Capri
Discover Capri
A concise introduction to Capri, its geography, history and culture.
Introduction
Capri is an island of about ten square kilometres in the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the southern edge of the Bay of Naples. Around fourteen thousand people live on it, in two separate towns: Capri, above the main harbour, and Anacapri, higher up and historically almost a separate community.
Boats arrive at Marina Grande, and a funicular climbs from there to the Piazzetta, the small square that functions as the island’s social centre. Anacapri sits several hundred metres higher, reached by a road of hairpins built only in the 1870s — before that the connection was a staircase cut into the rock.
Almost the entire economy is visitors, and the island receives many times its population every summer day. What is less obvious from the harbour is how quickly that thins: the walking paths, the far end of Anacapri and anywhere above about two hundred metres stay comparatively empty even in August.