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Home > Italy Travel Guide > Capri Travel Guide > Villa San Michele

Villa San Michele Travel Guide

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Introduction
History
Location

ATTRACTIONS

Whats to see

INFORMATION

Useful information
Links

Introduction

From Anacapri's Piazza della Vittoria, picturesque Via Capodimonte leads to Villa San Michele, the charming former home of Swedish doctor and philanthropist Axel Munthe (1857-1949). The Villa, has a lovely garden mecca filled with classical statuary. The original history of the villa is described by Dr. Munthe in his book entitled The Story of San Michele, published in 1929.

History

Villa San Michele was built in the 1880s by the Swedish doctor Axel Munthe the personal physician of the Swedish Queen Victoria, Axel Munthe lived most of his life in Italy. His life was enormously diverse and he lived through many adventures and catastrophes, earthquakes as well as cholera epidemics. He managed to fulfill his dreams and build himself a wonderful house on the cliff wall near the Anacpri village on Capri. His house was built on the ruins of another house, once owned by the Roman emperor Tiberius.

Munthe took decades to fill his cliffside aerie with statuary he “acquired” all over the world. He had overwhelming love for the impoverished inhabitants of Anacapri, for whom he was often the only physician. Munthe used the proceeds of his best-selling book, The Story of San Michele to fund bird sanctuaries in Italy. He showed endless devotion and love of for this house, which can see as you stroll through its bright, airy rooms and magnificently landscaped gardens. At his death, he donated the house to the Swedish State, and today it serves as museum and accommodation for artists.

Location

Just a few meters from Piazza Vittoria, Anacapri, at the end of a characteristic shopping street.
Address: Viale Axel Munthe, 34, 80071, Anacapri, Italy.

Whats to see

The villa is set around Roman-style courtyards, marble walkways, and atriums. Rooms display the doctor's varied collections, which range from bric-a-brac to antiquities. Medieval choir stalls, Renaissance lecterns, and gilded statues of saints are all part of the setting, with some rooms preserving the doctor's personal memorabilia.

In an outer corner of the gardens, bright red and yellow tulips gather beneath the dark green laurel trees. “Cypress Lane” leads to the chapel entrance. Munthe brought the trees here from Villa D'Este, in northern Italy, on a night of the full moon, he planted them in two straight rows, and there they flourish today. Just outside the chapel is a small terrace with a large view of the Bay of Naples. The colonnade ends at the “Rotonda”, where you can stand and see the harbor of Marina Grande, or sit and gaze at Axel Munthe's beloved garden. From the Rotonda, a narrow stone staircase leads to the upper chapel, bathed in the warm afternoon sun. An arched passageway leads from the garden to the small cloister, where ivy-covered walls frame the Bay of Naples.

Besides hosting summer concerts, the Axel Munthe Foundation has an ecomuseum that fittingly reflects Munthe's fondness for animals. There you can learn about various bird species found on Capri.

Useful information

Telephone: +39 - 081 - 8371401
Email: assistant@sanmichele.org
Open: May to September: 09.00 - 18.00
October: 09.00 - 17.00
November to February: 09.00 - 15.30
March: 09.00 - 16.30
April: 09.00 - 17.00

Links

Official Website

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