longest at 165 yards, earning it the name Pons Maximus.

Because the bridge is located where the river bends, the water's turbulence is stronger; the bridge was subject to heavier than normal wear. Two centuries after its was completed, the first of major restoration work was carried out, under Emperor Augustus.

The stone structure kept suffering damages from the strong flow of water; in the 13th century it collapsed again.

By the Renaissance, the span was known as Santa Maria Bridge. Restoration had been carried out shortly before it was completely swept away by a flood in 1557. Pope Gregory XIII rebuild it, 25 years later! On Christmas Eve 1598 the worst flood Rome's history, water rose over 16.5 feet above street level, smashed the bridge’s eastern arches.

For almost three hundred years that bridge was left broken, giving rise to its name. In 1853 Pope Pius IX used the bridge's ruminants to support an iron footbridge. But it was not stable, and in 1887 the footbridge was dismantled and a modern traffic bridge was built directly next to it, called Ponte Palatino.

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It's the world's smallest inhabited island, and there are a lot of activities going on there during the summer. This year (and I think every year) there was an open air cinema, with italian and english films, esplanades, restaurants and stalls selling books, souvenirs, handicraft, ecc. I spent quite some time there, because I fell in love with this little island as soon as my eyes caught it! It's so relaxing to lay down a bit and just watch the river flowing. It was really very pleasant.

In the island there is also a maternity (imagine how cool it is to be born there!), a little church (Chiesa di San Bartolomeo) and the ruins of an old bridge (from the first town built with stone). One of the bridges that connects the island with the city centre is the oldest remaining bridge of Rome, dating back from 62 BC.

For more pictures, please take a look at my Isola Tiberina travelogue.

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The island is linked to the rest of Rome by two bridges. The Ponte Fabricio is the oldest bridge still in use in Rome, dating to 62 BC and connects the island to the northeast bank. while the Ponte Cestio, dating to 46 BC, connects the island to Trastevere on the south. Of the later, it was restored in 370 AD and only the central arch remains from that date; the rest is a late 19th century reconstruction. The former is also known as the Ponte Quattro Capi. Quattro Capi ("four heads" in Italian) refers to the four heads of the Janus herms on the parapet (see my first picture), which are apparently from the original bridge.

At the eastern end of the island are the remains of Rome's first stone bridge, dating to 142 BC, and known as the Ponte Rotto (the Broken Bridge). Most of what remains of this is from a 1575 reconstruction by Gregory XIII, the rest of which was washed away in 1598. The modern bridge behind it (which you can make out in the second photo), Ponte Palatino, is sometimes called the English Bridge, because it is the only stretch of road in Rome on which cars are driven on the left. I was very surprised to read that in my guidebook, so had to take a peek at it - and it is actually true!

The Isola Tiberina (or Insula Tiberina in Latin) is a boat-shaped island in the southern bend of the Tiber. The island is well-known for being the site of an ancient temple to Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine and healing. This was built during a great plague in Rome, at the instructions of the Sibyl. Although little of the Aesculapius temple remains, the island can still be considered a place of healing, as a modern-day hospital can be seen on the western end of the island (we could see the ambulances as we walked past on the bank).

Some ancient buildings can still be seen, like the Caetani tower dating to the Middle Ages, and the church of San Bartolomeo that was built on the site of the temple of Esculapius. Unfortunately nothing is left of the 10th century church as it was almost entirely rebuilt in the 17th century.