The Isola Tiberina is certainly one of the most iconic realities of Rome, a strip of land which, thanks to its enviable position, has aroused admiration over the centuries. Not only that, since this islet in the middle of the Tiber was the protagonist of numerous legends, from its presumed artificial origin (false), to the fact that it is actually, basically, an offshoot of the Capitoline Hill. But certainly the Isola Tiberina, which today offers Romans and visitors a beautiful basilica, two Roman bridges with alternating events, a medieval tower that still remembers the domination of the Caetani family in the area, has something more than other areas of Rome: a charitable vocation, represented by a hospital and a series of hospital structures that sprang up the island has been around since the 9th century. Why?

We are at the beginning of the third century b.C., in the midst of the Samnite wars, when a serious plague was killing the city. The situation became so heavy that not even the incessant prayers of the priests were able to bring refreshment to the Roman population. For this reason, in 291 b.C., the highest religious authorities of the city consulted the famous Sibillini Books, full of prophecies, all to be interpreted, which had to be read only in cases of extreme danger. So it happened, and from the Sibillini Books it was understood how Rome needed to bring, physically speaking, the God Aesculapius to Rome. Then a special expedition was undertaken which took a Roman ship to Epidaurus, home to the most important sanctuary dedicated to the deity. Obviously there was a problem: Aesculapius, who according to tradition was a man of flesh and blood, was dead centuries earlier. The only way to bring the divinity to Rome was to take the animal most sacred to him: a snake. The delegation finally reached Epidaurus and, as soon as they landed, the sacred serpent of Epidaurus seems to take the situation of Rome very much to heart, so much so that it immediately threw itself inside the Roman ship. All quiet, remaining wrapped in its coils, the sacred snake basked in the sun until, having arrived on the Tiber at the height of the Isola Tiberina, the animal jumped down disappearing among the vegetation.

That was a very clear sign: the Temple of Aesculapius should have been built there. Even today archaeological and architectural remains of this temple, which over the centuries became a real sanctuary, are clearly visible. Additional elements that make the Isola Tiberina worthy of note. In the end, the construction of the temple led to the cessation of the plague, leaving room for a medical tradition that reverberated well beyond the end of the Roman Empire, permeating the medieval centuries with the birth of special structures created and managed from friars whose sole intent was to cure the sick, up to the modern hospital of the Fatebenefratelli, whose name derives from a religious and welfare order that arose centuries ago. All thanks to a snake…