Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Piazza Umberto I
Located beneath the clock tower and framed by see-and-be-seen cafes, this showy, open-
air salon is central to your Capri experience, especially in the evening when the main
activity in these parts is dressing up and hanging out. Be prepared for the cost of these
front row seats - the moment you sit down for a drink, you're going to pay handsomely
for the grandstand views (around €6 for a coffee and €16 for a couple of glasses of white
wine).
PIAZZA
Villa Jovis
(Jupiter's Villa; 081 837 06 34; Via Amaiuri; adult/reduced €2/1; 9am-1hr before
sunset)
East of the town centre, a comfortable 2km walk along Via Tiberio, Villa Jovis is
sure to capture your imagination. Standing 354m above sea level, this was the largest and
most sumptuous of the island's 12 Roman villas and was Tiberius' main Capri residence.
Although reduced to ruins, wandering around will give you a good idea of the scale on
which Tiberius liked to live.
This vast pleasure complex famously pandered to the emperor's saucy desires, and in-
cluded imperial quarters and extensive bathing areas set in dense gardens and woodland.
Spectacular but hardly practical, the villa's location posed major headaches for Tiberi-
us' architects. The main problem was how to collect and store enough water to supply the
villa's baths and 3000-sq-metre gardens. The solution they eventually hit upon was to
build a complex canal system to transport rainwater to four giant storage tanks; you can
still spy the remains clearly today.
The stairway behind the villa leads to the 330m-high Salto di Tiberio (Tiberius' Leap),
a sheer cliff from where, the story goes, Tiberius had out-of-favour subjects hurled into
the sea. True or not, the stunning views are real enough; if you suffer from vertigo, tread
carefully.
A short walk from the villa, down Via Tiberio and Via Matermània, is the Arco Nat-
urale - a huge rock arch formed by the pounding sea and another great photo opportunity.
HISTORIC BUILDING
Chiesa di Santo Stefano
(Piazza Umberto I; 8am-8pm)
Overlooking Piazza Umberto I, this baroque 17th-cen-
tury church boasts a well-preserved marble floor (taken from Villa Jovis) and a statue of
San Costanzo, Capri's patron saint. Note the pair of languidly reclining patricians in the
CHURCH
