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   The Churchs |
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Church of S. Stefano - Capri It was rebuilt at the end of the XVIIth century on the remains of a church that bore the same name. The original design by the Neapolitan architect F.A. Picchiatti - three naves with a cupola at the intersection of the wings with small cupolas atop the side naves - was reinterpreted and completed by the masterful Marziale Desiderio of Amalfi, who used a free-spirited baroque style, especially in the roofing, where the traditional beaten lapillus technique was used. Points of interest inside include the main altar, with the multi-colored floor made from marble in-lays rebuilt with fragments from the Villa Jovis: in the Chapel of the Rosary, a wood painting from the late XVIth century depicts the Madonna and child together with Saints Michael and Anthony of Padua. According to local legend, this picture, after having been thrown by pirates from the top of a cliff, was miraculously found back in its proper place. The marble flooring is said to come from the imperial villa of Tragara, of which almost nothing is left; the rest of the marble pieces were taken from the Villa Jovis. |
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Church of S. Anna - Capri The basilica-like structure dates back to the beginning of the XIIIth century, while the facade is from the 1600's. The small interior consists of three short naves crossed by arches with raised curves that rest on fragments of Roman columns removed from the ruins of buildings on the island. The byzantine-style apses contain the remains of XIVth and XVth century frescoes. |
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Church of S. Costanzo - Capri |
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Church of S. Sofia - Anacapri Built in the middle ages it was subjected to lengthy reconstruction beginning in the early 1500's. Judging from the varied appearance of the whole as well as the lack of symmetry among the three cupolas there would seem to have been no overall bleu-print. Worthy of note on a minor altar inside the church is a wooden sculpture from the XVth-century Neapolitan school that depicts the Virgin with the dead Christ. |
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Church of S. Michele Arcangelo (or of the earthly Paradise)-Anacapri The church designed around a central lay-out with a cupola and a surrounding octagonal floor-plan that fans out into six radial niches with apses preserves baroque altars in painted wood and a choir also in wood over the vestibule at the entrance. Built in 1719 the church was probably designed by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro and was part of a convent later demolished. Inside is an extraordinary tiled pavement created in 1761 in Naples by l Leonardo Chiaiese a tilemaker from the Abruzzo region. Designed by Francesco Solimena it depicted the biblical episode of Adam and Eve being banished from the Earthly Paradise. |
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Church of S. Antonio - Anacapri Sitting by the last step of the Phoenician stairway, directly over the sea, the little church of Sant'Antonio is tucked into the rock. A low parapet curves around the edge of the diminutive building's front churchyard, providing an extensive, spectacular view. ...A word about the chapel of St. Anthony of Padua, which can be seen, as by the flying bird or from the bottom of the sea, by those who look out of their windows while driving down the automobile road from Anacapri, at the point where that same road cuts by the hard, interminable Greco-Roman stairway... ...Here, for many centuries, wayfarers climbing up to Anacapri would pause to rest, having first placed on the ground the baskets and jars they had been carrying on their heads. R. PANE, 1965 |
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Hermitage and Chapel of S. Maria in Cetrella - Anacapri The small convent was built at the end of the XIVth century by Dominican friars and consists of a small church with adjoining cottages, small monastic cells and panoramic terraces. The late-Gothic motifs are especially noticeable in the extrados roofing made from beaten lapillus that forms an extraordinary set of shapes for an excellent contrast with the rocks in the background. Uninhabited for quite some time, it is opened up on occasion by volunteers from Anacapri. |
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Church of S. Maria of Costantinople - Anacapri Anacapri's oldest parish, the church was built in the XVlllth century, atop an older church possibly dating from the XIVth century. The structure consists of a single nave that sits below two ogival crossings and holds a small pulpit. The facade, topped off by tile churchbell, stands at the far end of a garden once used as a cemetery. |
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