The Enchanted Song of Beautiful Capri Island
Capri Island is a gem of the Gulf of Naples with a small series of places to visit, but above all to admire its treasures. You will never find real stories in the books and guides.
I think our GEN group organized this excursion in 2012. The photos show that the weather was not good, and we were dressed for winter. You may think, but why not choose a beautiful summer day, for example?
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The explanation is very simple: in the summer, the island is full of people. So much so that you have to ask permission to pass on every step. In the low seasons, people prefer to leave the islands. If they can. The living conditions were very difficult, and it happens that for days there was no connection with Naples because the sea was too rough, and the ferries could not navigate. I don't want to lie, but it seems to me that they told us there are no water sources on the island, or at least they are not enough. Imagine being isolated there.
So, our group decided to organize the excursion in winter. And, you can believe me, we did not meet more than 10–30 persons there.
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On Capri Island, there are two small settlements: Capri (port) and Anacapri (above, on the rock). Getting to Anacapri by bus is an adventure that will leave you with more than a few white hairs. Tourists scream like crazy as they pass the scariest parts and drivers, in my opinion, sometimes enjoy scaring them even more.
No need to take public transportation or exotic taxis covered with bamboo mats. There are plenty of trails. One, which leads from the port of Capri to Anacapri, has a beautiful story.
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The path that leads from Capri to Anacapri is practically vertical. Climbing up is a feat. However, we must not cry that poor people lived in these conditions because this was their free choice to live on Capri Island. That is their ancestors who did not know how and where to escape from all kinds of occupiers who roamed Italy everywhere, killed, robbed, and had no mercy for anyone. It is for this reason that the population of much of Italy sought out practically inaccessible places.
Time passed, and other people began to look for inaccessible places. We are talking about the First World War, when many young rich men came to Italy trying to escape from certain death on the battlefields. Arriving at the Sorrento Coast, Amalfi Coast, and even Capri Island they began to build villas to spend there those scary years.
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Many of these beautiful villas can be visited today and offer tourists immense joy, especially in spring.
But we said that this island is almost inaccessible and has no resources. And in those days there were no buses, no taxis. Everything, absolutely everything, had to be brought there by boat. How did they manage to build these villas that we admire today for their beauty?
It's simple. It's obvious. With boats.
And in the port, the young girls of the Capri island were waiting for the boats. They, of course, had no way of earning anything on the island. Helping to unload the bricks, the stones, and anything that was brought and then taking them neatly arranged on the head to Anacapri was their way of working. Of boasting in front of the others about their skill (I think they put 6 or 8 bricks/stones on their heads) and climbing that vertical path, they took this all to Anacapri.
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The most shocking part for us today was their earnings. In the end, they could buy a hairpin. And the best ones had silver pins.
Sometimes I think: but those rich men who could not help but see all this, why didn't they pay for this work in a way that was at least a little dignified? And then it occurs to me that they didn't even see them, they didn't think about them. For them, these were not human beings or “that's life” they thought…
The church of San Michele Arcangelo in Anacapri is small but contains an almost unique treasure (I have only seen one other similar one): a majolica floor depicting the Earthly Paradise and the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (1719).
Of course, Capri Island has much more to tell, but I think that's enough for this time.
Unfortunately, the photos are of poor quality, but I hope they give you the impression of what I told you.
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