CAETANI TOWER

TORRE DEI CAETANI
Piazza Fatebenefratelli

Tenth century, erected by the Pierleoni family

It is nicknamed la pulzella (the maiden) for the tiny head in marble of a young girl dating back to the late empire inserted in the brick facing of the Fabricius Bridge

It was part of the CASTLE OF THE TIBERINE ISLAND that had hosted two popes: Victor III (1086/87) for two months with Matilda of Canossa and Urban II (1088/99) for a year, in 1089
At the end of the thirteenth century it became property of the Caetani family who lived here until 1470

After the flood of 1557 that swept the castle, the tower was donated by the Caetani family to the Franciscan fathers
Since 1870 the monastery is an almshouse for Jewish people

St. JOHN CALIBYTES

S. GIOVANNI CALIBITA

Isola Tiberina 39 - Piazza Fatebenefratelli

About 870 in the area of the Temple of Jupiter Iurarius

Mentioned in the fourteenth century in the sources with the name of Sancti Ioannis de Insula and also Sancti Ioannis Cantofiume

It was dedicated to St. John Calibita in the spot where, according to tradition, his father's house would have been

Rebuilt in 1584 on the ruins of the old church

FAÇADE

1640, completed in 1711 by Luigi Barattoni (active in the first quarter of the eighteenth century) and Romano Carapecchia (1668/1738)

BELL TOWER

Cesare Bazzani (1873/1939)

INTERIOR

Renovated in the years 1736/42

Decorations in the years 1740/41 by Corrado Giaquinto (1703/66) including the frescoes “Glory of St. John of God” and “Sts. Hyppolitus, Taurinus and Herculaneum”

“In the pre-neoclassical Rome of these years, Giaquinto is an outsider who accentuates the melodramatic technique of the Arcadia of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, in vogue in the twenties and thirties, with amazing special effects of lights and theatrical artifice, in a style all his own. Taking to the extreme the possibilities inherent in Baroque painting, this captivating and bombastic language proves the most appropriate to interpret the requirements of representation of the great international courts” (Anna Lo Bianco)

1st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT

Above the altar “Lady of the Lamp” venerated since the flood of 1557 when the lamp below the image stayed on despite being submerged in water

UNDER THE MAIN ALTAR

Relics of St. John Calibytes and of seven other martyrs found during the seventeenth century renovation

St. John Calibytes was a Roman monk of the fifth century who went to Constantinople to live as a hermit in a hut called kalýbe, where he died

CLOISTER

Lunette with eighteenth-century paintings

St. BARTHOLOMEW ON THE ISLAND

S. BARTOLOMEO ALL'ISOLA

Piazza S. Bartolomeo all'Isola 22

In the SQUARE “Marble spire with Sts. Bartholomew, Paulinus of Nola, Francis of Assisi and John of God” 1869 by Ignazio Jacometti (1819/83) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) in place of a column destroyed by a cart that hit it in 1867

All the saints represented on the column have a connection with the Tiber Island

The church was built in the year 998 by Emperor Otto III (980/1002) on the ruins of the Temple of Aesculapius in honor of St. Adalbert, bishop of Prague martyred in that year

The emperor asked the city of Benevento for the body of St. Bartholomew but the people of Benevento pretended to accept and sent instead the body of St. Paulinus of Nola, wanting to keep the body of the apostle

Otto III became aware of the deception, Benevento was conquered and the body of St. Bartholomew brought by force to Rome

Because of the relics of St. Bartholomew the church changed name in 1180. It was originally known as Sts. Adalbert, Paulinus and Bartholomew

It was restored in 1113 with a new bell tower by Paschal II (1099/1118) and in about 1180 by Alexander III Bandinelli (1159/81)

It was destroyed by the flood of 1557, rebuilt in the years 1583/85 maybe by Martino Longhi the Elder (1534/91)

It was completely renewed in 1623/24 by Orazio Torriani (about 1601/about 1657)

Other restorations in 1739, 1852 and 1973/76

The church is connected to a Franciscan monastery

FAÇADE

Maybe by Orazio Torriani or Martino Longhi the Younger (1602/60) son of Onorio Longhi and grandson of Martino Longhi the Elder

CEILING

Paintings by Bonaventura Loffredo from the time of Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)

MAIN NAVE

“Ancient columns” maybe from the Temple of Aesculapius

Three fragments of the floor of the twelfth century

“Medieval marble well” maybe by Nicolò di Pietro Angelo or Vassalletto obtained from the drum of an ancient column with figures of the Saviour, Otto III and Sts. Adalbert and Bartholomew

MAIN ALTAR

Frescoes in the apse and canvas behind the altar “Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew” by the Sicilian Francesco Manno (1752/1831)

Under the altar “Old porphyry basin” with relics of St. Bartholomew who was flayed alive

Over the altar “Icon of the martyrs of the twentieth century” 2002

The church was dedicated in 2002 to the Christian martyrs of the twentieth and twenty-first century

In the six side chapels these martyrs are honored divided into four worldwide geographical areas (Africa, Spain and Mexico, Latin America and the fourth one including Asia, Oceania and the Middle East) and two chapels dedicated respectively to the martyrs killed under communist regimes and martyrs killed under the Nazi regime

TO THE RIGHT OF THE MAIN ALTAR – ORSINI CHAPEL

At the bottom left is embedded in the wall a cannonball known as “miracle ball” shot here by the French during the siege of the Roman Republic in 1849, without causing casualties, although the church was packed

In the building next to the church is the CAPPELLA DELL'ADDOLORATA (Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrow) headquarters of the Confraternita dei Sacconi Rossi (Brotherhood of the Red Big Sacks) whose members would bury people drowned in the Tiber and people abandoned unburied who had been killed by robbers

There is still an underground cemetery and a room decorated with the skeletons of some people buried here, like the Cemetery of the Capuchin Fathers in Via Veneto

FABRICIUS BRIDGE

PONTE FABRICIO

Isola Tiberina/Piazza Monte Savello

62 BC by Lucius Fabricius curator of the roads (curator viarum), as reported by Cassius Dio and the large inscription

The small inscription refers to an early restoration in 21 BC for the will of the consuls of that year Marcus Lollius and Quintus Lepidus, after the flood of 23 BC which had seriously damaged the bridge

It is almost intact and it has been restored several times

It is also known as PONTE QUATTRO CAPI (Four Heads Bridge) for two herms with four heads included in the balustrade or PONS JUDAEORUM (Bridge of the Jewish) for its proximity to the Jewish ghetto

It is 62 m (203 feet) long

The original coating of travertine was replaced by brick probably in 1679 when were also the parapets were remade at the behest of Pope Innocent XI Odescalchi (1676/89)

The ends of the bridge were demolished when the embankments were built at the end of the nineteenth century. They had two openings with arches similar to the central one, still intact, which were intended to ease the pressure of the water during the floods of the river

The two “Herms with four heads” inserted into the balustrades were originally probably functional to the ancient bronze balustrade

CESTIUS BRIDGE

PONTE CESTIO

Piazza in Piscinula/Isola Tiberina

46 BC for Lucius Cestius, maybe the brother of the Caius Cestius of the Pyramid

It also had other names:

Pons Aurelius (here was the first section of the Via Aurelia, which was heading towards the Janiculum Hill), Pons Gratiani (for the Emperor Gratian who had it rebuilt), Ponte di S. Bartolomeo (St. Bartholomew Bridge) o Ponte Ferrato (Iron Bridge)

It was rebuilt in the year 370 by the Emperor Gratian (367/383) with materials taken from the nearby Theater of Marcellus

The small lateral arches were destroyed in 1888 for the construction of the embankments of the Tiber River and the bridge was rebuilt again in 1892 with some original materials. On this occasion, its length was almost doubled and the original central arch was kept

Now it is 80.40 m long (264 feet) whereas before the reconstruction it measured only 48.5 m (159 feet)

DO WELL BROTHERS HOSPITAL

OSPEDALE FATEBENEFRATELLI

Piazza Fatebenefratelli

1582/84 founded by the Congregazione di S. Giovanni di Dio (Congregation of St. John of God)

Its members used to say “You do well brothers!” when begging

The congregation was founded by the Portuguese Juan Ciudad (1495/1550) who became a saint by the name of John of God

After a dissolute and wandering existence, he was converted and founded the Order of Brothers Hospitallers. He dedicated his life to the care of the sick with a modern vision of hospital care and hospitality

Patients were accepted on the basis of disease and every one of them was treated and assisted with an individual attention absolutely new for that time

St. John of God is therefore regarded as the inventor of the modern idea of a hospital

Beginning of 1700 expanded by Romano Carapecchia (1668/1738)

1867 rebuilt by Francesco Azzurri (1831/1901)

1930/34 completely renovated by Cesare Bazzani (1873/1939)

It occupies more than half of the Tiber Island continuing the functions of the place, formerly sacred to the god of medicine Aesculapius

In the eleventh century it was occupied by a shelter-shrine for sick dedicated to St. Bartholomew and managed by a community of Benedictine Sisters