Capri, Ischia and Procida - The Flegree Island

Immediately below Lazio, Campania marks the real beginning of the Italian South or Mezzogiorno. It is the part of the south too, perhaps inevitably, that most people see, as it is easily accessible from Rome and home to some of the Italy's most notable features – Roman sites, spectacular stretches of coast, tiny islands. It is always been a sought-after region, first named by the Romans, who tagged it the Campania felix, or “happy land” (to distinguish it from the rather dull campagna further north), and settled down here in villas and palatial estates that stretched right around the Bay of Naples. Later, when Naples became the final stop on northerner's Grand Tours, its bay became no less fabled, the relic of its heady Roman period only adding to the charm for most travellers.

The islands Capri, Ischia e Procida

Guarding each prong of the bay of Naples, the islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida between them make up the best-known group of Italian islands. Each is a very different creature, through. Capri is a place of legend, home to the mythical Sirens and a much-eulogized playground of the super-rich in the years since – though now settled down to a lucrative existence as a target for day-trippers from the mainland. Visit by all means, but bear in mind that you have to hunt hard these days to detect the origins of much of the purple prose. Ischia is a target for a package tours and weekends from Naples, but its size means that it doesn't feels as crowded as Capri, and plentiful hot springs, sandy beaches and a green volcanic interior make the island well worth a few days' visit. Pretty Procida, the smallest of the islands and the best place or peaceful lazing, remains relatively untouched, even in high season.

Capri

Sheering out of the sea just off the far end of the Sorrentine peninsula, the island of Capri has long been the most sought-after part of the Bay of Naples. During Roman times Augustus retreated to the island's georgeus cliffbound scenery to escape the cares of office; later Tiberius moved the imperial capital here, indulging himself in legendarily debauched antics until his death in 37 AD. After the Romans left, Capri was rather neglected until the early nineteenth century, when the discovery of the Blue Grotto and the island's remarkable natural landscape coincided nicely with the rise of tourism. The English especially have always flocked here: D.H. Lawrence and George Bernard Shaw were among its more illustrious visitors; Graham Greene and Gracie Fields had houses here; and even Lenin visited for a time after the failure of the 1905 uprising.
Capri tends to get a mixed press these days, the consensus being that while it might have been an attractive place once, it's been pretty much ruined by the crowds and the prices. And Capri is crowded, to the degree that in July and August, and on all summer weekends, you might want to give it a miss, though the island does still have a unique charm, and it would be hard to find a place with more inspiring views.

Marina Grande

Marina Grande is almost certainly where you will arrive on Capri, a busy harbour that receives day-trippers on ferries and other vessels before dispatching the onward by bus, funicular or taxi. Beyond the port area and the bus terminal is a sand and shingle beach of mixed quality. It's often crowded but is possibly the easiest place to swim on the island. There are lots of free spots too, though you can pay for the usual facilities if you prefer.

Capri town and around

CAPRI is the main town of the island, nestled between two mountains. It's houses are connected by winding, hilly alleyways that give onto the dinky main square of Piazza Umberto I, or “ La Piazzetta”, crowded with café tables and lit by twinkling fairy lights in the evenings. Don't neglect the maze of charming streets behind La Piazzetta, or the covered walkways up the steps to the right as you enter the square – these lead to the domed seventeenth-century parish church of Santo Stefano (daily 9am-1pm & 4-7pm; free), worth a look for its marble floor, originally from the ancient Roman Villa Jovis and the ruins of the others Tiberian villas.

Certosa San Giacomo

On the far side of town is the Certosa di San Giacomo, a restored monastery with a small collection of 31 metaphysical paintings and five sculptures by Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, a German Symbolist artist who lived on the island until his death in 1913.

Giardini di Augusto

Daily 9am – 7:30pm – Easter to mid – Nov eur.1; mid-Nov to Easter free
Beyond the monastery, on the other side of the island, The Giardini Di Augusto give tremendous views of the coast below and the towering, jagged cliffs above. From the gardens, you can look down on a spectacular zigzag pathway, Via Krupp, commissioned by German industrialist Friedrich Alfred Krupp in 1900 to link the area around the Certosa di San Giacomo, near his suite at the hotel Quisiana, to Mrina Piccola, where he moored his yacht. It's often closed these days, due to the danger of falling rocks.

Belvedere del Cannone

Up above the Certosa, and a further pleasant walk fifteen minutes through Capri Town, the Belvedere del Cannone has marvellous views, especially over the Faraglioni rocks to the left and Marina Picola to the right.

Villa Jovis

(Via Tiberio – Mon & Wed-Sun; April-Oct 9am-6pm;Nov-March 10am-2pm – eur.2, free first Sun of the month – From the Piazzetta take via le Botteghe, followed by Via Fuorlovado and Via Croce, than head up to the head up to the end of Via Tiberio).
It's a steep forty-minute hike uphill to the ruins of Villa Jovis, on the eastern edge of the island. It was here that Tiberius retired in 27 AD, reportedly to lead a life of vice and debauchery and to take revenge on his enemies, many of whom he apparently had thrown off the cliff face. You can see why he chose the site: it's among Capri's most exhilarating, with incredible views of the Sorrentine peninsula, including the Amalfi Coast, and the bay; on a clear day you can even see Salerno band beyond. There's not much left on the villa, but you can get a good sense of the design from the arched halls and narrow passageways that remain.

Villa Fersen

Via Lo Capo- May-Oct Tues-Sun 10am-6pm- Free (081 838 6111)
A short detour on the way to the Villa Jovis (and an easier and shorter walk from Piazza Umberto), there's another villa; the more recent Villa Laysis, known to locals as Villa Fresen after Count Fresen-Adelsward, a somewhat dissolute, gay French-Swedish writer who built the house in the early 1900s. The building's empty now, but his location is amazing, and the echoing rooms and panoramic terraces retain a pungent atmosphere, with a handful oh photos taken here of the count and his friends and lovers.

Arco Naturale and Grotta Matermania

A 25-minute stroll from Capri Town takes you to the Arco Naturale, an impressive natural rock formation at the end of a high, lush valley – follow Via Botteghe out of La Piazzetta, then branch off up Via Matermania after ten minutes or so. You can get quite close to the arch owing to the specially constructed viewing platforms. Just before the path descends towards the arch, steps lead down to the Grotta di Matermania, ten minutes away down quite a few steps – a dusty cutaway out of the rock that was converted to house a shrine to the goddess Cybele by the Romans. Steps lead on down from the cave, sheer through the trees, before flattening into a fine path that you can follow to the Belvedere Di Tragara, affording some of the island's best views along the way, and, eventually, back to Capri Town – reachable in about half an hour from the belvedere.

Marina Piccola

Buses from Capri town run to Marina Piccola, or you can walk, following Via Mulo from Via Roma, or taking Via Krupp; either way takes about 20min
A small huddle of houses and restaurants around patches of pebble beach, Marina Piccola is reasonably uncrowded out of season, though in July or August you might as well forget it. This is the one place on the island where you can rent Kayaks (about 15 eur./h) and do a circuit of the island – about a five-hour trip, including stops and swims.

Anacapri and its surroundings

The island's other main settlement, ANACAPRI, is more sprawling than Capri itself and less obviously picturesque, trough quieter and greener. Its main square, Piazza della Vittoria, is flanked by souvenir shops, bland fashion boutiques and restaurants decked with tourism menus – Capri without the chic.

San Michele

Piazza San Nicola – Daily: April-Oct 9am-7pm; Nov-March 9.30am-3pm -eur.2
A short walk from Piazza della Vittoria down via G. Orlandi, the Church of San Michele is one of Anacapri's two principal sights. Its tiled floor is painted with an eighteenth-century depictions of the Fall that you view from an upstairs balcony – a lush work after a drawing by the Neapolitan painter Solimena, in rich blues and yellows, showing cats, unicorns and other creatures.

Villa San Michele

Via Axel Munthe 34- Daily: March 9am-4.30pm; April & Oct 9am-5pm; May-Sept 9am-6pm; Nov-Feb 9am-3.30pm-eur 7 (081 837 1401, www.villasanmichele.eu)
It's a short walk from Piazza della Vittoria, past a long gauntlet of souvenir stalls, to Aaxel Munthe's Villa San Michele, a light, airy house with lush and fragrant gardens that is one of the highlights of the island. A nineteenth-century Swedish writer an physician to elite, Munthe lived here for a number of years, and the place is filled with his furniture and knick-knacks, as well as Roman atefacts and columns plundered from a ruined villa on the site. There's also an attractive, small natural history exhibition in the gardens, which fills you in on local flora and fauna.

Monte Solaro

Piazza Vittoria- Daily: March & April 9.30am-4pm; May-Oct 9.30am-5pm; Nov-Feb 9.30am-3.30pm- eur. 7,50 one-way, 10 return. www.capriseggiovia.it – The chair lift takes 12 min; hiking up takes 1hr30min, or it's around 1h downhill.
A chair lift runs from Piazza della Vittoria up to Monte Solaro, the island's highest point (596m). There's not much at the top – a ruined castle and café – but the ride and the location are very tranquil and the 360-degree views are marvellous – perhaps the bay's very best.

The blue Grotto

Daily 9am-1h before sunset, bet closed in bad weather- Rowing boat into the grotto plus admission eur.13,50- some round- island excursions include the Grotto, or you can take a boat from Marina Grande eur.12 (10 min), or a bus from Anacapri's Piazza della Vittoria (every 20 min; 15 min); alternatively, it's a good 45 min hike from Anacapri, starting off down Via Lo Pozzo.
The Blue Grotto, or Grotta Azzurra, is probably the island's best-known feature – thought also its most touristy, with the boatmen here whisking visitors onto boats and in and out of the grotto in about fivr minutes flat. It's best to plan a visit in the morning, as it's more likely to be closed after 1pm due to high tide.
People enter the grotto in tows, and you have to duck below its low opening. Once you're inside, the grotto is quietly impressive, the blue of its innards caused by sunlight entering the cave through the water.

Ischia

Largest of the islands in the bay of Naples, Ischia (pronounced iss-kee-a) rises out of the sea in a series of pointy green hummocks, with the cone of a dormant volcano in the center. German, Scandinavian and british tourists flock here in large numbers during peak season, attracted by its charming beach resort and thermal springs. Although its reputation has always been poorer than Capri's – it is perhaps not so dramatically beautiful – you can at least be sure of being alone in exploring part of the mountainous interior, and La Mortella, the exotic garden cultivated by the British composer William Walton and his wife Susana, is an unmissable attraction. Indeed, if you're after some beach lounging, good walking and lively nightlife within striking distance of Naples and the rest of the bay, it might be just the place.

Ischia Porto and Ponte

The main town of Ischia is ISCHIA PORTO, where the ferries dock, an appealing stretch of hotels, ritzy boutiques and beach shops planted with lemon trees and Indian figs fronted by golden sands: Spiaggia San Pietro is to the right of the port, accessible by following Via Buonocore off Via Roma, while the Spiaggia degli Inglesi, on the other side, is reachable by way of a narrow path that leads over the headland from the end of Via Iasolino. Apart from sunbathing the main thing to do is to window-shop and stroll along the main Corso Vittoria Colonna, either branching off to the other part of Ischia's main town, ISCHIA PONTE (also reachable by bus #7), a quieter and less commercialized Oct 10.30am-12.30pm & 3-7pm; July & Aug 10.30am-12.30pm; eur.3; www.museodelmareischia.it), which traces the community's seafaring roots with ancient, barnacle-encrusted pottery retrieved from the sea and samples of marine fauna.

Castello Aragonese

Ischia Ponte- Daily 9am- sunset- eur 10 (www.castelloaragonese.it)
Accessible from Ischia Ponte via a short causeway, the stunningly distinctive pyramid of the Castello Aragonese was one of the backdrops in the film The talented Mr Ripley. The citadel itself is rather tumbledown now and some of it is closed to the public, but below is a complex of buildings, almost a separate village really, around which you can stroll by way of olive-shaded paths and lush terraces. There's the weird open shell of a cathedral destroyed by the British in 1806, a prison that once held political prisoners during the Unification struggle, and the macabre remnants of a convent, in which a couple of dark rooms ringed with a set of commode-like seats served as a cemetery for the dead sisters – placed here to putrefy in front of the living members of the community. Two café- restaurants offer plenty of shady spots to enjoy the stunning views; the rest of the convent has been converted to a rather nice hotel.

Casamicciola Terme

The island is at its most developed along its northern and western shores. Heading west from Ischia Porto, the first village you reach, CASAMICCIOLA TERME, is a spa centre with many hotels and a crowded central-beach – though you can find a quieter one on the far side of the village. Ibsen spent a summer here, and the waters are said to be full of iodine (apparently beneficial for the skin and the nervous system).

Lacco Ameno

LACCO AMENO is a bright little town, with a beach and spa waters that are said to be the most radioactive in Italy. It's known for the 10m-tall offshore tufa rocks, affectionately nicknamed Il Fungo, and The Museo Archeologico di Pithecusae, housed in the eighteenth-century Villa Arbusto just above the centre (Tues-Sun: June-Sept 9.30am-1pm & 4-7.30pm ;Oct-May 9.30am-1pm & 3-6.30pm;eur.5; 081 333 0288 www.pithecusae.it). The museum's most celebrated piece Is the Coppa di Nestore (Nestor's cup), engraved with a light-hearted challenge to the cup mentioned in Homer's Iliad.

La Mortella

Via Francesco Calise 39- End March to early Nov Tues, Thurs, Sat & Sun 9am-7pm-eur.12; concerts including gardens visit eur.20 (081 986 220, www.lamortella.org) bus #CS from Ischia Porto, Casamicciola and Lacco Ameno, or #CD from Forìo- ask the bus driver to drop you off; taxis from Forìo or Casamicciola cost about eur.10; free parking at upper entrance, in Via Zaro.
The stunning garden of La Mortella is one of the Ischia's highlights, created by the English composer William Walton and his Argentinian wife Susana, who lived here until her death in 2010. The Waltons moved to Ischia, than sparslay populated and little known to tourist, in 1949. With the garden designer Russel Page, they created La Mortella from an unpromising volcanic stone quarry.
Paths wind up through the abundant site, which is home to some three hundred rare and exotic plants. Near the entrance is a glasshouse sheltering the world's largest water lily, while above the glasshouse in charming terraced tearoom, where the strains of Walton's music can be heard. There's also a museum, which shows a video about the composer and features portraits by Cecil Beaton, a bust by Elizabeth Frink and painting and set designs by John Piper. Paths loop through luxuriant foliage to the memorial to Susana Walton and, beyond, the pyramid-shaped rock that holds Walton's ashes, a cascade guarded by a sculpted crocodile and a pretty Thai pavilion surrounded by heavy-headed purple agapanthus. At the garden's summit, a belvedere provides superb views across the island.

Forìo

The growing resort of FORIO sprawls around its bay, and is quite pretty behind a seafront of bars and pizzerias, focusing around the busy main street of Corso Umberto. Out on the point on the far side of the old centre (turn right at the end of Corso Umberto), the simple Chiesa Soccorso is a bold, whitewashed landmark from which to survey the town. There are good beaches either side of Forìo: the Spiaggia Di Chiaia, a short walk to the north, followed immediately by the Spiaggia di San Francesco (both buses #1, #2 or #CS); to the south Cava del Isola, popular with a young crowd; and the Spiaggia di Citara, a somewhat longer walk to the south along Via G. Mazzella (both bus #2).

Sant'Angelo and its surroundings

Ischia is most pleasant on the southern side, its landscape steeper and greener.
SANT'ANGELO is probably its loveliest spot, a tiny fishing village crowded around a narrow isthmus linking with a humpy islet that's out of bounds of buses, which drop you right outside. It's inevitably quite developed, centring on a harbour and square crowded with café tables and surrounded by pricey boutiques, but if all you want to do is laze in the sun it's perhaps the island's most appealing spot to do so. There's a reasonable beach lining one side of the isthmus that connects Sant'Angelo to its islet, as well as the nearby stretch of the Spiaggia dei Maronti. 1km east, which is accessible by plentiful taxi-boats from Sant'Angelo's harbour (around eur.5), or on foot about 25 minutes – take the path to the right from the top of the village. Taxi-boats will drop you at one of a number of specific features: one, the Fumarole, is where steam emerges from under the rocks in a kind of outdoor sauna, popular on moonlit nights. About halfway up the Spiaggia dei Maronti, a path cuts inland through island, used since Greek times (mid-April to mid-Oct daily 8.30am-6pm; swim and sauna eur.12, treatments eur. 10-47; ( 081 999 242, www.cavascura.it).

Monte Epomeo

Buses #CD and #CS regularly stop at Fontana; alternatively, you can drive to within a 20min walk of the summit.
Up above Sant'Angelo looms the craggy summit of Ischia's now dormant volcano, Monte Epomeo. It's a superb bus ride up to the small village of FONTANA, from where you can climb to the summit. Follow the signposted road off to the left from the centre of Fontana: after about five minutes it joins a larger road; after another ten to fifteen minutes take the left fork, a stony track off the road, and follow this up to the summit – when in doubt, always fork left and you can't go wrong. It's a steep climb of an hour or so, especially at the end when the path becomes no more than a channel cut out of the soft rock. At the summit, there are two terraces. One holds a church dedicated to San Nicola di Bari, built in 1459; on the other terrace, there's a scenic café (March-Oct; lunch only).

Procida

A serrated hunk of volcanic rock that's the smallest (population ten thousand) and nearest island to Naples, Procida has managed to fend off the kind of tourist numbers that have flooded into Capri and Ischia. It lacks the spectacle, or variety of both islands, though it compensates with extra room and extra peace. For the most part, Procida's appeal lies in its opportunities to swim and eat in relative peace.

Marina Grande

The island's main town, MARINA GRANDE, where you arrive by ferry, is a slighty run-down but picturesque conglomeration of tall pastel-painted houses rising from the waterfront to a network of steep streets winding up to the fortified tip of the island – the so-called Terra Murata. Part of this was once given over to a rather forbidding prison, now abandoned, but it's worth walking up anyway to see the abbey church of San Michele (Mon 10am -12.45pm, Tues-Sat 10am-12.45pm & 3-5.30pm; eur.2 donation expected), whose domes are decorated with a stirring painting by Giordano of St Michael beating back to the Turks from Procida's shore. The views, too, from the nearby belvedere are among the region's best.

Corricella

The island's most atmospheric spot, CORRICELLA featured as a lost-in-time island town in the Oscar-winning film Il Postino. A picturesque little harbour overlooked by pastel-painted houses, it's known as the “Borgo Pescatori” as it's still used by local one of the restaurant tables that line the waterfront.

The beaches

There are beaches in Marina Grande, on the far side of the jetty, and, in the opposite direction, beyond the fishing harbour, though there are better options elsewhere. Spiaggia Chiaia, just beyond the fishing harbour of nearby Corricella and reached by 186 steps, is a reasonable bathing beach but can get crowded, buses #L1, #L2 and #C1 stop nearby. If you want to swim you're better of marking the fifteen-minute bus journey (#L1 or #L2) from Marina Grande to Chiaioella, where there's handful of bars and restaurants around a pleasant, almost circular bay and long stretch of sandy beach that is the island's best.