Villa San Michele The villa is situated on the north-eastern slope of Anacapri, 327 meters above sea level. In ancient times the villa of a Roman Emperor was situated here, the remains of which were preserved by Axel Munthe and which can still be viewed in the gardens. In the grounds there are also the ruins of a mediaeval chapel which has not gone untouched by fate; it was rebuilt by Munthe into what is today known as the Chapel of San Michele. The villa itself incorporates . a simple peasant house. These buildings were Munthe's home from 1896 to 1910. The evocative architecture was intended to form a framework around Munthe's collection of relics and antiques whilst simultaneously emphasising the beauty of the surroundings. The buildings and the arrangement of the collections were created in a symbolic, romantic style according to the ideas of the turn of the century. The collections in the museum are varied. The classical items are Roman, Etruscan and Egyptian. Some of the constructional details of the building are believed to date back to the emperor's villa in ancient times. A number of the items have different origins and according to Dr. Munthe some of them were acquired under unusual circumstances. For example, in his book he gives a description, which fires the imagination, as to how the head of the Medusa appeared before him like a camel at the bottom of the ocean. The most well-known items, apart from the head of the Medusa, are the mosaic table, the marble bust of Emperor Tiberius and the Egyptian sphynix. In general it can be said that the collector's items are representative of funerary art of a high standard and include items of interior decoration of different origin and from different epochs of time. A number of interesting Mediterranean plants can be seen in the gardens, as well as some which originally come from other latitudes. The view from the gardens is one of the most expansive views which opens out over the Bay of Naples. It is worth noting the coordination and alignment of the gardens, the architecture and the respective collections. The creation of San Michele began with the purchase of land in 1895. Axel Munthe was his own architect. The architecture which opens freely toward the sky, the ocean and all of nature is striking, and as Munthe declared in a manifesto in his book: "My home shall be open in order to let in the sun, and the wind, and the voices of the ocean, like a Greek temple, and there shall be light, light everywhere!" These words reflect a sentiment that all those who are born in the Nordic countries recognise. But the light became too strong for Munthe's eyes. Almost blind, he was forced to move, about 1910, to a considerably darker house in Anacapri. The villa was sporadically used thereafter by guests and patients. During the 1950s and 1960s a number of new buildings were constructed for guests. The Barbarossa Mountain To the south of the built up part of the San Michele complex, lies the enormous Barbarossa Mountain which towers about 80 meters above the level of the villa. The area is an important resting place for migrating birds on their way from Africa to the most northern regions of Europe. At the top of the mountain are the ruins of a castle (Barbarossa) from the time of the crusades. Ornithological research is presently conducted on the mountain by experts from the Swedish bird station in Ottenby in collaboration with the Istituto Nazionale di Biologia della Selvaggina in Bologna. The Barbarossa area includes a number of interesting and rare plants which belong to the mediterranean vegetation. With due respect to these conditions, as well as to the tremendous importance of the area for ornithological research work, the Foundation has gained an informal recognition of the area as an Italian nature reserve signing an agreement with the WWF. The Story of San Michele is generally considered biographical in its presentation, though the book gives little information about Munthe's private life. The book consists of a number of loosely interwoven short stories recounting, amongst other things, how his special haven was created. There is an air of romanticism over the narrative, frequently interspersed with light humour, which contributes to the enormous popularity of the book and which has aroused interest in the Villa San Michele. In the preface to a later edition, the author explains that much that is divulged in the book lies within the sphere of no-man's land, between reality and fantasy which is difficult to define. The book was first published in the English language in London in 1929 and was followed by a number of further issues, of which eight were in braille. CapriOnLine Network