Question 1

Capri on Your Own

Accepted Answer

A day on your own can follow the island's layout: the funicular up to Capri town, a walk to a garden or a Roman villa, and a bus to Anacapri if time allows. Leave a wide margin for the trip back down to Marina Grande. The Piazzetta: Piazza Umberto I, at the top of the funicular, was once the town's market square. Blocks of the old Greek defensive wall can still be seen from its terrace and from Via Longano. Gardens of Augustus: The gardens were begun by the German steel maker Friedrich Alfred Krupp and renamed after the First World War. They look out over Marina Piccola, the Faraglioni and Via Krupp, the road Krupp had built down to the sea. Villa Jovis: The largest of Tiberius's villas stands on Monte Tiberio, and the only way there is on foot, an uphill walk of about 2 km from Capri town along Via Tiberio. Anacapri: Buses run up to Anacapri, where Villa San Michele, built by the Swedish doctor and writer Axel Munthe, stands at the top of the Phoenician Steps. The Blue Grotto: Its entrance is only about a meter above the water in calm seas, so visitors lie back in a rowboat while the boatman pulls it in on a chain. The grotto often closes because of tides and waves, and at peak times the wait can be one to two hours. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own. Carry photo ID: Under Italian law the police can stop you at any time for an identity check, so carry photo ID.

Question 2

Food and Drink

Accepted Answer

Capri's own cooking is plain: ravioli filled with caciotta cheese and flavored with the island's marjoram, and short pasta with peas. The island also gave its name to the caprese salad of mozzarella, tomato and basil, and to torta caprese, a flourless chocolate and almond cake. The caprese salad is believed to have started on Capri and became known around the world in the 1950s. Nobody knows for sure who made the first torta caprese. Both of the island's stories credit a kitchen mistake in the mid-20th century. Torta anacaprese is a version made with white chocolate and Capri lemon. Limoncello, a lemon liqueur made from the zest steeped in spirit and sweetened with syrup, is made mainly in southern Italy, especially around the Gulf of Naples, and served chilled after dinner. A little wine and olive oil are produced on the island. Cafés at the harbor and restaurants near the town center charge high prices. A grocery store is the budget choice for a picnic.

Question 3

Tipping in Italy

Accepted Answer

Tipping is not customary in Italy. Most restaurants charge a cover, the coperto, and waiters do not expect a tip, although they will not refuse one. The currency is the euro. If you would like to leave something in a restaurant, a euro or two is enough. Leaving the change for a taxi driver is quite common, and hotel porters may expect a little something.

Question 4

Feasts and the Arts

Accepted Answer

Each of Capri's two towns honors its own patron saint: San Costanzo in Capri on May 14 and Sant'Antonio in Anacapri on June 13. Several novels, memoirs and pieces of music are set on the island. Anacapri holds an international folklore festival in August and the Settembrata, a harvest festival, in September. Norman Douglas's novel South Wind, Somerset Maugham's story The Lotus Eater and Axel Munthe's memoir The Story of San Michele, first published in 1929, are all set on the island. Claude Debussy named one of his piano preludes of 1910 Les collines d'Anacapri, The Hills of Anacapri. In Italian the name is said KAH-pree, with the stress on the first syllable.

Question 5

A Brief History

Accepted Answer

Greek settlers were the first recorded inhabitants of Capri, and the emperor Augustus turned the island into a private retreat with villas, temples and gardens. His successor Tiberius moved here for good in AD 27 and ruled the Roman Empire from the island until his death in AD 37. The name may come from the Greek word for wild boar or from the Latin for goats. Tacitus wrote that Tiberius built twelve villas on Capri. The largest, Villa Jovis, covers about 7,000 square meters on a series of terraces. In 866 the island was granted to the Duchy of Amalfi, and in 987 it became a diocese of its own. In the late 14th century Count Giacomo Arcucci founded the Certosa di San Giacomo, the island's oldest monastery. Ottoman fleets under Barbarossa and Turgut Reis captured the island in 1535 and 1553. During the Napoleonic Wars the British held Capri from 1806 as a naval base, until the French took it back in 1808 and kept it until 1815. On August 17, 1826, the German poet August Kopisch and the painter Ernst Fries explored the Blue Grotto, which had been a Roman nymphaeum, and Kopisch's account made it famous. From the late 19th century artists, writers and other expatriates settled on the island, and Lenin stayed in 1908 as the guest of Maxim Gorky. Capri and Anacapri were merged into a single municipality from 1927 to 1946, then separated again. To learn more ashore: the Certosa di San Giacomo, Via Certosa 10, where the National Archaeological Museum of Capri opened in 2024 with finds from the imperial villas.

Question 6

Capri with Children

Accepted Answer

Getting around Capri means steps and slopes, so plan the day around the funicular, the buses and the chairlift, and keep the walking short for small legs. Swimming inside the sea caves is for very experienced swimmers only, because tides can open and close the entrances and dash swimmers against the rock, so stick to the beaches. Younger children: The funicular is a ride in itself, and a paddle at the little beach beside the lower station keeps a short day close to the landing. School age: The chairlift from Piazza Vittoria in Anacapri rises to the top of Monte Solaro, the island's highest point at 589 meters, in about 15 minutes. Check running times before you go. Teenagers: Those who like a climb can follow a public footpath to the Arco Naturale, a natural rock arch on the east coast, or tackle the Phoenician Steps between Capri and Anacapri, which are very steep. A blue lizard found nowhere else lives on the outermost of the three Faraglioni.

Question 7

Accessibility

Accepted Answer

Capri is hard going for anyone who cannot manage steps, because the island is crossed by stairways and steep paths, and several of its best-known sights can be reached only on foot or by small boat. Ask your cruise line whether its landing at Marina Grande is step-free. The upper funicular station leads to Piazza Umberto I by a flight of steps, and also opens onto Via Acquaviva, a street beside the square. Villa Jovis can be reached only on foot, uphill for about 2 km, and the ruins spread over terraces with about 40 meters' difference in height. To enter the Blue Grotto you must lie back in a small rowboat to pass under the low entrance. Island buses and taxis spare you the stairways between the harbor, Capri town and Anacapri.

Question 8

Shopping

Accepted Answer

Capri is known for handmade leather sandals and for luxury brand shops, and the international linen brand 100% Capri started on the island. Expect high prices, above all in the center of Capri town. On the road to Villa San Michele in Anacapri you pass shops selling limoncello.

Question 9

Beaches and Swimming

Accepted Answer

The two easy places to swim are Marina Piccola, on the south coast, and a small beach at Marina Grande, to the left of the funicular ticket office. Both are safer than swimming into the sea caves. Marina Piccola can be reached by bus, and its two beach areas are of smooth rock and pebbles. In July and August it is very hard to find space on the pebbles at Marina Piccola. Some natural beaches can be reached only by boat.

Capri

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Arriving in Capri