Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola

Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola is the principal square on Tiber Island in central Rome, situated between the two branches of the Tiber and reached from the historic centre by Ponte Fabricio and from Trastevere by Ponte Cestio. The square takes its name from the Basilica of San Bartolomeo all’Isola, founded by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III in 998 on the site traditionally associated with the ancient Temple of Aesculapius. The church was extensively rebuilt after damage caused by the Tiber flood of 1557 and today has a seventeenth-century Baroque façade facing the square. At the centre of the piazza stands the Guglia di Pio IX, a marble monument erected in 1869 and decorated with statues of four saints connected with Tiber Island. Together with the basilica, Palazzo Pierleoni Caetani and the surrounding historic buildings, the monument gives the relatively small square its distinctive appearance.

Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola has appeared in The Two Orphans (1947), Flesh Will Surrender (1947), Love and Troubles (1958), La cento chilometri (1959), L’Avventura (1960), Akiko (1961), The Conspirators (1969), Slap Happy (1969), La verginella (1975), Night on Earth (1991), Only You (1994), Commedia sexy (2001), Remember Me, My Love (2003) and If Only (2019). Filmmakers have used the square both as itself and as a substitute for other locations, with its basilica, central monument, surrounding façades and entrances serving as a Parisian square, a prison, private homes, a hospital and locations for meetings, romantic encounters and other scenes set in Rome.

In The Two Orphans (1947), originally released as I due orfanelli, Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola is transformed into nineteenth-century Paris. The square appears when the headmistress of the orphanage, played by Ada Dondini, departs by carriage because she must be away for several days. Her absence leaves the institution in the hands of Battista, played by Carlo Campanini, helping to set up the comic events involving Battista and Gasparre, played by Totò. Other Roman locations were also used to represent Paris, including Villa Sciarra as the orphanage itself, but the departure scene was filmed directly in Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola.

In Flesh Will Surrender (1947), originally released as Il delitto di Giovanni Episcopo, Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola appears during Giovanni Episcopo’s increasingly troubled life in Rome. After Giovanni, played by Aldo Fabrizi, discovers that the manipulative Giulio Wanzer has fled to Brazil, he is seen in the square giving money to people in need. The sequence uses the real piazza rather than disguising it as a specifically identified fictional location. The film, directed by Alberto Lattuada and adapted from Gabriele D’Annunzio’s novel Giovanni Episcopo, uses numerous streets and historic buildings around Rome for Giovanni’s home, workplace and movements through the city.

In Love and Troubles (1958), originally released as Amore e guai…, the building at Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola 21 is used as a prison. In reality, the building is associated with the Ospedale Israelitico and occupies part of the former lazaretto complex on Tiber Island. Paolo, played by Richard Basehart, emerges from the entrance after being released from prison, while Marisa, played by Valentina Cortese, runs across to meet him. The production therefore uses both the entrance and the surrounding piazza to establish the prison exterior before Paolo and Marisa continue through Rome.

In La cento chilometri (1959), Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola appears during the comedy built around a 100-kilometre walking race through Rome and the surrounding area. Angela Malabrocca, played by Marisa Merlini, suddenly experiences labour pains in the square as she prepares to give birth to triplets. She is hurried away for medical attention, creating an additional geographical joke for viewers familiar with Tiber Island: the entrance to the Fatebenefratelli hospital lies close by on the island, although the characters carry her away in the opposite direction. The piazza is one of numerous real Roman locations encountered as the film follows its walkers and their families across the city.

In L’Avventura (1960), Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola appears near the beginning of Michelangelo Antonioni’s film, before the characters leave Rome for the Mediterranean journey during which Anna disappears. Anna, played by Lea Massari, and Claudia, played by Monica Vitti, arrive by car in the square to collect Anna’s lover Sandro, played by Gabriele Ferzetti. Sandro’s apartment is presented as overlooking the piazza and nearby Ponte Fabricio, while Claudia remains outside as Anna goes upstairs to see him. The central monument and surrounding buildings make the location readily identifiable in the street material, linking Sandro’s apartment to Tiber Island before the story moves south to the Aeolian Islands and Sicily.

In Akiko (1961), Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola is used for a scene involving Felice, played by Paolo Panelli, Anita, played by Vicky Ludovisi, and Serse. Felice proposes that the group go to the seaside using a car obtained from the funeral agency for which he had worked. The unusual vehicle is parked directly in front of the Basilica of San Bartolomeo all’Isola, making both the church and the surrounding piazza prominent in the sequence. The scene is one of several Roman locations used in the comedy surrounding Akiko, a young Japanese woman living and working in the city.

In The Conspirators (1969), originally released as Nell’anno del Signore, Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola represents part of Rome in 1825 under the rule of Pope Leo XII. The square is used for the attempted murder of Filippo Spada, whose activities and connections to the papal authorities place him at the centre of the conflict involving the Carbonari and the authorities pursuing them. Director Luigi Magni filmed extensively in historic areas of Rome, allowing surviving streets, churches and squares to provide much of the environment for the story rather than constructing an entirely artificial version of nineteenth-century Papal Rome.

In Slap Happy (1969), originally released as Faccia da schiaffi, the entrance at Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola 21 is used as the entrance to the home of Gianni, played by Gianni Morandi. The location is particularly visible near the end of the film, when Gianni is arrested outside the building. The production combines this real entrance on Tiber Island with a different location for the elevated views supposedly seen from Gianni’s home, meaning that the residence seen in the finished film is assembled from geographically separate places. Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola therefore supplies the street-level exterior rather than every view associated with the fictional home.

In La verginella (1975), Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola is established as the square outside the home of Cinzia and her family. Although the film does not provide a simple shot of Cinzia entering a clearly identified doorway, her movements and the position where Commissioner Palmieri parks when visiting the family establish the house as facing the piazza. The home of photographer Sergio Marchi is also presented as being on the same square. As a result, Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola becomes a recurring residential setting connected with several of the main characters rather than appearing only as a brief Roman establishing shot.

In Night on Earth (1991), Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola appears in the Rome section of Jim Jarmusch’s anthology film. Gino, the eccentric taxi driver played by Roberto Benigni, picks up a priest, played by Paolo Bonacelli, in the piazza before driving away across Ponte Cestio. During the increasingly chaotic journey through Rome, Gino decides to confess a series of sexual experiences to his passenger despite the priest’s reluctance to hear them. The priest eventually suffers a fatal heart attack in the taxi, but his death and the later disposal of his body take place elsewhere. Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola is therefore specifically the starting point of their disastrous journey together.

In Only You (1994), Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola appears during Faith Corvatch and Peter Wright’s time together in Rome. After Peter, played by Robert Downey Jr., falsely tells Faith, played by Marisa Tomei, that he is Damon Bradley, the mysterious man she has spent years believing she is destined to marry, the pair walk through the city and pass through the piazza. Peter buys a rose for Faith here, with the historic square forming part of the romanticised Rome through which their relationship develops. The film uses several other nearby Roman locations for the continuation of their walk, including Ponte Fabricio, while a separate flower kiosk seen elsewhere in the film was located at Piazza del Foro di Traiano.

In Commedia sexy (2001), Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola and the façade of the Basilica of San Bartolomeo appear after a car accident involving the film’s main characters. Ugo and Filippo take Giulia for a medical examination, and the location presented as the hospital exterior is actually the basilica on Tiber Island. The approach to the church places the characters directly in the piazza, using the recognisable religious building for an entirely different function within the story. The preceding accident itself was filmed elsewhere in Rome, at Piazza della Bocca della Verità.

In Remember Me, My Love (2003), originally released as Ricordati di me, Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola is used as a discreet meeting place for Carlo Ristuccia, played by Fabrizio Bentivoglio, and Alessia, played by Monica Bellucci. The two had been involved when they were younger and begin meeting again after encountering each other years later, despite Carlo’s marriage to Giulia. One of their clandestine meetings takes place in the piazza in front of the pharmacy on Tiber Island. The quiet historic square therefore becomes part of the locations associated with Carlo and Alessia’s revived relationship, while the Ristuccia family home and the other characters’ storylines were filmed elsewhere in Rome.

In If Only (2019), originally released as Magari, Palazzo Pierleoni Caetani on Piazza San Bartolomeo all’Isola is used as the production company where Carlo, played by Riccardo Scamarcio, takes the screenplay he has been writing to be evaluated. Carlo is a struggling filmmaker and the divorced father of Alma, Jean and Sebastiano, who come from Paris to spend the Christmas holidays with him in Italy. The historic building on the piazza provides the Roman location connected with his professional ambitions, while much of the family’s holiday is subsequently set at a house on the coast near Sabaudia.

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