The hospital of San Giovanni Calibita - Fatebenefratelli is located on the Tiber Island in Rome (via Ponte Quattro Capi, 39). In this place, around the year 1000, there was a refuge for the poorest. In the 16th century thanks to religious order of St John of God the refuge was turned into a hospital, approved by Pope Pius V with his bull “Licet ex debito”. The 17th century was a century of major plagues and the hospital due to its isolated position became a shelter for the infected. The religious order of St John of God was devoted to caring for the poor and the sick and the people of Rome, addressed to them with the words “Fate bene fratelli!” (Do good brothers!) and that is why still nowadays the hospital is commonly referred to as the Fatebenefratelli and not by its real name San Giovanni Calibita. In this Hospital, during the Roman Republic, Margaret Fuller, the American feminist, writer and literary critic, worked as nurses and services' coordinator.
On the top of the hospital there's a statue of John of God
The view from Lungotevere degli Anguillara
The main entrance
The church inside the hospital
The emblem of S. Giovanni Calibita Hospital - Fatebefratelli
- Photos and main text by Giorgio D'Avanzo moc.liamg|4991avadoigroig#| and Federico Tropea moc.liamg|codredef#| (November 2014)
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Bibliography:
- Egilberto Martire, L'isola della salute: dal tempio romano di Esculapio all'ospedale di San Giovanni di Dio, Rassegna Romana, Roma, 1934, pp. 32-55