Piazza Umberto I
The main square, known as the "Piazzetta", is the living room of Capri, where people from town and across the globe meet, talk, and hang out together! The dynamics of the Piazzetta change as the day goes by: in the early morning, the local islanders gather, during the day it is filled with day-tripping tourists, and in the evening it is a fashionable spot for VIPs. The Piazzetta is a great stage in the theatre of international celebrities!
Do you want to learn about Capri's history, sights, and historical figures? Begin from the upper left corner of each page, and follow the explanations of each icon in a clockwise direction.
Mimmo Jodice (*1934)
Internationally famous Neapolitan photographer with a great love for Capri
Lucy Flannigan (1870-1934)
Lucy Flannigan (1870-1934)
American painter from Boston who came to Capri at the end of the nineteenth century and remained for the rest of her life. She stayed at the house of August Weber in Marina Piccola and paid the rent with her marvelous paintings
Scialapopolo
A popular musical group wearing traditional costumes that entertains at public festivals and private parties, singing the Tarantella and other popular songs
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
German philosopher who unfortunately could not enjoy Capri because he got a big headache on the island ...
Naomi Campbell (*1970)
British model and Capri aficionado, she represents those VIPs whose mere presence on the island causes tongues to wag
Lucia Morgano (1863-1943)
Caprese and great ambassador of the island, she called her bar "Zum Kater Hiddigeigei" after a famous German novel written in Capri. She opened her heart to all the foreigners on the island, especially the Germans who spent their winters on Capri at the end of the nineteenth century. In those days people came to the island in the coldest season, not the warmest!
Spadaro (1858 - 1937)
A Caprese phenomenon and marketing genius. He became famous at the end of the nineteenth century as a Caprese fisherman who spent his time not at sea but in the piazzetta having himself painted and, later, photographed. A so-called "model Caprese"
Aristotele Onassis (1906-1975)
Greek shipping magnate. When he arrived in Capri with Jacqueline Kennedy in the Sixties he made headlines in all the newspapers. To eat in privacy they closed off a section of the La Capannina restaurant for them
Luciano Pavarotti (1935 - 2007)
After the premiere of "Tosca" at the San Carlo opera house in Naples in December 1996, Luciano Pavarotti stayed in Capri for several days
Barbra Streisand (*1942)
Barbra Streisand landed in Capri late in life: in 2002 she discovered her love for the island - in her sixties
Federico Cerio (*)
In reality, Federico's surname isn't Cerio but rather Alvarez De Toledo. He is a grandson of Laetitia and the "spiritual heir" of the Cerio family: he has revived the artistic work of his grandmother, creating a concept-store in Capri. The designs and objects executed by Laetitia live again in the clothes and objects sold in the store
Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Jean-Paul Sartre visited the island with his companion Simone de Beauvoir at the beginning of the Fifties and the French writer and intellectual was, along with many others, a guest of Edwin Cerio at his studio in Via Tragara
Gerhard Winkler (1906-1977)
German composer who in 1943 wrote a song about Capri without ever having seen the island! The song, called "Se a Capri il sole rosso scende nel mare"provoked immense nostalgia about the island and is known to this day by many Germans
Lucio Amelio (1931-1994)
Internationally famous Italian gallery owner from Naples. At the beginning of the nineteen eighties, Amelio rented the beautiful Casa Orlandi in Anacapri and exhibited there the work of artists who were at the time unknown in Italy, such as Joseph Beuys
Mammut
Would you like to see the enormous molars and fangs of the mammoth? Go to the Cerio Museum, in the Piazzetta, where many fossilised remains of this animal are preserved. Once upon a time, 300,000 years ago, when the island was still connected to the mainland, there was a lake on the site where the Quisisana Hotel now stands, where these enormous mammals lived
Monica Bellucci (1964)
Internationally famous Italian actress who is often seen in Capri and has endeared herself to the islanders
Victor von Scheffel (1826-1886)
German poet who arrived in Capri in his youth as a practising lawyer. On the island he found happiness and finished the verse poem "The Trumpeter of Säckingen": a love story set in the Middle Ages, considered absurdly ponderous today, but which at the time made him so rich and famous that he was invested with a noble title. He invented the name of the cat "Hiddigeigei" that lent its name to the Cafè Morgano
Torta Caprese
A famous island dessert that still causes arguments among the important families of the island: who first created it? Probably it was a Russian traveller who suggested the recipe to someone from Tragara who didn't know what to do with all those almonds! Who knows? Well worth a taste, served with a ball of vanilla ice cream
Laetitia Cerio (1908 - 1997)
Daughter of the Caprese engineer and intellectual Edwin Cerio. An artist with a wonderful talent for drawing, in the Fifties she designed silk scarves and shirts for Emilio Pucci and fabric wallcoverings for other important fashion houses. Even Vogue became aware of her talents - and currently her style has been reborn in the concept-store dedicated to her by her grandson Federico
Simone de De Beauvoir (1908-1986)
French writer and intellectual, she visited Capri with her life-long companion Jean-Paul Sartre and loved to take long walks on the island
Edwin Cerio (1875-1960)
Naval engineer, writer, intellectual and Italian politician born in Capri. He knew the German industrialist Friedrich A. Krupp, who asked him to come and work for him and sent him around the world on business. Returning to the island after the First World War, he was Mayor of Capri and dedicated himself to preserving the countryside and writing books about the island. He is still considered one of the most important cultural figures of Capri: he was the point of reference on the island for writers and painters from around the world and perhaps the greatest ambassador for Capri
Michael Schumacher (*1969)
German Formula One racing car driver. He often came to the island to see his friend Montezemolo, a habitué of Anacapri
Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (1851-1913)
German painter and intellectual who lived at the turn of the nineteenth century and had a clear mission: to do his best to save the animals, including by becoming a vegetarian. He preached his love of nature in the Piazzetta and wore a tunic that according to Rainer Maria Rilke resembled "a grey monastic habit that, exposed to the sun and the rain, takes on the appearance of old wooden fenceposts"
Santo Stefano
The church in the piazzetta, which was at one time the Cathedral, was dedicated to him. It was built in the seventeenth century on the remains of an earlier one from the sixth century. A precious piece of Caprese history best known and admired for the rare marble inlays of the main altar and the chapel on the left hand side, which formerly decorated one of Tiberius' ancient villas
Elihu Vedder (1836-1923)
American painter who entered the history books of Capri as the builder of the Villa Torre Quattro Venti (Tower of the Four Winds), situated high up in the center of the island. With this house built in 1903 he realised his dream: he wanted to be able to look out at both of the bays of the island and both of its gulfs, the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno - bravo Elihu
Museo Cerio
Would you like to see some of the objects that the Roman emperors kept in their Capri villas? Do you want to know what primitive man was up to on the island? Or perhaps you are interested in the molars of mammoths or in fossilised coral ... or maybe you are excited about rare shells or strange looking starfish or curious about the blue lizards of the Faraglioni ... or simply want to read a book about Capri, whether ancient or modern, italian or foreign. Only one place offers you all these possibilities and is waiting to welcome you: the Ignazio Cerio Museum
La Bella Carmelina (1880-1950)
A beautiful and shrewd Caprese, dancer of the Tarantella, who invited travellers - exhausted by the climb to Tiberius' villa - to drink a glass of island wine
Claretta Cerio (*1927)
Italian writer born in Capri. Niece of August Weber and in her youth wife of the writer Edwin Cerio. She united the world of Capri with that of Germany and depicted the island through her marvelous memories, which gave life to her books on the Capri of times past, a Capri that lives on in the hearts and memories of people around the world
Brigitte Bardot (*1934)
Brigitte Bardot starred together with Michel Piccoli in the Italian/French dramatic film "Le mépris" (Contempt) in 1963. Bardot was the actress of the moment - hers was the most famous female figure in the world at the time. Today the film's scenes seem overly long, but they must absolutely be seen
Rainer M. Rilke (1875-1926)
Rilke arrived in Capri in early December of 1906 to spend the winter in a milder climate, as did many aristocratic Germans in those days. The greatest German poet of the twentieth century was a guest at Villa Discopoli in Via Tragara in the "Rosenhäusle" (Little House of Roses). The island inspired many of his poems and letters
Jacky O. (1929-1994)
During the Sixties and Seventies Jacqueline Kennedy chose Capri as her preferred destination for vacations and relaxation. Moments spent at the seaside, in the piazzetta, in the local shops that she loved so much. Her minimalist style is still famous. "Jackie O" came to Capri with her sister and her friends, and made headlines when she came with her companion Aristotle Onassis. Important stop: At the store Canfora in Via Camerelle where she ordered every time another pair of sandals custom-made.sandali capresi su misura. The form of her foot is still on display in the store.
Marchesa Casati Stampa (1881-1957)
Considered a "living work of art", she arrived in Capri in 1912 and rented the house of Axel Munthe. Friend of Baron Fersen and famous for her eccentricity, she is still remembered for strolling in the piazzetta with her cheetah on a leash
Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)
Neruda was a brilliant Chilean poet, so much so that he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971. He was also a politician and diplomat. In Capri he and his companion Matilde were the guests of Edwin Cerio in his Casetta di Arturo in Via Tragara in the winter and spring of 1952. If you go down Via Tragara and look you will find his verses carved into the rock
Norman Douglas (1868-1952)
Famous writer, half British and half Austrian. He was also part Italian "by adoption", insofar as he loved Italy: Florence, Naples, Capri and Calabria. Although a foreigner, he knew the island well and described it well in his books. He was also a great friend of the Capresi, including the common people: Peppinella at the Grottelle restaurant, where he went to have lunch and drink the excellent wine of the island; and Michele, whose recollections until recently kept his memory alive. His best known book is "South Wind" but his essays on the history, fauna and literature of Capri are masterly
Michael Jackson (1958-2009)
In the United States it is said that Michael Jackson offered $17 million to buy Villa Malaparte
Joseph Beuys (1921-1986)
Internationally famous German artist. It was Lucio Amelio, the Neapolitan gallery owner, who brought Beuys several times to Capri. On Capri was born the "Beuys effect" which forever connects him to the island: the "Capri battery" - a large Capri lemon whose juice provided the electrical energy for a yellow lightbulb
Maxim Gor'kij (1868-1936)
Russian revolutionary and writer, he spent many years of his life on Capri and changed houses three times from 1906 to 1913. Here he wrote numerous novels including "My Childhood", and while living the "dolce vita" lifestyle of Capri, organised a school for Russian emigrant revolutionaries, where famous theoreticians such as Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky participated and taught
Capri Amore Mio Wimmelbook € 15
Capri Amore Mio Wimmelbook is an ambassador for Capri!
It describes the island's history, landscape, and culture in an amusing and delightful way.
Through images, Capri Amore Mio tells the story of Capri, including the sights and historical figures that have made this island famous throughout the world!
You have a special book to study and enjoy in your hands, which is also an ideal souvenir or unique gift.
Would you like to purchase the book?
It is available on Amazon.it and Amazon.de, and you will find it in Capri at the bookstore La Conchiglia.
Pino and Sofia
The history of Capri is told through the story of the book's two main characters, who are able to put to rest the long rivalry between the island towns of Capri and Anacapri: Pino, the blue lizard from the Faraglioni rocks, who falls in love with Sofia, the pretty goat from Anacapri. Together, they find both love and the Roman Emperor Tiberius' famous treasure hidden in the Blue Grotto.
