Capri Island
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CAPRI ISLAND Capri town is very chic with shops, hotels and restaurants lying along winding streets. The main square, Piazza Umberto I, has a pretty white church and several open-air cafes where you can sit and watch the world drift by. Leading off the square are medieval looking alleyways and arcades full of shops selling the handicrafts of the island, clothing, jewelry made from coral and gold, shoes and ceramics. Admire the colorful gardens of Augustus overlooking the famed Faraglioni Rocks and Marina Piccola where Gracie Fields once lived. There is so much to see and do on this tiny island paradise that you will be sorry to leave. Anacapri is on a high plateau above Capri town, with the two towns linked by a zigzag road down the cliffs. Axel Munthe, resident in Anacapri in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (whose memoirs are a good preparatory read), wrote that he encountered Anacapri villagers who had never been to Capri, and vice versa. The two settlements are historic rivals and even nowadays they have completely different atmospheres and attractions. Anacapri is peaceful, residential, and still feels like a village, while Capri is expensive and full of smart hotels. Piazza Umberto I, better known as the Piazzetta, is a surprisingly small little square enclosed within ancient edifices and dominated by the profile of the island's Monte Solaro. In the past, the Piazzetta was home to a lively fish and fruit market - that was until 1938 when the young islander, Raffaele Vuotto, opened a bar here and arranged a few small tables and chairs outside, where customers could relax over a cup of coffee or glass of wine. A number of his fellow citizens soon followed suit, and from that moment on, the Piazzetta became the heart of Capri's social life, so much so that, in no time at all, the square earned itself the label of “salotto del mondo" (the world's sitting room). .