What is Anacapri known for?

Axel Munthe's villa and garden on the Phoenician ledge, built from 1895 on Tiberian ruins, made famous by his 1929 memoir. Island summit at 589 meters reached by chairlift from Piazza Vittoria in about 13 minutes for the widest view on Capri. Greek-era stairway of about 800 steps linking the two communes, the only connection between them until the 1874 carriage road.

Campania · Napoli

Anacapri

The upper half of Capri, 150 meters above its famous twin, where Axel Munthe built Villa San Michele on a Tiberian ruin.

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Nearest hub

6,835

Population

May–Sep

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Anacapri occupies the western, higher plateau of Capri, about 150 meters above the harbour townat the municipal centre and rising to 589 at Monte Solaro. The Ancient Greek prefix ana means up: the name simply says the upper one. Until 1874 the only link between the two communes was the Scala Fenicia, an 800-step stairway built by Greek settlers in the seventh or sixth century BC, not by Phoenicians despite the name. In 1895 the Swedish physician Axel Munthe began building Villa San Michele on the ledge above the steps, on the ruins of one of Tiberius's residences and a tenth-century chapel; his 1929 memoir The Story of San Michele turned the place into a literary destination. The villa's gardens hold a granite Sphinx that looks east over the harbour to Vesuvius. The chairlift from Piazza Vittoria climbs to the summit of Monte Solaro and the highest viewpoint of the island.

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Gallery

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Known for

Villa San Michele
Axel Munthe's neoclassical villa and garden built from 1895 on a Tiberian ruin, with antiquities collection and a granite Sphinx over the harbour.
Monte Solaro
Island's highest point at 589 meters, reached by a 13-minute single-seat chairlift from Piazza Vittoria with the widest views over Capri.
Faro di Punta Carena
Second-tallest lighthouse in Italy, built in 1862 and operational since 1867, at the southwestern tip of the island.
Scala Fenicia
800-step stairway between Capri and Anacapri, cut by Greek settlers in the seventh or sixth century BC, the only link until the 1874 carriage road.
Castello di Barbarossa
Ruined castle at 412 meters above sea level on a spur of Monte Solaro, now an ornithological station for migratory birds.
Casa Rossa
Nineteenth-century red house in the centre of Anacapri, built by American John Clay MacKowen, now a small museum of paintings and Roman finds.

When to visit

Best months · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May, June, September and the first half of October are the months Anacapri stays usable: blue water at Punta Carena, the Solaro chairlift running, and a degree or two cooler than Capri Marina below. July and August bring the day-trippers off the Naples and Sorrento ferries; the centro of Capri saturates by ten and Anacapri carries the spillover by lunchtime. Villa San Michele books out in advance. November through March is winter on the island: ferries thin, Monte Solaro can close in storms, and many small hotels shut. April and late October are the shoulder weeks, mild and quieter, the right time to walk the Sentiero del Passetiello and the Scala Fenicia.