Tiber Island - An Island in the Heart of Rome

In the middle of the Tiber River, between the Trastevere neighborhood and the Jewish Ghetto, lies Tiber Island (Isola Tiberina)—a small island with a long history.

The elders of Rome have several different versions and stories about how the island was formed. The most popular tale is that in 509 BCE, when the Romans expelled the tyrannical king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, they threw his grain stores into the Tiber River as an expression of contempt. Over time, various sediments accumulated around the sinking grain and created Tiber Island.

Another legend claims that the island formed around the body of Tiberinus, the god and patron of the Tiber River. Tiberinus, according to legend, was the god who found the twins Remus and Romulus, the founders of Rome, and gave them to the she-wolf Lupa to raise. He drowned in the Tiber River while trying to cross it. His believers would place offerings in his honor on the banks of the Tiber River in May.

Tiberinus

In 293 BCE, a terrible plague struck Rome. The Roman Senate sent a delegation to Epidaurus in Greece, the holy city of Asclepius, god of medicine, to ask for help. According to legend, a sacred snake (symbol of Asclepius) escaped from the ship when they arrived in Rome and swam to Tiber Island - a divine sign that this is where the temple should be built. Over the years, the island was shaped like a ship to symbolize the snake's journey to Rome. An obelisk was erected in the island's center to represent the ship's mast.

In 1584, the Fatebenefratelli hospital was founded on the island by a Catholic order and remains active to this day. In 1881, a Jewish hospital was also established on Tiber Island due to its proximity to the Jewish Ghetto. The hospital was later moved to another location in the city.

On the day of the deportation of Rome's Jews to Auschwitz, October 16, 1943, dozens of Jews fled to the hospital on Tiber Island. The hospital doctors - Dr. Giovanni Borromeo (hospital director), Dr. Vittorio Sacerdoti (a Jewish doctor working at the hospital under a false identity), and Dr. Adriano Ossicini (an anti-fascist psychiatrist working as a volunteer) - invented a plague called "Syndrome K" and told the SS soldiers who came to take them that it was extremely dangerous and they shouldn't approach them.

Fatebenefratelli Hospital

Dr. Giovanni Borromeo - hospital director and Righteous Among the Nations

Church of San Bartolomeo - A beautiful 10th-century Baroque church built on the foundations of the Temple of Asclepius. It contains relics of saints and martyrs from all ages.

Church of San Bartolomeo

The Ancient Bridges - Ponte Fabricio (62 BCE) toward the Jewish Ghetto, and Ponte Cestio toward Trastevere. Ponte Fabricio is the oldest bridge in Rome and is still in use.

Tiber Island is small and charming, and there's no reason to skip it when visiting Rome. Combine it with a visit to the Trastevere neighborhood and the Jewish Ghetto. It's accessible on foot and open all the time.