Capri and San Michele

1. Capri
And San Michele
Text wikipedia
Slideshow
Anders Dernback
2019

3. Capri is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on
the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main
town Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been a resort
since the time of the Roman Republic.
Some of the main features of the island include the Marina Piccola (the little
harbour), the Belvedere of Tragara (a high panoramic promenade lined with
villas), the limestone crags called sea stacks that project above the sea (the
faraglioni), the town of Anacapri, the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra), the ruins of the
Imperial Roman villas, and the various towns surrounding the Island of Capri
including Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, Sorrento, Nerano, and Naples.
Capri is part of the region of Campania, Metropolitan City of Naples. The town of
Capri is a comune and the island's main population centre. The island has two
harbours, Marina Piccola and Marina Grande (the main port of the island). The
separate comune of Anacapri is located high on the hills to the west.
Capri

4. Etymology
The etymology of the name Capri is unclear; it might either be traced back to the
Ancient Greeks (Ancient Greek κάπρος kapros meaning "wild boar"), the first
recorded colonists to populate the island. But it could also derive from Latin
capreae (goats). Fossils of wild boars have been discovered, lending credence to
the "kapros" etymology; on the other hand, the Romans called Capri "goat
island". Finally, there is also the possibility that the name derives from an
Etruscan word for "rocky", though any historical Etruscan rule of the island is
disputed.
Capri consists of limestone and sandstone rock; cliffs form much of the sides and
surface of the island.

5. Prehistory and Greek period
The first discoveries of prehistoric-age remains occurred more than two
thousand years ago during the Roman Imperial era, when excavations for
Imperial buildings on the island unearthed remains of animals that had
disappeared tens of thousands before, as well as traces of Stone-Age occupants.
The story was documented by the historian Suetonius (75–140) who described
the interest shown by the emperor Augustus in preserving these remains,
creating the first museum of paleontology and paleoanthropology in his villa's
garden
The earliest mythical inhabitants were the Teleboi from Acarnania under their
king Telon. Neolithic remains were found in 1882 in the Grotta delle Felci, a cave
on the south coast. In historical times the island was occupied by Greeks who
from the eighth century BC onwards first settled on the island of Ischia and the
mainland, at Cumae, and later came to Capri. The historian Strabo wrote that "in
ancient times there were two towns in Capri, which were later reduced to one

6. One of those two towns was the precursor to today's Capri town. This is confirmed
by the remains of fortification walls, built with large limestone boulders at the
bottom and square blocks at the top, visible from the terrace of the funicular
railway, and a building at the foot of Castiglione, and these, together with other
buildings now destroyed, complete the old town (5th to 4th century BC).
Regarding the second city, many hypotheses have been advanced, but the most
reliable is that even then it was Anacapri, based on the existence of the
Phoenician Steps that connect to the port (despite its name, the steps cannot not
have been built by the Phoenicians, but by Greek colonists).
Since its first settlement, the natural shape of the island led to the creation of two
communities, one in the East with hills sloping down to the sea, and one to the
West on a large plateau, the steep slopes of Monte Solaro and with no access to
the sea.
Capri subsequently fell into the hands of Neapolis (the former Greek colony called
Naples today) and remained so until the time of Augustus, who took it in exchange
for Aenaria (Ischia) and often resided there.

7. Roman period
Tiberius, who spent the last ten years of his life at
Capri, built twelve villas there.[citation needed] Ruins
of one at Tragara could still be seen in the 19th
century. All these villas can be identified with more or
less certainty, the best-preserved being those on the
East extremity, consisting of a large number of
vaulted substructures and the foundations perhaps of
a Pharos (lighthouse). One was known as Villa Jovis;
others include the Palazzo a Mare, villa di Gradola
which included the Blue Grotto and Villa Damecuta.
South of the Villa Jovis are remains of a watch tower
used to communicate with the mainland. The
numerous ancient cisterns show that in Roman as in
modern times rain provided the island's water since it
has no natural springs.
Tiberius 16 November 42 BC –
16 March 37 AD) was the
second Roman emperor,
reigning from 14 AD to 37 AD,
succeeding Augustus.

8. According to Suetonius, Villa Jovis was
the scene of Tiberius' wild debauchery,
but many modern historians regard these
tales as merely vicious slander by his
detractors. These historians believe that
he lived a modest, reclusive existence on
the island.
After Tiberius died, the island seems to
have been little visited by the emperors,
and we hear of it only as a place of
banishment for the wife and sister of
Commodus. The island, having been at
first the property of Neapolis, and later of
the emperors, never had upon it any
community with civic rights. Even in
Imperial times Greek was largely spoken
there, as many Greek as Latin inscriptions
have been found on the island.
Ruins of Villa Jovis

9. From the Middle Ages to the 19th century
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Capri fell again under the rule of
Naples, and suffered various attacks and ravages by pirates. In 866 Emperor
Louis II gave the island to the comune of Amalfi. The political dependence of
Capri to Amalfi, which had relations to the Eastern Mediterranean, is
particularly evident in art and architecture, in which Byzantine and Islamic
forms appeared. In 987 Pope John XV consecrated the first Caprese bishop.
Frederick IV of Naples established legal and administrative parity between the
two settlements of Capri and Anacapri in 1496. Pirate raids by the Barbary
corsairs reached their peak during the reign of Charles V. The medieval town
was on the north side at the chief landing-place (Marina Grande), and to it
belonged the church of S. Costanzo, an early Christian building. It was
abandoned in the 15th century on account of the inroads of pirates, and the
inhabitants took refuge higher up, in Capri and Anacapri.

10. The pirate Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, called
Barbarossa, plundered and burned Capri seven
times. The worst raid occurred in 1535, when
Barbarossa captured the island for the Ottoman
Empire and had Anacapri castle burned down, the
ruins of which are now called Castello Barbarossa.
This castle is on the property of Villa San Michele
today. In 1553, a second invasion by Turgut Reis
resulted in another capture and in the looting and
destruction of Certosa di San Giacomo. The danger
of such attacks led Charles V to allow the
inhabitants to arm themselves, and new towers
were built to defend the island. Only the 1830
French defeat of the pirates ended this threat.
A 17th-century visitor to the island was the French
erudite libertine Jean-Jacques Bouchard, who may
be considered Capri's first modern tourist. His diary,
found in 1850, is an important information source
about Capri.
born Khizr or Khidr (c. 1478 – 4 July 1546),

11. In January 1806, French troops under Bonaparte took control of the island. In May
1806, the island was wrested from French control by an English fleet under Sir
Sidney Smith, and strongly fortified, but in 1808 it was retaken by the French
under Lamarque. By a simulated attack on the two docks of Marina Grande and
Marina Piccola, British attention was diverted from the west coast, where the
French were able to scale the cliffs and forced the enemy to surrender. In 1813
Capri, was restored to Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.
In the latter half of the 19th century, Capri became a popular resort for European
artists, writers and other celebrities, such as Norman Douglas, Friedrich Alfred
Krupp, Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, Christian Wilhelm Allers, Emil von Behring,
Curzio Malaparte, Axel Munthe, and Maxim Gorky. The book that spawned the
19th century fascination with Capri in France, Germany, and England was
Entdeckung der blauen Grotte auf der Insel Capri (Discovery of the Blue Grotto on
the Isle of Capri) by German painter and writer August Kopisch, in which he
describes his 1826 stay on Capri and his (re)discovery of the Blue Grotto.
Also in the 19th century, the natural scientist Ignazio Cerio catalogued Capri's
flora and fauna.

12. Axel Munthe
Axel Martin Fredrik Munthe (31 October 1857 – 11 February 1949) was a Swedish-
born medical doctor and psychiatrist, best known as the author of The Story of
San Michele, an autobiographical account of his life and work. He spoke several
languages (Swedish, English, French, Italian fluently, and German at least
passably), grew up in Sweden, attended medical school there, and opened his
first practice in France. He was married to an English aristocrat and spent most
of his adult life in Italy. His philanthropic nature often led him to treat the poor
without charge, and he risked his life on several occasions to offer medical help
in times of war, disaster, or plague. As an advocate of animal rights, he purchased
land to create a bird sanctuary near his home in Italy, argued for bans on painful
traps, and himself kept pets as diverse as an owl and a baboon, as well as many
types of dog. His writing is light-hearted, being primarily memoirs drawn from his
real-life experiences, but it is often tinged with sadness or tragedy, and often
uses dramatic licence. He primarily wrote about people and their idiosyncrasies,
portraying the foibles of both the rich and the poor, but also about animals.

13. Early life
Axel Munthe was born in Oskarshamn, Sweden,
his family's home. His family was originally of
Flemish descent, and settled in Sweden during
the 16th century.
Munthe began college in 1874 at Uppsala
University. While travelling in Italy in 1875,
Munthe sailed in a small boat from Sorrento to
the island of Capri. Climbing the Phoenician
stairs to the village of Anacapri, he came upon
a peasant's house and the adjacent ruin of a
chapel dedicated to San Michele, and was
immediately captivated by the idea of rebuilding
the ruin and turning it into a home.
Munthe studied medicine in Uppsala,
Montpellier and Paris (where he was a student
of Charcot), and graduated as M.D. in 1880 at
the age of 23.

14. Though his thesis was on the subjects of gynaecology and obstetrics, Munthe
was deeply impressed by Professor Jean-Martin Charcot's pioneering work in
neurology, having attended his lectures at the Salpêtrière hospital. He later had a
falling out with Charcot, and left the Salpêtrière denouncing his former teacher's
work on hypnotism as fraudulent and scientifically unsound. Parents and siblings
He was the youngest of three siblings born to sickly, autocratic, violin playing,
puritanical, chemist father Martin Arnold Fredrick Munthe (#-1877) and his
second wife Louisa Aurora Ugarsky (# - 1878). The eldest was Anna (b. 1854) who
married twice. At 21 she married the painter Reinhold Norstedt during which
times her flower paintings were exhibited in the National Galleries and other
galleries. After Reinhold Norstedt's death she married Frans Siberg.
The second child was Arnold a future Artist, Author, playwright and Retired
Swedish Naval Captain (# - 1927) who served with the French Imperial Fleet
produced and wrote several renown plays Magnus Stenbok , Magdalena
Rudenskiold and The March over the Belt. Arnold also wrote the several Naval
books including Charles XII and the Russian Navy and the textbooks Swedish
Naval Heroes series.

15. Paris and Italy
After graduation, Munthe opened a medical
practice in Paris, largely catering to the
members of the Scandinavian art colony there.
In 1884 he travelled to Naples to offer medical
assistance in a cholera epidemic.
In 1887, he moved to Capri, bought the Villa San
Michele and began restoration, doing much of
the work himself, but also employing local
residents, including three brothers and their
father.
In 1890, running low on money for the project,
he opened a practice in Rome which catered to
foreign dignitaries as well as the local
population. From this point onwards he divided
his time between Rome and Capri.
The villa's gardens have panoramic
views of the town of Capri and its
harbour, the Sorrentine Peninsula, and
Mount Vesuvius. The villa sits on a
ledge at the top of the Phoenician
Steps, between Anacapri and Capri, at a
height of 327 meters above sea level.

17. San Michele's gardens are adorned with many relics and works of art dating
from ancient Egypt and other periods of classical antiquity. They now form part
of the Grandi Giardini Italiani.
In his later years, Axel Munthe wrote his haunting youthful memoir The Story of
San Michele, which describes how he first discovered the island and built the
villa, decorated with the remains of palaces built by the Ancient Romans which
he found on his land. This colourfully written book was first published in 1929
and became an immediate worldwide success, being translated into many
languages. It has been reprinted many times since then.
Between 1919 and 1920, Munthe was an unwilling landlord to the outrageous
socialite and muse Luisa Casati, who took possession of Villa San Michele. This
was described by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie in his diaries

18. Queen Victoria of Sweden
The Queen went to Munthe's residence, the Villa San Michele,
most mornings in order to join Munthe for walks around the
island. Munthe and the Queen also arranged evening concerts
at San Michele, at which the Queen played the piano. They also
shared a love of animals, with the Queen frequently being seen
with a leashed dog, and she was known to support Munthe's
(eventually successful) efforts to purchase Mount Barbarossa
for use as a bird sanctuary. It was rumoured that Munthe and
the Queen were lovers, but this has never been confirmed.
Toward the end of her life, with her health declining, Munthe recommended she no
longer spend time in Capri, and she returned to Sweden for some time, building a
Capri-styled villa there. She then moved to Rome.
Her final visit to Sweden was on her husband's 70th birthday in June 1928, and
Queen Victoria died on 4 April 1930 in her home Villa Svezia in Rome aged 67.

19. Munthe has been described as less interested in the
health of his patients than in his own convenience and
fame, and his having Victoria travel to Capri, and stay
there for months in that particular climate, has been
considered more detrimental than beneficial to her
health.
Other indication of his passionate nature concerns an
affair he is believed to have had with the English socialite
Lady Ottoline Morrell, beginning when they first met in
July or August 1898. Ottoline was then an unmarried 25-
year-old member of the privileged London social scene,
while being at the same time slightly contemptuous of it.
Her intellectual and spiritual interests drew her to more
mature men, such as H. H. Asquith, particularly if they
had a reputation for iconoclasm. She and Axel Munthe
were drawn to each other, and managed to spend
significant private time together on Capri
Lady Ottoline Morell
Lady Ottoline Violet Anne
Morrell (16 June 1873 – 21
April 1938)

20. Axel Munthe
Queen
Victoria

21. Queen Victorias photos

22. Queen Victoria
Axel Munthe

23. Queen Victorias photos

24. Kristina Kapelin
Born 1958 in Sweden
Curator in San Michele
Journalist and author.
In charge of operations at
Villa San Michele, starting 2018.
The San Michele Foundation has had excellent
relations with the Swedish Royal Family due to
Axel Munthe’s close contacts there. It was
Munthe’s wish that the Swedish state should
entrust the running of the Villa to the Swedish
Institute in Rome, which the then-Crown Prince
Gustaf Adolf had helped to create.

25. Capri

26. Capri