On the
Isola Tiberina today it is still
possible to admire what remains of the
Castle of the Caetani, built against
the Torre dei Pierleoni dating from the
10th century. In 1087 Matilde di
Canossa and Pope Victor III hid in the
tower to escape the dangers of the army
of the antipope Clement II and, in
1089, Pope Urban II resided there. The
Caetani became the owners of the
fortress in around 1294, the year
Benedetto Caetani was elected pope with
the name Boniface VIII. The tower,
which today is still at the head of the
Ponte Fabricio, is also known as the
Torre della Pulzella (Tower of the
Maid),
referring to the small marble head of a
young woman set into the brick
facing.
The towers were residences and
fortresses of the aristocratic
families, and symbols of their power.
Down through the years, many of the
tower-houses suffered damage from
earthquakes or were torn down as
ordered by Senator Brancaleone degli
Andalò in 1252. With the
Renaissance, the residential palace
style took hold, and the towers were
incorporated into the new buildings or
else totally demolished. Inside the
Church of San Bartolomeo all'Isola,
before the steps of the presbytery,
is one of the most important medieval
pieces of the church:
a marble puteal
or well curb created from a Roman
column fragment.
It is one of the very
few pieces of Ottonian art found in
Rome, In fact, it dates from the 10th
century, from the time of Otto III, who
probably commissioned it- To the left
of the church façade rises the
Romanesque bell tower, built in the
12th century. From the Isola Tiberina
it is possible to reach the
Piazza in Piscinula with the
Casa Mattei, an elegant complex of
14th-century dwellings built for the
noble Roman family and restored,
during the Fascist period, by Lorenzo
Corrado Cesanelli.
