Tranquil Tiberina island has been the subject of many legends connected to the origins of Rome. One of these compares the shape of the island to that of the ship which brought Aesculapius, the god of medicine, from Epidaurus to Rome. To emphasise the resemblance, the southern side of the island has been paved with slabs of travertine around an obelisk, set up like a mast. The hospital of the Brothers of St John of God (Fatebenefratelli) continues the island's medical tradition.