ENGLISH
* CAPRI
HERE
WE ARE AT LAST, ABOVE THIS WONDER OF THE WORLD, WHERE THE SECRET OF LIFE IS
KNOWN SO WELL AS TO MAKE ONE FORGET ONE'S ACTUAL EXISTENCE.
ON CAPRI OUR THOUGHTS BECOME LIGHT, AND FLOAT IN INFINITY: ONLY THE BLUENESS
HAS WEIGHT AND TOUCHES US. OUR EYES CANNOT CONTAIN ITS VAST EXTENT; WE ARE
ANNIHILATED BEFORE IT. THIS PARADISE REFOUND MAKES US WONDER WHERE WE ARE,
INTO WHAT PERIOD OF TIME WE HAVE FALLEN UNAWARES.
AND YET, THERE IS NOT ONLY THE PRESENCE OF NATURE ON CAPRI, BUT ALSO OF HISTORY.
THE "SCALA FENICIA" ( PHOENICIAN STEPS ) WE CAN SEE, FOR EXAMPLE: IT HAS A
STORY TO TELL. BUT WHAT CAN WE DO WHWN EVERYTHING, INCLUDING WORDS, IS TURNED
INTO COLOUR ? WHEN THE PAST BECOMES PRESENT ? WHEN WE REALIZE THAT CAPRI'S
HISTORY IS ETERNAL, AND BELONGS TO THAT GREAT UNMOVING TIME WHEN MEN WERE
GODS ? HERE, ETERNITY IS REDISCOVERED.
THE MARVEL WE CAN SEE BELOW US, LAPPED BY THE SUN-REFLECTING SEA, IS WITHOUT
DOUBT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND IN THE WORLD. WITH ITS FARAGLIONI AND ITS
LIMESTONE CLIFFS RISING SHEER ABOVE THE SEA, RIDDLED WITH THE LARGE CAVES
WHICH ONLY INCREASE THEIR SAVAGE BEAUTY; WITH ITS WHITE HOUSES COVERED WITH
BOUGAINVILLEA, ITS PICTURESQUE LANES AND ITS WORLD FAMOUS "PIAZZETTA", WHICH
WAS ALREADY THE CENTRE OF THE ISLAND IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C. , IT IS TOO
WELLKNOWN FOR US TO NEED TO SPEAK OF IT. AS IT HAS NO OTHER MYSTERIES APART
FROM THE MAGIC WHICH SURROUNDS ALL WORKS OF ART, WE WILL LEAVE IT ENWRAPPED
IN ITS SPELL AND TURN TO OTHER ASPECTS.
THE ISLAND DERIVES ITS NAME FROM "KAPROS", "WILD BOAR" IN GREEK "CAPRI" THEREFORE
MEANS THE ISLAND OF WILD BOARS, AND HAS BEEN INHABITED FROM PALAEOLITHIC TIMES
ONWARDS, WHEN IT WAS STILL PART OF THE SORRENTO PENINSULA.
THIS HAS BEEN PROVED BY THE DISCOVERY OF VARIOUS TOOLS AND FLINTS IN THE TRAGARA
CAVES. HOWEVER, IT WAS FIRST PHOENICIANS, AND THEN THE TELEBOI FROM GREECE,
WHO SETTLED ON THE HIGHLYING PART OF THE ISLAND, WHERE ANACAPRI IS TODAY,
AND FORTIFIED IT. IN THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C. THE ISLAND BELONGED TO NEAPOLIS,
BUT AUGUSTUS FELL IN LOVE WITH IT, AND HAD NO HESITATION IN OFFERING ISCHIA,
WHICH THEN BELONGED TO ROME, IN EXCHANGE.
THE GREAT AUGUSTUS HAD A PALCID LOVE FOR CAPRI, AN ALLWED IT ITS FREEDOM IN
MATTERS OF LANGUAGE, RELIGION AND CUSTOMS; THE PASSIONATE EMPEROR TIBERIUS,
ON THE CONTRARY, TRANSFERRED ALL HIS GLOOMY AND JEALOUS POSSESSIVENESS ONTO
THE ISLAND. CAPRI BECAME HIS OLYMPUS, AND FROM THE LOFTY EMINESS OF VILLA
JOVIS HE GOVERNED THE GREATEST EMPIRE IN THE WORLD, NEVER CARING TO LEAVE.
HE DIED AFTER BEING TAKEN ILL SUDDENLY AT MISENUM, ON ONE OF HIS INFREQUENT
JOURNEYS TO THE MAINLAND.
UNDER SUCCEEDING EMPERORS, THE ISLAND WAS USED FOR POLITICAL AND MILITARY
INTERNMENT.
IN THE THIRD CENTURY AFTER CHRIST, AS CHRISTIANITY BEGAN TO SPREAD, THE EMPEROR
COSTANZO ARRIVED ON THE ISLAND FROM BYZANTINIUM, AND DIED THERE HONOURED AS
A SAINT.
IN THE SIXTH CENTURY, CAPRI BELONGED FIRST TO THE ABBEY OF MONTECASSINO, AND
THEN TO AMALFI. FROM THE TENTH CENTURY ONWARDS, IT WAS SUBJECT TO SARACEN
RAIDS. IT BECAME A LOMBARD DOMINION, AND LATER A NORMAN ONE, AND LATER STILL
A SWABIAN ONE. GIOVANNA I OF ANJOU LOVED THE ISLAND AND PROTECTED IT, BUT
IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY IT WAS ALMOST ENTIRELY DEVASTATED BY THE TUNISIAN
CORSAIR BARBAROSSA AND THE ALGERIAN DRAGUT. DESPITE THIS, THE ONCURSIONS CONTINUED
FOR ANOTHER TWO HUNDRED YEARS, UNTIL A PEACEFUL LIFE FOR THE ISLAND WAS FINALLY
ASSURED UNDER CHARLES III OF BOURBON.
SEEN FROM ABOVE, CAPRI IS SADDLE-SHAPED: NARROW AND LOW IN THE MIDDLE, AND
BROAD AND HIGH AT EITHER END. THE TWO BAYS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE NARROW CENTRE
ARE MARINA GRANDE TO THE NORTH, AND MARINA PICCOLA ON THE SOUTH. THE TWO EMINENCES,
ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE MONTE SOLARO ( 589 M.) TO THE EAST, AND MONTE TIBERIO
( 334 M.) TO THE WEST. THE RIDGE OF THE SADDLE IS CARPETED WITH GREEN; THERE
ARE THE WHITE HOUSES OF CAPRI SPREADING BELOW, WHILE FURTHER UP THE HILL,
THERE IS ANACAPRI. AT EITHER END OF THE SOFT COVERING OF GREEN VEGETATION,
THE BARE LIMESTONE ROCKFACE GLEAMS WITH TINTS OF MOTHER-OF-PEARL REFRACTED
FROM THE DEEP-BLUE SEA.
THE WIND AND THE SEA HAVE SCULPTED THE ISLAND WITH TASTE AND A SENSE OF SYMMETRY.
THEIR WORK IS SHOWN AT ITS MOST INVENTIVE AND IMAGINATIVE IN THOSE DISTINCTIVE
JEWELS, THE FARAGLIONI, WHICH HAVE BECOME THE SYMBOL OF CAPRI, AND THE NUMEROUS
CAVES WITH THEIR ENORMOUS MOUTH-LIKE OPENINGS IN THE ROCK.
EACH CAVE HAS A DISTINGUISHING FEATURE ACCORDING TO ITS POSITION. THE GREEN
GROTTO IS EXPOSED AT MIDDAY, JUST ABOVE THE SURFACE OF THE WATER: IT GETS
ITS EMERALD COLOURING FROM THE LIGHT REFRACTED BY THE SEA. THIS MAKES IT DIFFERENT
FROM THE WHITE GROTTO, WHICH ALSO FACES SOUTH, BUT HIGHER UP. THIS CAVE IS
LIKE SOME STAGE-DESIGN FOR A WAGNERIAN OPERA: SET MIDWAY IN THE ROCKFACE,
IT IS FILLED WITH STALACTITES AND STALAGMITES, AND ITS LIMESTONE ROCK SEEMS
TO REFLECT ONLY WHITE RAYS.
THEN THERE IS THE GROTTO OF THE OX, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND: HERE
THE SEA IS ROUGH AND PENETRATES THE HOLLOWS OF THE ROCK WITH A SOUND LIKE
AN OX BELLOWING. YET THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY CAVE IS THE BLUE GROTTO, TO THE
NORTH: A REAL ECCENTRICITY OF NATURE. THIS KARST HOLLOW ENTERED FROM THE SEA
HAS A TINY OPENING WHICH ALLOWS NO LIGHT TO PENETRATE INSIDE. HENCE ITS MAGIC:
THE ROCK, PLACED A FEW FEET ABOVE SEA.LEVEL, RECEIVES LIGHT DIRECTLY FROM
THE SEA, WHICH SOME SPELL HAS TRANSFORMED INTO A SOURCE OF SUNLIGHT. IT IS
A PITY THAT IN THE AGE OF HESIOD AND HOMER BRADYSEISM HAD NOT YET CAUSED THIS
IMMERSION OF THE CAVE: OTHERWISE WE WOULD HAVE TALES OF HOW APOLLO WAS DEFEATED
BY POSEIDON AND IMPRISIONED HERE BELOW. EVEN IN ROMAN TIMES IT MUST HAVE BEEN
MUCH HIGHER, SINCE TIBERIUS HAD IT DECORATED WITH STATUES AND TURNED INTO
A NYMPHAEUM OR TEMPLE DEDICATED TO THE SEA-GODS. AND HERE THERE WERE MANY
SEA-GODS AND GODDESSES. ON THE ROCK OF MARINA PICCOLA THE SIRENS LIVED; IT
WAS FROM THIS STRATEGIC LOOKOUT THAT THREE OF THEM SIGHTED ULYSSES BOAT SAILING
SOUTH. YET THE GODS OF THE EARTH HAD THEIR CULTS TOO. IN THE GROTTA MATROMANIA,
NEAR THE ARCO NATURALE, THERE WAS A TEMPLE DEDICATED TO CYBELE, THE MATER
MAGNA OR EARTH-GODDES. ONE CANSTILL SEE TRACES OF WALL AND FRAGMENTS OF MOSAIC.
IN ANTIQUITY, WORSHIP HERE CULMINATED IN AN ORGIASTIC PROCESSION, WITH THE
STATUE OF THE GODDESS BEING THROWN INTO THE SEA BENEATH. TIBERIUS, HOWEVER,
DID NOT WELCOME THE NOISE AND TRANSFORMED THE TEMPLE INTO A NYMPHAEUM.
THIS TACITURN EMPEROR LIVED
NEARBY, IN THE SPLENDID VILLA JOVIS AT THE VERY TOP OF THE HILL NAMED AFTER
HIM. FROM OUR ALTITUDE WE CAN TAKE IN EVERYTHING IN ONE GLANCE, AND EVEN THOUGH
THE INTERIORS ARE HIDDEN, SUCH AS THE GREAT VESTIBULE WITH FOUR COLUMNS, THE
CALIDARIUM, THE VAST WATERTANKS, WHAT WE CAN SEE IS ON A GRAND SCALE. THE
IMPERIAL APARTMENT WAS DECORATED WITH A MAGNIFICIENT MOSAIC FLOOR, WHICH IS
NOW KEPT IN THE CAPODIMONTE MUSEUM IN NAPLES. THE DETAILS CANNOT BE DISTINGUISHED,
BUT WE CAN STILL ADMIRE THE 92 METRE LONG LOGGIA, AND THE RUINS OF THE SPECULARIUM,
WHICH SERVED BOTH AS AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY AND A WATCHTOWER. THE VILLA
IS PERCHED ABOVE THE DROP GENERALLY KNOWN AS "THE LEAP OF TIBERIUS" , FROM
WHICH, SO IT IE UNJUSTLY SAID, THE EMPEROR HAD HIS ENEMIES THROWN.
STILL ON THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF THE ISLAND, NEAR THE GROTTA DI MATROMANIA, WE
CAN SEE THE CASA ROSSA AMONG THE TWISTING PATHS WHICH ASCEND THE PUNTA MASSULLO:
THIS VILLA BELONGED TO CURZIO MALAPARTE AND WAS DONATED BY HIM TO THE CHINESE
GOVERMENT. THEN COMES THE BAY OF TRAGARA, WITH THE FARAGLIONI OPPOSITE. UNDERNEATH
US, THE SEA WITH ITS VARYING DEPTHS CHANGES COLOUR LIKE WATERED SILK: NOW
DEEP PURPLE, NOW TURQUOISE, NOW LIGHT-BLUE AND NOW DARK.
