Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Capri Watch
( 081 837 71 48;
www.capricapri.com
;
Via Camerelle 21, Capri Town)
The stunning
selection of watches here are made by local watchmaker, Silvio Staiano. The prices start
surprisingly low, around €40 for a relatively straightforward time piece, spiralling up to
several zeros worth of precious and semi-precious bejewelled little numbers.
WATCHES
Elegantia
(Via Giuseppe Orlandi 75, Anacapri)
Always fancied yourself flouncing around in one of
those sherbet yellow, baby pink or powder blue coloured floppy hats? Then this is the
place to pick one up (€15). The owner can also run up copies of clothing, and do altera-
tions and repairs.
FASHION
CELEBRITY ISLAND
A byword for Mediterranean chic, Capri has long enjoyed a reputation as a celebrity haunt.
The first big name to decamp here was Emperor Tiberius in AD 27. A man of sadistic sexual per-
versions - at least if the Roman author Suetonius is to be believed - he had 12 villas built on the is-
land, including the vast Villa Jovis. He also left deep scars and until modern times, his name was
equated with evil by the islanders. When the Swedish doctor Axel Munthe first began picking about
the Roman ruins on the island in the early 20th century and built his villa on the site of a Tiberian
palace, locals would observe that it was all '
roba di Tiberio'
- Tiberius' stuff.
But more than Tiberius' capers, it was the discovery of the Grotta Azzurra in 1826 that paved the
way for Capri's celebrity invasion. As news of the spectacular cave spread, so artists, intellectuals, in-
dustrialists and writers began to visit, attracted by the island's isolated beauty and, in some cases, the
availability of the local lads. An early habitué, Alfred Krupp, the German industrialist and arms manu-
facturer, was involved in a gay scandal, while author Norman Douglas and French count Jacques
Fersen set all manner of tongues wagging.
The island also proved an escape for Russian revolutionaries. In 1905 the author Maxim Gorky
moved to Capri after failing to topple the Russian Tsar, and five years later Lenin stopped by for a vis-
it.
In the course of the early 20th century, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and German author Thomas
Mann visited regularly, British writers Compton Mackenzie and Graham Greene lived here for exten-
ded periods and Britain's wartime singer Gracie Fields retired here.
