Capri is an island of limestone
rock that represents the outermost tip of
the mountain chain on the Sorrentine peninsula.
The coastline, whose dolomite cliffs fall
right to the sea in many spots, is dotted
with countless caves and surrounded by reefs
whose shapes suggest fantastic creations.
Mount Tiberio (334 m.), to the east, and Mount
Solaro (589m.) to the west are the two peaks
on the island. Between these heights, on a
saddle shaped ridge connecting the marina
Grande, (“Large Marina”) –
north end – and the Marina Piccola,
(“Small Marina”) to the south
– is the town of Capri (138m.). The
other town, Anacapri (286 m.), sits in the
large, verdant plain to the west of Mount
Solarno.
The etymology of the name Capri must be traced back
to the Greeks, the first colonists to populate the
island in record time. This means that “Capri”
was not derived from the Latin “Capreae”
(goats), but rather the Greek “Kapros”
(wild boar).
Starting in the first half of the last century,
in the wake of the discovery of The Blue Grotto,
or "Blue Cave," the flow of Italian and foreign
tourists began, being drawn to the island by the
climate, the hospitality of the people and the colors
and magnetic atmosphere of the various sites. Writers,
painters, exiles, rich and eccentric visitors, from
the end of the 1800's until the Second World War,
chose the island as their year-round or seasonal
residence, building villas and contributing to the
creation of the multi-facetted, multi-lingual, cosmopolitan
colony that made the name Capri
famous and established the island's myth.
