here - Amalfi Coasting

Capri
Capri
“One of the magnetic
points of the earth”
1
by amalficoasting.org
The marine grottoes, the
Faraglioni, with their extraordinary shapes, the incomparable scenery, the mix
of nature, art and culture, all
contribute to make Capri
one the most dreamed of and
celebrated island in the
world. Throughout the centuries it has enchanted writers,
poets,
musicians,
painters and filmmakers.
Known in Greek mythology
as the isle of the sirens,
Capri was a favored resort of
the Roman emperors. Most
notoriously, the emperor
Tiberius had his villa on the
island. But the worldwide
fame of Capri began with the
rediscovery of the Grotta Azzurra (#1 on the map), or
Blue Grotto, in the first half
of the 19h century, when it
entered into orbit of the German romantic literature because of its unworldly light
blue light. The island then
became a favorite destina-
tion, and often a source of
inspiration, for writers, poets
and painters. At the beginning of the 1900s Capri was
also refuge for Russian writers and political exiles, including Maxim Gorky and
Vladimir Lenin.
From via Marina Grande,
opened in 1874 by Neapolitan engineer Emilio Mayer,
one reaches the Chiesa di
San Costanzo (#2 on the
map), the oldest and the
most significant religious
structure of the island, built
in the late 5th century and
expanded around the middle
of 14th century in an area
where the remains of first
century B.C. Roman baths
were found. Only the bell
tower was part of the original structure. The façade,
with its Gothic portal, was
altered in the beginning of
the 19th century. The interior is notable for its Byzantine basilica layout and the
Greek cross plan that rests
on 12 Roman columns.
Certosa di San Giacomo
nates the square, with its
arabesque cupola and priceless
Roman
pavement,
moved here from Villa Jovis.
To the right of the church is
Palazzo Cerio (#5), dating
back to 1372.
Via Ignazio Cerio leads to
the Certosa di San Giacomo
(#6), a monumental complex
and one of the finest examples of Caprese architecture(visits: 9-2, closed Mon,
tel:081-837-6218). It was built
in the middle of the 14th
century by local nobleman
Capri
To get to Capri from Marina Grande one can hop on
the funicular railway (from
Piazza della Vittoria) or follow the walking paths, remarkable for the beauty of
the landscape and the architectural structures. The Piazzetta (#3), considered the
center of the town since the
30s, is the nickname for tiny
Piazza Umberto I, the traditional launchpad for a visit
to the rest of the island.
The Baroque Chiesa di
Santo Stefano (#4) domi-
2
1 Grotta Azzurra,
2 Chiesa di San Costanzo
3 Piazzetta,
4 Chiesa di Santo Stefano
5 Palazzo Cerio,
6 Certosa di San Giacomo,
7 Faraglioni
8 Marina Piccola
9 Giardini di Augusto
10 via Krupp,
11 Villa Jovis
12 Marina Grande
13 Arco Naturale
14 Cave of Matermania
15 Belvedere of Tragara
16 Villa San Michele
17 Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo
18 Villa il Rosaio,
19 Bagni di Tiberio
Capri
5
Giacomo Arpili and greatly
expanded by the Certosini
monks in late 16th and early
17th century. The church, in
baroque style, stands at the
end of the driveway. The
ogival portal is decorated
with in bas-relief figures of
St. Bruno and St. James and
by a fresco of Madonna and
Child
Enthroned
with
Saints by Nicholas Thomas
(1371-74).
The church leads to the
15th century Small Cloister,
with Roman and early medieval columns and capitals,
and to the Capitol Room, or
Sala Capitolare, where the
Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach
Museum (visits: Tue-Sun 914 hours) contains large
paintings and unique interpretations of Capri landscapes by the German
painter.
The Certosa also includes
Via Krupp
The Faraglione di mezzo
the late 16th century Great
Cloister
and the Clock
Tower, with its great
Baroque vaults. The garden
leads to a lookout with views
of the Port of Tragara and
the three Faraglioni (#7) the first, Stella, nearest to
the coast, is 109 mt high, the
middle one, Faraglione di
mezzo, is 81 meters, and the
third, known as Scopola, is
104 meters high and inhabited by the rare blue lizard.
Also visible from there is
Marina Piccola (#8).
From the Certosa di San
Giacomo, viale Matteotti
Villa Jovis
neer Emilio Meyer on behalf
of Baron Gustav Bohlen und
Halbach, the husband of
Berta, daughter of German
steel magnate Friedrich
Krupp, via Krupp is a unique
example of a road happily inserted in its natural context,
and therefore rightly called
"a road as a work of art."
Villa Jovis (#11, open 9
until 1 hour before sunset,
081-837-4549) is the best preserved Roman villa on the island and one of the best
examples of palaces from the
initial imperial age. Built by
Tiberius, and remembered by
Svetonius and Pliny the
Capri
leads to the Giardini di Augusto (#9), or Gardens of Augustus, a public park whose
terraces offer another superb
view of Capri, the Faraglioni
and Marina Piccola. On a
side terrace there is a sculpture of Lenin, who in 1908
lived in the villa above Blaesus, now the Villa Krupp
Hotel.
Continuing under the garden’s overpass one arrives at
via Krupp (#10), a tortuous
street that descends to the
sea
with
enchanting
glimpses of views onto the
sea and the Faraglioni. Built
shortly after 1901 by engi-
6
Capri
7
Elder, is commonly called
the Palazzo di Tiberio. During the first excavations, in
the Bourbon period, it was
stripped of its inlaid marble
floors. The villa itself covers
the entire top of Mount
Tiberio, a large area between
the lighthouse tower and the
summit of the promontory
whose vertical drop of 40
yards is eluded by a series of
terraces connected by stairs.
The various quarters are
arranged around a central
square with four cisterns dug
into the rock for the collection of rainwater. To the
south are the baths; to the
east a large chamber with an
apsidal room leaning onto
the mountain; to the north
the imperial quarter, and to
the west the servants’ accommodations.
Behind the ticket office, on
the right is the base of the
Belvedere of Tragara
lighthouse, which served as
lookout tower for the nearby
Sorrentine
Peninsula.
Quadrilateral at the bottom
and a cylindrical at the top, it
was originally 20 yards high
(now only 16). Further down
is the so-called Leap of
Tiberius, a 300 yard high
drop above the sea, from
which legend says Tiberius
threw his victims.
From the entrance to the
ruins of the Roman villa,
there is a ramp to the main
entrance of the building,
where one can access a
vestibule
that
initially
housed the guards and in the
Middle Ages was turned into
water tanks. Walking along a
wide corridor there is a second vestibule. From there
one can go up to the floor of
the upper baths. They consist of five rooms, arranged
along the corridor in contact
with the tanks that fed them.
Following
the
second
vestibule hallway and climbing a ladder flanked by
rooms one comes to the imperial quarter, located in the
highest part of the villa. It
consists of an imperial hall the square in front of it
probably served as a lookout
terrace - and two areas with
the remains of beautiful
Capri
8
Belvedere del Triagara
floors with polychrome marble inlays.
A wide corridor and a ramp
encased in the rock takes one
down to the Imperial Lodge,
the most original and
grandiose part of the villa,
which runs straight for almost 100 yards along the
slope of the mountain. In the
open air and without any
marble facings, it served as a
lookout or ambulatio, for its
extraordinary view. The
lodge widens into a small
quarter consisting of three
rooms. The floor of the central room was later moved to
the church of Santo Stefano.
On the brow of the mountain, towards Marina Grande
(#12), are the remains of a
massive building with thick
walls, perhaps a pecularium
that served both for an astronomical observation and a
lookout post.
From Villa Jovis you can
hike to via Matermania - a
beautiful route with remarkable panoramic views of the
center of Capri. Via Dentecala will lead to a Belvedere
with the extraordinary view
of the islands of Li Galli and
the gulf of Salerno.
Capri
9
Grotta Azzurra
Via Arco Naturale will
then take one to a square
facing the sea from where a
set of stairs opens into the
Arco Naturale (#13), a natural arch on the mountain
cliff. Caused by erosion of
the limestone, the arch
forms a landscape of wild
beauty due to.
A steep flight of steps goes
to the Grotta di Matermania
(#14), or Cave of Matermania, on the left. It is an impressive natural cavern, held
sacred to the cult of Cybele
(Magna Mater, hence the
name of the grotto) or to the
god Mithras, which was
made into an apsidal hall, or
nympheum, by the Romans
and was once covered with
mosaics.
The Belvedere of Tragara
(#15) is in a shady, small
square with a splendid view
on the Faraglioni and Marina
Piccola. To the left is Villa
Vismara, which was built in
the 30s and later converted
into the Punta Tragara
Hotel. Descending along via
Faraglioni, on ones right, is
via Pizzolango and then,
through a pine forest, to the
small Tragara seaport, which
has traces of an ancient
Roman harbor. On the right
you will see the Faraglioni.
Anacapri
The other center of the island is Anacapri, a smaller
and a quieter town, with gracious streets, white houses
immersed in green, elegant
hotels and the ruins of an-
of Adam & Eve from paradise
(by artist Leonardo Chiaiese).
Back on via Orlandi, there
is a little square, piazza Materita, with a small church
built between the 16th and
18th century. Behind the
church is the ancient urban
center of Anacapri, which
preserves many of the features of the traditional architecture of the area.
Continuing along via Orlandi, one reaches piazzetta
di Caprile, a small square
from where a street by the
same name passes through
the old neighborhood of
Starza. At the end, on the
left, is Villa il Rosaio (#18),
built by Edwin Cerio, a
prominent writer, engineer,
architect and historian born
to an English artist mother
and a well-known physician
from Capri.
Grotta Azzurra
A vacation on Capri is not
complete without a visit to
the Grotta Azzurra, whose
enchanted cavern attracts
visitors from all over the
world. You can arrive by boat
from the Marina Grande or
by land from Anacapri,
where you can transfer onto
Capri
other imperial villa, Damecuta.
Via Orlandi, closed to traffic, goes through the center
of Anacapri, widening soon
after it starts onto piazza
della Vittoria. From there,
following the steps on the
left after the picturesque via
San Michele, one arrives at
Villa San Michele (#16). It
was built by Swedish physician Axel Munthe at the turn
of the 20th century on the
grounds of an ancient
Roman villa. The gardens
have a great views of the island, the Sorrentine Peninsula and Mount Vesuvius.
The villa and its grounds sit
on a ledge at the top of the
so-called Phoenician Steps
(Scala Fenicia), built between
Anacapri and Capri very
probably by the first Greek
settlers (the stairs are very
steep and not for everybody).
There is a small entrance fee,
but it's well worth it (More
information at: www.sanmichele.org).
Further down, on the right,
a brief detour on via San
Nicola will lead to the
Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo (#17). Built in the
baroque style, it is known for
its tile floor, which is a mosaic depicting the expulsion
10
Capri
11
little boats able to enter the
low entrance to the grotto.
Known to the Romans, it
owes its fascinating aspect to
a geological phenomenon
that caused its lowering by
about 20 meters, bringing
the entrance to the cave to
almost below sea level.
The light, filtered by the
crystalline water, fills the
cave with an intense blue
with silver reflections.. Almost 60 yards long, 15 wide
and 30 high, the grotto goes
inwards through the Pillar
Gallery, rich with stalactites.
Various boats will take you
there from Marina Grande.
Bouganvillea in Capri
Beaches
Blessed with enchanting
coves and imposing cliffs,
Capri
has
bathing
establishments on its rocky
shoreline and some on sandy
beaches. Some of the
establishments on the rocky
shore are at the Faraglioni
(easily reached descending
on foot from Tragara), and
the Grotta Azzurra. Sandy
beaches are to be found at
Marina Grande, Marina
Piccola and Bagni di Tiberio
(#19), or Baths of Tiberius.
hike in reverse, which is easier (as it spreads out the
Capri to Faraglioni and climbing): from the Piazzetta
Arco Naturale
head down via Le Botteghe,
A beautiful 1 hour path be- following signs for the Arco
tween Arco Naturale and the Naturale; once you reach
Faraglioni (sea stacks): From Grottelle restaurant just do
the Piazzetta in Capri town, the loop in reverse.
go
down
via
Vittorio
Emanuele to via Camerelle
Anacapri to Migliara
to via Tragara, which leads to
About 45 minutes long,
the Belvedere Tragara look- easy walk through the couning over the Faraglioni. Head tryside to a beautiful lookdown the nearby walkway out; from via Caposcuro near
(via Faraglioni will turn into Monte Solar chair lift, head
via Pizzolungo); you will south; the street turns into
soon pass the steep beach ac- via Migliara and ends at the
cess road (you can detour cliffs. Magical at sunset.
here if you want to go to
water). Continuing past Villa
Anacapri to Marina Grande
Malaparte (a famous pinkHeading the other way on
red villa built on Punto Mas- via Caposcuro leads to a sesullo at the end of the 1930's ries of 881 stairs (the Scala
for Italian writer Curzio Ma- Fenicia) hugging the cliff,
laparte, it is both eccentric leading down to the Marina
and extraordinarily modern), Grande.
up and down several stairs to
the Matermania cave. Keep
Monte Solaro
on heading up the stairs to
Anacapri has a chair lift
the Grotelle restaurant. At that takes you to the highest
the restaurant, head right, point on the island open
where stairs lead down to Mar-Oct 9:30 A.M.-4:30
the Arco Naturale (going left, P.M., Nov-Feb 9:30 A.M.-3
down via Matermania, takes P.M.; you can also hike up or
you back to the Piazzetta). down, passing the 14th cenYou can also turn off via tury hermitage of Santa
Matermania to via Tiberio, Maria Cetrella (the hike up
to head up to Villa Jovis. Al- begins at via Capodimonte,
ternatively, you can do the near Villa S. Michele).
Capri
Hiking in Capri
12