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Villa San Michele is a residence located in the municipality of Anacapri, on Capri island, realised next to an ancient medieval chapel dedicated to San Michele. The swiss doctor Axel Munthe bought it in 1895 and while refurbishing it discovered in the vine yard the ruins of an ancient roman villa, from which he took the findings to decorate the building. When he died in 1949 in Stockholm, he left the villa to the Swedish State who transformed it into a museum. The garden of the convent or cloister is one of the most interesting environments and it is next to the statues’ gallery. Both the form and the name remind of the monastic environment and the white walls with ceramic tiles on top take inspiration from islamic architecture. The collection of the museum represents different cultures from 1250 a.C. to the beginning of the 20^th century. The collection is formed by 1647 objects, of which a quarter are antiquities. The Egyptian sphynx is another object of interest. It is made in red and black granite of the times of Rameses II ant it is located in the chapel’s loggia. There are also Etruscan collections composed of religious art and a utensil collection. The documents and personal effects of Axel Munthe are present in the collection, such as his medical instruments and the manuscript of his well-known book “The Story of San Michele”.

THE GARDEN AND ITS PLANTS

The garden of the villa is located on a terracing 300 meters above the sea level and with a view on the gulf of Neaples and the peninsula of Sorrento with the Vesuvio on the background. The colonnaded loggia finished in 1900 is the masterpiece of the villa with its wisterias (Wisteria sinensis), cypress alley. Vases, amphoras and other artistic objects are present everywhere. Camelias, cinerarias, azaleas, wisterias, hortensias, roses, African lilies and hundreds of Mediterranean and exotic plants blossom depending on the season. Acanthus, broom trees, cistuses, myrtles are some examples of the spontaneous plants present in the garden. Pines, palms and cypresses (Cupressus semprevirens) are some of the most present tall trees.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)