What to see in Capri (1)

Villa Jovis

It is the largest of the Capri imperial villas and the one that, because of its peculiar location.its massive structure as a citadel commanding the deep and narrow straits of the "Bocche di Capri" From the high crags of the eastern promontory, expresses a will to power and a need for defense and not only the wish for repose and a relaxed mode of living. It is also by excellence the villa of Tiberius, not only because ittt expresses Tiberius'gloomy and Irecluse character, his bitter relish for solitude, and his detachment from all ordinary contacts with men, but also because it received the emperor in the most dramatic moments of his voluntary exile and shared with him the tragic hours of his betrayal and of his relentless firmness in defending himself and empire.
The whole summit of the mountain is occupied by the central body of the villa and its depending accessories; the uncovered structures occupy an area of over 7000 sq.m.,but the actual extent of the villa comprising woods, gardens, and nymphaea, resting exedrae and rocky paths, and which no doubt possessed a zone of protection and safeguard, must have been much greater.
The rocky, steep and uneven nature of the mountain forced the builder to group together the body of the structures and to take advantage of the different levels of the ground in order to obtain by successive terraces an upward extension that could not be secured on the level. In the centre of the main nucleus there are four large intercomminicating cisterns dug into the rock and covered by vaults to collect rainwater.
The various lodgings are laid out all around: to the North the imperial lodgings are laid out all around: to the west the servant's quarters and facilities ; to the South the baths area and to the east the great apsed hall. At the eastern extremity the "great ambulatio" spread outwards towards an l"exedra" overlooking the entire Gulf of Naples, the Sorrento Peninsula, and the Amalfi Coastline.
The main buildings of the Palace comprise a vast square in the middle of which are four large cisterns deeply scooped out of the rock,each of them was subdivided into two or four communicating compartments, and was covered by a voult; the voults are now crumbled for the most part, but they were originally intended to collect the rain water falling on their upper side and on the surrounding roofs. It was a necessary device to render life possible in a building erected on the top of a mountain and having no other possibility to secure a supply of water, of the area of the domus to provide for this essential need.
Furthermore, by placing the cisterns in the centre of the building, the architect was giving the water supply an actually vital function in the body of the Villa.Weichardt was therefore wrong in his reconstrution when he placed the emperor's residential quarters on top of the vaulted cisterns: for, a apart from the fact that no remeins of buildings are to be found above the cisterns, it is necessary to allow the central nucleus of the Palace its simplest, but most important function as a collecting surface for rein water, as the original architect did. Thus the several qurters of the Villa appear to be naturally and rationally arranged around the central square of the cisterns; and keeping to rectangular pattern, they extend towards to the east whit a semi-circular structure which leans against the rocks and is lenghtened out towards the north into a large terrace intended for walks and sightseeing.
Furthermore, the elevation of the building, the strong irregularities and the different levels of the rocky ground and the particular requirements of an imperial residence, of an emperor, moreover ,gloomy and recluse as Tiberius was, all these considerations forced the architect: to pay particular attention to the planning of the internal communications between the several parts of the building, keeping the service stairs, corridors and passages separate from those reserved to the emperor and his retinue. The position of the buildings with respect to these huge reservoirs also depended onthe rational exploitation of the water supply - a result which couln not be archieved following the plantipically used in the construction of Roman seaside villas.
Thus the atrium with four marble columns lies on the southern side along side the baths. Modest on the ground floor, the baths become more grandiose on the upper floor where the typical division into apodyiterium, (changing room) tepidarium ( room heated to medium temperature), calidarium (heated room) and praefurnium (room with heater) can still be seen, despite the fact that the decorations and even the suspensurae which served to support the floor and allow the passage of hot air have been destroyyed.
The kitchen is also situed on this side of the villa ,detached from the main body of the building The villa was built of limestone cement alternated with rows of tiles for pratical and functional reason - limestone was abundantly available following the levelling of the rocky terraces while the technique was perfect for the construction of thick walls able to support the weight of the upper levels.

How to reach
From Piazza Umberto I, take Via Le Botteghe, Via Fuorlovado, Via Croce and Via Tiberio, or, once again starting in Piazza Umberto I, take Via Longano, Via Sopramonte and Via Tiberio (45 mins.).

ANACAPRI: VILLA DAMECUTA

The Romans were not so keen as the modern on sea bathing, and in their view the Anacapri highland, because of its greater altitude and its more open exposure to westerly and northwesterly winds was the most suitable place for a summer resort in a sea climate and at moderate height .
With the wooded side of Monte Solaro gently sloping down, with its clusters of oak trees , junipers , myrtles and broom and its scattered little houses , Anacapri seemed to them like a little Arcadia cut off from the rest of the island by a rocky pass. An aerial solitude whose secret and delicate fascination must have appealed to Tiberius rather than to Augustus .
Possibly Augustus may have walked up from his sea side Villa of " Palazzo a Mare" to the Belvedere of the Villa Capodimonte, where both the pass and the boundary were between two different worlds, that of Capri and that of Anacapri, but it was Tiberius who searched for further shelters within that unknow Arcadia . Discarding the centre of the ancient dwellings of Anacapri, as too closely clinging to the mountain side and too far from the sight of the sea, he chose the small plateaus and terraces along the edge of the highland where the villas and the farmhouses of Tiberino, Vitareto, Aiano and Monticello were built, but his own imperial residence was to rise in aplace that offered a wider panorama and was less laboriously reached from the sea, namely in the Villa Damecuta.
Excavations were begun at the Damecuta in 1937, when the Villa Jovis works of uncovering and repair were completed. They were interrupted and several times resumed up to 1948. To Dr. Axel Munthe much preise is due, for, by donating to the Italian Governament the Tower and the land next to it which he owned , he rendered possible the esploration and settlement of the most important section of the villa.
Unfortunatley the conditions of remains shows that the villa was subjected to a deliberate work of descructions, which was carried out here as well as at "Palazzo a Mare" in order to build fortifications and barracks on the flatland commanding the channel between Capri and Procida during the Bourbon restoration and the re-occupations and, later, by local farmers and escavators; but from the remains which were uncovered during more recent excavations and from the existence of colummns of the finest Greek marbles it may be inferred that the Villa di Damecuta was as richly adorned with marble floors, stuccoes, decorative paintings and fine works of art, as the largest among the imperial villas on the island. Anyone reachind the level ground and the Torre Damecuta by the uncomfortable if picturesque mule paths of Anacapri, and even by the short foot path leading from the new carriage road to the ruins, cannot but wonder about the ancient way of approach to the Villa.
Doubtlessly as long as Anacapri was connected with principal centre merely throught a mountain pass and with the harbour only by the so - called "Scala Fenicia" the easiest and quickest approch was from the sea: when the sea was calm a landing was possible at the Punta di Gradola or delle Gradelle where various cleavages in the rock attest the existence of some mooring and landing arrangements; the first resting place was by the small Roman Villa standing above the rocky voult of the blue Grotto, where the emperor could be carried by litter up to the height of promontory and the Villa Damecuta . This was the way that was also used to carry up the materials during the building. The Villa standing on an unsheltered piece of level land , was exposed to the cool westerly winds, and was inhabited mainly during the summer months, for all kinds of official residence must have ceased at the first announcement of the autumn equinoxial storms. Notwithstanding the destructions,the most significant parts of the villa were found to be still well preserved during the excavations, and namelly the building of the Belvedere that stretched along the edge of level ground from one end to the other of the promontory a plan that faithfully reproduced that of the imperial Loggia of Villa Jovis. The most peculiar apartament of the Villa, however, was uncovered under the mediaeval Tower, almost gripped to tha precipitous slope of the headland. There is an alcove under the Tower which is preceded by a vestible and by a belvedere balcony hanging above the abyss; further to the west , under the Loggia, that are two large dwelling rooms. Bearing in mind tha way in which Tiberius managed to confine himself in his private quarters apart from the rest of the Villa, one recognizes in this tiny apartment, the secret refuge Tiberius himself preferred while residing at Damecuta , situed to a dremer of romantic age rather than to an emperor. An unforeseen discovery makes a certainty of this possibility. In the vestibule of the cubicle a fine torso of an ephebic nude has been discovered during recent excavations, representing a Narcissus or a Yakintos. And as both Pliny and Suetonius attest the liking Tiberius had for art and to his habit of adorning his cubicle with victorial and sculptorial masterrpieces, the discovery of the Torso of a youth excellently executed, in the cubicle of imperial villa of Damecuta cannot be ascribed to change. The Villa Damecuta was abandoned before the other villas in Capri. The Vesuvian cinder drift that was banked up against the walls of the Loggia shows that the Villa must have been hit and damaged by the cinders during the eruption of 79 a. D. and abandoned then so as to become slowly a heap of ruins. Above the imperial cubicle a paunchy and stumpy look-out tower was raised and it was hit by the artillery missiles fired by the fleet of Joachim Murat against the barracks of the Englisch troops when Capri was taken in 1808.

How to reach
From Anacapri, Piazzale Cimitero, by public bus or, from Piazza Vittoria, by taxi (10 mins.).
From Piazza Vittoria, follow Via Pagliaro and Via Tuoro (30 mins.).

Historic centre of Capri

This is split up into two built-up areas: one is closed off by Via M. Serafina, Via S. Aniello, Via L’Abate and Via Posterula (small gate), after developing around the Case Grandi (Large Houses) from 1300 onwards; the other, to the north (behind Piazza Umberto I), is much older and developed around the small church of S. Maria delle Grazie (12th centuury), the parish church of Capri until 1556.
From here Via Listrieri (alleyes), Via Li Curti, Via Parroco Canale and Via Le Botteghe branch out, as does Via Longano (from the Greek “longones” = large stones), a road winding its way along the 8th century B.C. megalithic walls.
These two districts consisted of small houses, each with small closed off “corti” (courtyards), usually adjacent to each other and crossed by narrow vaulted streets that could be easily barricaded to keep out Saracen raiders.

How to reach
From Piazza Umberto I.

To lodge in Capri