Our walk starts from the Isola Tiberina, which was of exceptional importance in the history of the birth and development of Rome.In fact, starting in extremely ancient times, the island's presence facilitated the crossing of the river, leading to the building of the first permanent settlements on the surrounding high ground.

According to ancient tradition, the island was allegedly formed in the late 6th century A.D. after the Etruscan kings were driven from Rome, when the people threw into the river, out of contempt for the monarchy, the wheat harvested on the royal properties of Campus Martius. Another legend tells of a large boat grounded in the middle of the river during a flood, and later filled up with sand transported by the current.

In reality the island is situated on an ancient volcanic rock core similar to that on which the nearby Capitol stands, but the shape actually does seem to resemble a ship. This did not escape the attention of the Romans who, in the 1st century B.C., accentuated the shape, modelling the island's sides with travertine and raising an obelisk in the centre, like a majestic mast. This stone ship was meant to commemorate the healthful ship of Aesculapius,
the god of medicine, and his miraculous intervention.

Legend has it that in the 3rd century B.C., during a plague, the Romans went by ship to Epidaurus, in Greece, to learn from the god Aesculapius how to escape the scourge. But when the returning ship was ascending the river, the god's sacred serpent slipped out of it, at the point where the island was, indicating that that island was to be consecrated to him.