TEMPUS Magazine redefines time, giving you a glimpse into all things sophisticated, compelling, vibrant, with its pages reflecting the style, luxury and beauty of the world in which we live. A quarterly publication for private aviation enthusiasts.
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ager who throws over his life in London to live in Capri and swears to commit suicide when his money runs out. But years of indolent island living sap his willpower, and he spends his last days in poverty and degradation. The character was based on Maugham's lover, John Ellingham Brooks, who came to Capri as part of an exodus of homosexuals from England in the wake of Oscar Wilde's conviction, in 1895, for "acts of gross indecency." Brooks, however, escaped the fate of Maugham's character by marrying a Philadelphia heiress who, though she quickly divorced him, left Brooks an annuity that allowed him to spend out his days on Capri, playing the piano and walking his fox terrier. After World War II, the island provided the setting for a string of movies, including the romantic comedy It Started in Naples (1960), starring Clark Gable and Sophia Loren. In the most enduring, Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt (1963), a bikini-clad Brigitte Bardot plunges into the crystal blue sea from the rocks beneath the breathtaking Villa Malaparte, built between 1938 and 1942 by proto-Fascist poet Curzio Malaparte. Today the island is more popular than ever, as shown by its two million visitors annually. Residents are worried. "Once, visitors would rent a villa and stay for a month," says bookshop owner Ausilia Veneruso. "Now they come for only two or three CONQUERING CAPRI Capri can be a bewildering place for frst-time visitors. In summer, throngs of day-trippers arrive by ferry at the Marina Grande and food Capri Town, getting lost in the maze of crooked lanes that were designed to confound marauding pirates; the most famous lookouts over the Fareglioni, the trio of giant rock spires jutting out of the Mediterranean, can feel as crowded as a Shanghai train station. If at all possible, stay overnight on the island. Even better, remain several days. The extra time allows you to explore the more remote recesses of the island, revealing why Capri has bewitched writers throughout history, from the ancient Roman poet Statius to Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. 70 Tempus-Magazine.com . Summer 2013 days, or even worse, come as i giornalieri, day-trippers. And Capri is a very delicate place." The infux has led to overfshing and overdevelopment. Still, peace and solitude can be found, even in summer. "This is the land of Homer's 'Odyssey' and Virgil's 'Aeneid," says Capri admirer Bo Parrish, who has descended a bougainvillea-lined stone path to arrive at La Fontelina beach club, an especially ethereal spot to sun and swim. "Among modern luxury and natural beauty, you are in the home of the gods. Viewing the scenery from here must be to experience what that English poets meant by the Romantic." Most tourists cluster around the marinas and piazzas, leaving miles of coastal hiking trails virtually empty. And after the day-trippers leave in early evening, even Capri Town appears much the same as it did when Gable watched Loren sing "You Wanna Be Americano" in a nightclub. Out of fear of being disappointed, I delayed my visit to the Blue Grotto, which has become a symbol of Capri's overcommercialization. Hundreds of boatmen ferry tourists in and out of the sea cave in a perfunctory parade. Finally, I took a bus to Tiberius's Villa Damecuta and descended the cliff steps to sea level. At 7:00 p.m., after the commercial boats stop working, a number of intrepid tourists swam into the grotto, ignoring the posted signs warning against it. I joined them and plunged into the waves. After swim- VILLA DAMECUTA VILLA SAN MICHELE VILLA LYSIS VILLA JOVIS Anacapri MATERMANIA Capri ISLE OF CAPRI HOTEL QUISISANA GARDENS OF AUGUSTUS VILLA MALAPARTE ITALY 0 1/2 1 MILES MAP BY DANIELLE JET T