Around Anacapri: A Good Walk
Axel Munthe's Masterpiece
From Anacapri's main square of Piazza Vittoria, take Via Capodimonte opposite the seggiovia (chairlift) to Villa San Michele, about a five-minute walk, past a formidable array of garish boutiques, bars, and liqueur factories, all vying to ensnare passersby.
As with many sites on the island, it's best to get to the villa shortly after it opens, or in the early evening when the day-trippers have moved through, to leisurely browse through its rooms and stroll through the gardens and the ecomuseum.
Siren Heights
Retrace your steps to Piazza Vittoria and make for the lower station of the Seggiovia to Monte Solaro. You'll soon be whisked out of town over whitewashed houses and carpets of spring-flowering broom and rockrose to the viewing platform at the top of Solaro.
From here a path leads north downhill toward the sublimely picturesque church of Santa Maria a Cetrella through some of the most beautiful wooded countryside on Capri.
In spring and autumn watch for migrating birds. A splash of yellow combined with an undulating flight could be the golden oriole; the multicolor bee-eater also migrates via Capri in May and September.
On the way back down from Cetrella, follow the signs to Anacapri along Via Monte Solaro (downhill), passing close to the ruins of the Castello Barbarossa and then emerging close to the Villa San Michele.
Anacapri Town
If you have time and energy left over, make for Via Orlandi, a useful street for stocking up on provisions.
Pass the impressive Casa Rossa (Red House), on your right, and then take the next right turn (Via San Nicola) to Piazza San Nicola and the church of San Michele. Climb to the organ loft to savor its magnificent majolica-tile floor depicting the Garden of Eden, then head back to the Piazza Vittoria.
To the Sea
At this point choose between the Belvedere di Migliara and the Grotta Azzurra. A 40-minute walk to Belvedere di Migliara is rewarded with an iconic view as well as the world’s first Philosophical Park. By mid- to late afternoon, the crowds will have vanished from the Grotta Azzurra, at the sea below Anacapri.
Catch the convenient bus that links the town with the grotto and enjoy this fabled sight around 4–5 pm, when connoisseurs swear that the light is best.
Timing
The walk takes approximately four hours, allowing at least one hour for the visit to Villa San Michele and its gardens, and a further two hours' leisurely amble on the round-trip. Add a half hour if visiting the Belvedere di Migliara, as it is off the beaten track.
If armed with a packed lunch, you're most likely to find a picnic site near Cetrella—in attempts to discourage low-spending day-trippers from the mainland, consumption of picnics is made fairly difficult on Capri.
