Basilica of San Bartolomeo all'Isola

This basilica occupies the Tiber Island, the small boat-shaped island in the river long associated with healing, where an ancient temple to the god of medicine once stood. Founded around the year 1000 by Emperor Otto III, the church preserves an ancient wellhead on its chancel steps and reused antique columns in its nave. In modern times it has become a memorial to twentieth- and twenty-first-century Christian martyrs, whose relics and stories are gathered in its side chapels.