Isola Tiberina

Centro Storico


One of the world’s smallest inhabited islands, the boat-shaped Isola Tiberina has been associated with healing since the 3rd century BC when the Romans built a temple here to the god of medicine Aesculapius. Still today people come to be cured, though they now head to the island's hospital, the Ospedale Fatebenefratelli.

The island is connected to the mainland by two bridges: the 62 BC Ponte Fabricio, Rome's oldest standing bridge, which links with the Jewish Ghetto, and Ponte Cestio, which heads over to Trastevere.

Visible to the south are the remains of the Pons Aemilius. Also known as the Ponte Rotto or Broken Bridge, it was ancient Rome’s first stone bridge, and was all but swept away in a 1598 flood.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Centro Storico attractions

1. Chiesa di San Bartolomeo

0.02 MILES

Built on the ruins of the Roman temple to Aesculapius, the Graeco-Roman god of medicine, the Isola Tiberina's 10th-century church is an interesting hybrid…

2. Museo Ebraico di Roma

0.1 MILES

The historical, cultural and artistic heritage of Rome’s Jewish community is chronicled in this small but engrossing museum. Housed in a building attached…

3. Portico d'Ottavia

0.12 MILES

The columns, arches and fragmented pediment of this quadriporto (four-sided porch), which dates from 23 BC, once formed part of a vast rectangular portico…

4. Ponte Rotto

0.13 MILES

Visible to the south of the Isola Tiberina are the remains of the Pons Aemilius, ancient Rome’s first stone bridge. Dating to the 2nd century BC, it was…

5. Basilica di San Nicola in Carcere

0.14 MILES

This innocuous-looking 11th-century basilica, hidden behind scaffolding when we last visited, harbours some fascinating underground ruins. Beneath the…

6. Teatro di Marcello

0.14 MILES

Resembling a mini Colosseum, the Teatro di Marcello is the star turn of the dusty Area Archeologica del Teatro di Marcello e del Portico di Ottavia, a…

7. Jewish Ghetto

0.14 MILES

Visit the atmospheric Jewish Ghetto neighborhood for art studios, kosher food and Rome's main synagogue.

8. Tempio di Portunus

0.18 MILES

This classic Republican-era temple dedicated to the god of rivers and ports, Portunus, owes its current state of preservation to the fact that it was…