Villa San Michele

Villa San Michele. Expected stay : 1 hr

''My house must be open to the sun, to the wind, and the voice of the sea, just like a Greek temple, and light, light, light everywhere!".
Axel Munthe

Villa San Michele was built on the ruins of an ancient chapel dedicated to Saint Michele. It previously belonged to Alex Munthe: philanthropist, doctor and artist. Nowadays, it is a museum with an amazing terrace overlooking the sea. While visiting Villa San Michele, you can enjoy the various relics that Munthe collected from around the world.

Useful information
Ticket price: €7
Hours: open every day from 9:00 a.m. to one hour before sunset
Official website: www.villasanmichele.eu
Phone: +39 081 8371401

There is a bar and cafe here if you are in need of a scenic pit-stop.

Getting there from Capri:Take the bus or a taxi to Piazza Vittoria in Anacapri. Take the stairs opposite the bus stop, and continue left.

About it:
"My home shall be open for the sun and the wind and the voices of the sea - like a Greek temple - and light, light, light everywhere!" This is

how Axel Munthe described Villa San Michele, his beloved home on the island of Capri.
The Swedish physician chose the most scenic spot on Capri to build his villa, northwest of Anacapri and 327 meters above sea level on the spot where there was once an Imperial Roman villa and a Medieval chapel dedicated to Saint Michael.

Munthe dedicated much of his life to the construction of the villa and surrounding gardens. At the time, the countryside around Capri was strewn with the remains of Roman villas, pieces of marble columns and statuary buried just underneath the top layer of soil. The islanders who worked the land called these finds Tiberius' things and began giving them to the transplanted physician, who added them to his collection of Roman, Etruscan, and Egyptian artifacts accrued during his frequent travels.

Included among the more important works visitors can view at Villa San Michele are the head of Medusa and the marble bust of the Emperor Tiberius which once adorned the temple dedicated to Venus and Rome, sacred Medieval art, Tuscan furnishings from the 1700s, Roman frescoes and statues, a marble table decorated with Cosmatesque mosaics, a Sicilian lamp in wrought iron, and an Egyptian sphinx, which has become the symbol of Axel Munthe's residence and is placed in one of the most panoramic spots in all of Villa San Michele.

The surrounding gardens are lush with Mediterranean flora, including camelias, hydrangeas, beautiful rose bushes, and pine and cyprus trees. This is encircled by a white, trellis-covered colonnade, characteristic of the island's villas. From the garden, the view over the Gulf of Naples is unforgettable. Today, Villa San Michele is a museum open to the public and in the summer season hosts a music festival, the Concerti al Tramonto.

The story of the villa's construction is told by Munthe in his best-selling book, "The Story of San Michele", one of the most widely translated books in the world.