Capri Geography

Capri is limestone, geologically part of the Sorrentine peninsula rather than volcanic like Ischia and Procida to the north. It is about six kilometres long and three wide, and the coast is almost entirely cliff: there is very little flat ground and hardly any sand.

Two high points divide it. Monte Solaro, above Anacapri, reaches 589 metres and is the island’s summit; Monte Tiberio at the eastern end is lower, at about 334 metres, and carries the ruins of the emperor’s villa. The saddle between them holds Capri town.

The Faraglioni are three limestone stacks off the south-east coast, detached from the cliff by erosion; the outermost has an isolated lizard population that is locally distinct. The Blue Grotto on the north-west coast is a sea cave whose colour comes from sunlight entering through a second, submerged opening below the entrance.

There are no rivers. The rock is karst, so rainfall drains straight through it, and water supply has always been the island’s structural constraint.