Ile St. Louis is my favorite part of Paris, so I was looking forward to visiting its Roman equivalent, Tiber Island. But beyond their both being islands, they don't have much in common. Tiber Island looks dramatic in the aerial photo, and is connected to the river banks by two pedestrian bridges, the oldest of Rome's many bridges. In Ancient Rome, there was a temple to Aesculapius, the Roman god of healing, and naturally attracted the city's sick in search of a cure. Over the centuries this was formalized into a hospital, which is flourishing today. It's doing so well that it now occupies the entire island, and its undoubtedly interesting medieval parts are buried in a sea of modern medical buildings. Needless to say the quaint streets of Ile St. Louis are more captivating than Tiber Island's waiting rooms and maternity wards.

We walked north along the river to perhaps my favorite building in Rome, the Castel Sant'Angelo. The circular tower was built by Emperor Hadrian in 138 AD to be his tomb. He purposely chose this place on the "wrong" side of the Tiber so it could be a peaceful, permanent memorial to his greatness. The beautiful bridge crossing the Tiber to allow people to come and pay homage was also built around that time. When Hadrian died, he was of course buried in the building, but due to its unparalleled defensive position, it was immediately turned into Rome's chief fort, prison and torture center. Public executions took place almost every day with the dead left swinging from the bridge, while the many levels of subterranean dungeons hosted most of the torturing activity.