The River Tiber and its island, the Basilica (and undergrounds) of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere

Quite a strange feeling to be a daily distracted observer of an eternally streaming river, silent witness of all the events bringing Rome to its unrivaled destiny. This is the way I feel - and you will also feel- every time I approach the river and its island. A strip of land playing a key role in the development of the first settlement by the romans, trait d'union of the two banks and commercial route between the Etruscan and the Greeks. The Isola Tiberina is connected to the mainland through two bridges, one of which leading to the most peculiar neighbourhood of Rome, Trastevere. A district showing more than any other the cosmopolitan nature of the eternal city and testifying several examples of violence over foreign communities victims of religious persecutions. Among them, the story of santa Cecilia martyr and patron saint of the musicians, proof of the strength of spirit bringing to the ultimate sacrifice.