Villa San Michele

Villa San Michele, in the northeast part of the small town of Anacapri, and with a spellbinding view of the Gulf of Naples, was built by the Swedish author and physician Axel Munthe in the last part of the 19th century. 

When Munthe bought the land, 327 metres above sea level, it was already terraced, perhaps a remnant of the imperial Roman villa that once stood here. This was a structure that he kept, while also preserving the ruins that are still visible in the garden. 

There were also remains of a mediaeval church, which was rebuilt to its present form. 

On the balustrade that overlooks the sea, in front of the chapel, a three thousand year old Egyptian sphinx contributes to the garden's almost metaphysical atmosphere. 

The garden spirals gently upwards, removed from the crowds of visitors and tourists that overflow other corners of the island, in this way offering a reflection of the romantic and symbolic taste typical of this period.

Behind the garden lies the Monte Barbarossa, a mountain along with the thousand-year ruins of a fortress, Castello Barbarossa, which Munthe turned into a sanctuary for migratory birds.

This includes an ornithological station, strategically placed at midpoint between the tropical winter and their nesting areas in Sweden and around the Baltic Sea, offering the birds a place to rest without risking harm from humans. 

The way that the house and garden invites all of nature’s elements is Villa San Michele’s most striking feature, described in Munthe’s book The Story of San Michele as, ''I want my house open to sun, wind and the voice of the sea, as a Greek Temple, and light, light, light everywhere!” 

The pergola is where Munthe would dine when entertaining guests, the gentle breeze and fresh air creating a sense of liberation and relaxation, offering close contact with the star-filled skies and salt ocean winds. 

After one such evening, Swedish sculptor Carl Milles wrote that the pergola was, “the most beautiful expression of the infinite” that he had ever experienced. 

What he referred to was the deliberate curved shape of the pergola, an architectural trick that makes it appear almost endless, as you can never see both ends at the same time. 

In the garden, Munthe mixed Mediterranean flora with plants from other continents that would thrive in the particular microclimate that Anacapri offers. 

The rarities include Kochia Saxicola, a plant in danger of extinction, and that only survives in Capri and Strombolicchio.

The garden ends with an avenue of thirty cypress trees, stretching from the chapel down to the sarcophagus by the exit. 

The trees were brought here from Villa d’Este in Tivoli, and while Munthe lived here, he would walk up and down this part of the garden, hoping to cure his insomnia this way. 

Villa San Michele

Anacapri, Italy