There have been very few exceptions; for Jackie Kennedy but she had married the President of United States, for Princess Soraya, but she had been the Shah of Persia’s wife. Otherwise, only stars and only international stars.

First as Kennedy widow,and later on as Mrs. Onassis, Jackie would walk through the Piazzetta to go to La Parisienne where Adriana Settani made Capri pants she adored: She ordered them in dozens. Her holidays in Capri were i no way inferior to those of a movie star.

Instead, Ingrid Bergman‘s presence on the island caused no sensation as, more recently happened to Gwyneth Paltrow, in Capri for an advertising campaign and to Barbara Streisand, hiding behind huge sunglasses,

Brigitte Bardot, seemed unimpressed by Capri glamour after the shooting of some scenes of Le Mepris by Jean-Luc Godard at Villa Malaparte, she strolled the island barefoot, with ruffled hair and a bold and unsociable attitude. She challenged the Piazzetta ‘s bars customers by pretending not to notice anyone.

On the contrary, Rita Hayworth and Sofia Loren,who were both well-disposed towards fans, were given a triumphal welcome from the Piazzetta. Rita Hayworth was much more than an actress, a celebrity or even a movie star. She was he symbol of beauty,of femininity,the object of desire of any man in the world. From Europe to Japan to Brazil, she was known as the “bombshell”.

Her likeness was placed on the first nuclear bomb to be tested as the Bikini Atoll. Nobody could have been sexier than Rita with her head of long flowing red hair, singing Amado Mio in black satin and elbow-length gloves as in the Gilda movie. Tanned to perfection, curly hair and simple blue and white polka dress, she disembarked from the yacht on which she had toured the Mediterranean sea alongside with her new husband, the prince Ali Khan, and went shopping on the island.

A very young Sofia Loren, in Capri for the movie “It started in Naples “, would have gone unnoticed—she arrived on a rainy day and stormy seas wearing a common raincoat, her head covered with a scarf like an ordinary woman-had she not been with the “King of Hollywood,” Clark Gable. His presence and the fact that the film director had set the entrance to the movie’s Belmonte Hotel in the Piazzetta, earned her the patron’s ovation.

Ingrid Bergman had the misfortune of appearing in the Piazzetta while a band was playing “The Power of Destiny”: at the time the scandal aroused by the divorce from her husband to marry Roberto Rossellini was on everyone’s lips. She took it laughingly.

Julie Christie was noticed when she won the Academy Award for the film “Darling” shot in Capri. During the day she was discretion personified. She had not attracted criticism as Brigitte Bardot, nor mockery as Zsa Zsa Gabor. She gained the locals’ belated esteem.

Many of these events were known among local people living in the island. One of them is Silvana De Gennaro whose father Antonio de Gennaro, was a paparazzo and a shop called Photo Azzurro. With the years he grew into being Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ s official photographer. When I asked him on an interview how he got the indisputable title he told me that after aggressively taking a shot of the widow walking down the street, Jackie got upset and threw her shoe at him.

I could not believe what I had just heard… I then asked what did he do after that? He answered, “Well, I threw the shoe back at her!” Still surprised with the story I let him carry on: “She then became more upset than ever and asked me in English, why?- And my answer was that she like me was a journalist and if she recalls she met the president of United States taking a picture of him.” Apparently she smiled and they became good friends, whenever Jackie would go, her photographer was behind her watching her back.

It’s with these and stories that Silvia De Gennaro and her brothers grew up helping manage in 1978 their father’s store and founding 30 years ago the Optical Capri snc. And as a creative result of this whole atmosphere Silvia founds the incredibly chic and exclusive eye-wear line named after the images she constantly had in mind.” Capri People“.

Based on artisan’s quality and originality, conveying and bringing in mind the charme and elegance of the 60′s she took most of the inspiration from her father’s collections of authentic photographs, storytelling and most of all his vintage glasses he would preciously keep in his store over time.

Accurate design and up to-date daring bright colors of red, green, gold, are revived by chromatic contrasts of their excellent quality polarized lens coming from the most prestigious laboratories in the North of Italy and preciously handcrafted and mounted is small ateliers with limited productions near the city of Venice.

Not to miss your own customized initials or name if you prefer, on the selected model. It will cost you an extra hundred Euros and a few weeks wait but think carefully…

Feeling like a star protected under the sun, is a all together a total different point of view!

Joelle’s Tips:

The Eyewear:

Capri People – First class : Via delle botteghe,27, Capri tel + 39 081.8379977- Fax + 39 081 837 9977 for info and orders: opticalcapri@email.it

Via Alabardieri,16-Napoli

Tel/Fax + 39 081 407343- Italy – email:info@capripeople.it

Photo Services in Capri: Photographic Services Capri: Foto Azzurro-Via Vittorio Emanuele ,50-80073 Capri -Tel.: (+39) 0818370956

Source:

Photography courtesy AD Capri edition 1988 – Divine place- Roberto Ciuni- Capri- semestrali di moda, Eventi e Lifestyle

Capri, is rocky mountain rising from the sea, dotted with developed areas and villas shrouded in the typical Mediterranean vegetation. The isle was once part of the mainland.

A slow erosive process has allowed the sea and the Sorrentine Peninsula to squeeze in. But it also caused the formation of free-standing rocks and spectacular natural marvels–from the Faraglioni to the many caves which have carved their way through the mountainside. This morning, I decided to call Giuseppe, the marinaio (sailor), and take a typical Capri Gozzo boat, to search for the most impressive and must-see caves of the island.

It’s 10 o’clock in the morning and the sun’s rays are already strong. The sea is calm today, a perfect day to boat around, says Giuseppe. Our plan is to meet in half an hour at the restaurant Luigi down to by the Faraglioni. Like every morning, the most enjoyable moment of the day, is the walk in the woods, surrounded by the Bouganvillae, the elegant hotel roofs of Via Tragara and the views over the yachts in the blue sea framed by a forest of stunning Pinus Haleppensis trees.

Giuseppe is waiting. Another boat is coming from the local Market in Naples with fresh mozzarella balls made early this morning, San Marzano tomatoes, fruit, white wine, fresh basil, brown Italian bread and the rest is for the restaurant. All in the small boat we are now ready to explore.

Grotta Bianca.

Grotta Bianca is accessible from the sea and consists of two small basins communicating on the surface through a channel dug in the rock. The channel is said to have been built by the Romans and was used to hide boats during pirate raids. We decide to jump into the water. The second basin is amazingly opalescent owing to the mixing of sea and spring water. Giuseppe laughs.

Grotta Meravigliosa.

Grotta Meravigliosa was inaccessible until 1901 when two Englishmen built an artificial gallery and a staircase from which one can admire a series of oddly shaped stalactites and stalagmites. The temperature difference inside varies greatly: it is cold even in the summer. The cave creates a natural platform, which extends for twenty meters and narrows into an uphill passage. We continue our boat tour and, after a while, we pass the Faraglioni and head for the bay of Marina Piccola.

Grotta dell’Arsenale e dei Santi

At the foot of Torre Saracena right under the famous Via Krupp, we found Grotta dell’Arsenale, the name comes from from its military use during the Middle-Ages (there is a popular belief that it was also used recently as a shipyard). Certainly, in ancient times, a slipway was built to beach the boats, but there are no ruins proving any kind of human activity. Grotta dei Santi (The Saints’Grotto) gets its name from erosion of the calcareous material and the action of the seawater that formed various shapes resembling religious statues. We pass Marina Piccola and Punta Ventroso and reach the beautiful Grotta Verde which spreads open before us.

Grotta Verde

Grotta Verde displays a complex structure: in addition to Grotta Verde, (it takes the name from the color taken on by the sea corssed by light filtering through two openings an exceptional chromatic effect.), many are the surronundings karstie caves: Grotta Ruoffolo, facing the eastern entrance: Grotta Rossa ,which owes its name to the red algae: Grotta dello Champagne located between the Grotta Verde and the Grotta Verde accessible only by the sea and distinguished by a jet of water similar to the one produced by champagne. We leave such an amazing view in search of something possibly more spectacular. A few kilometers from the port, we enter a small opening and cannot believe our eyes

Grotta Azzurra

Grotta Azzurra is an old-age karstic cave which became enlarged from landslides and has a partially submerged opening to the sea caused by brady seism. This prevents the direct sunlight from coming in and the water is lit from below, from and underwater opening 18 meters high, that makes the water and the cave walls and vault acquire their characteristic blue coloring. If we immerse an object in the water,it takes on a silvery nuance because of the air bubbles sticking to the object’s surface having a refractive index different from water’s let light out. The legend has it that, in Tiberius‘s days the Blue Grotto was used as a sea Nymphaeum, that is was inhabited by Nereids, mermaids and even devils who scared away whoever tried to get in.

The waters were refreshing, so was the wine; Giuseppe prepared the most amazing Panini Capresi. After lunch, the best thing to do after so much exploring, was to take a long nap in the sea breeze and dream about the immense rainbow of blues, greens and turquoise––with the sea rocking me gently like the song of a siren in the tranquility in our dolce-far-niente afternoon.

Joelle’s Tips:

The Gozzo Boat with sailor:

Capri Relax Boats – Via Cristoforo Colombo, 64 – Marina Grande Capri -Tel: +39 081 8374559 – + 39 081 8377528 – www.caprirelaxboats.com – info@caprirelaxboats.com – For special requests : Mr Costantino +39 33 56675626

The Restaurant:

Da Luigi ai Faraglioni:
Via Faraglioni, 5 80073 Capri( Napoli) Tel: +39 081 8370591 – Fax : +39 081 8376113 daluigi@hotelcertosella.com – www.hotelcertosella.com

“When I wake up the dream comes true.” –  Sunday

Luigi, the hotel concierge, booked me for everyday at Luigi (so many Luigis in this country) by the Faraglioni Rocks as well as at the Fontellina baths for lunch. In case I am on the boat, he says, the reservation stays. My secret admirer, the Latin speaker, swims in these waters on weekends. He justifies his speaking to me in Latin by saying that by having “Piu lingue che anni” (more languages than years), I should be able to understand him. After having my early morning Espresso Macchiato and a croissant at Bar Tiberio in the Piazzetta, I start walking the path of my Caprean routine, established over the years.

From the Piazzetta, I pass the legendary Grand Hotel Quisisana which has been synonymous with super luxurious elegance since its establishment in 1845. I give a quick glance over to the right corner of my favorite lingerie store, Intimissimi, thinking I must not forget to stop in after a day at the beach (I could do very well with just jewelry, high heels and lingerie), and turn on to Via Camerelle, one of the most prestigious streets in the world, where glamorous stores like Gucci, Missoni, Loro Piana, Pucci and Hermes open their doors for a procession of princes, actors, and sheiks.

On Via Camerelle, I suddenly hear a voice behind me: “Signorina! Signorina lei e la signorina Joelle?” (Miss! Are you miss Joelle?) I answer affirmatively to a man with white hair who is running out of (the not yet opened) world-famous, handmade sandal store Canfora. These exquisite sandals have been worn, among others, by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Grace Kelly, and Maria Callas. He catches up to me and says: “Your Brazilian friend, Bette Arbaitman, left last night to Brazil, and told me to tell you that she misses you, and asked me to make the sandals of your choice as a gift to ‘her sister’  — which is you of course!”

I don’t have to tell you how my day is starting: I pick the most adorning colors of shining stones that vary from pink to emerald and with a touch of blue, matching my recent ring acquisition at the “Emperor” making sure my feet will look exactly like a Bollywood actress on vacation to this sophisticated island from India. I kiss Mister Canfora who — I don’t know how — has unmistakably recognized like a “Divina “ (star), and head to Via Tragara as fast as my Brazilian Havaianas can take me, the sun is strong and rising quickly–I cannot miss any of it.

The atmosphere slowly changes to a potpourri of perfumes and flavors. The sea can be seen through trees as well as the white rooftops of various Islamic or Christian dome elements. I’m walking again. A refined erotic and alluring setting of panoramic views only found in Alma-Tadema paintings (he also stayed in Capri) are meticulously taken in by my eye and camera. Every element is filtered with the bright light and colors immortalized by artists, intellectuals, poets and writers in their works . Pablo Neruda in 1952 wrote from Erwin Cerio’s white bungalow over a cliff the “Captain Verses” in a moment of full poetic tension and contemplative ecstasy to the great love of his life, Matilda Urruia. The story is personified in the 1994 Italian movie Il Postino.

I can understand how the people of Capri cannot resist of getting rid of their old habit of having the light of sunrise in their eyes, the hour that enrolls the thoughts like the sugar of a special liquor. On the small path descending to Luigi, I realize that among fences and secret gardens, the ambiguity of human feelings held hostage and the embrace and the desire to be set free…

It’s only the force of nature that imposes the solemnity of a reflection; the world cannot be betrayed when a solemn moment like this one is sweet, and — breathing, the path is getting steeper — my feet in one thousand steps are reaching the Faraglioni Rocks. A small pergola of a roof filled with scarlet Bouganvillae and white jasmine is the sign that I have arrived at my destination, the dark blue morning sea.

Far away, I can see my small green striped mattress waiting on a rock that has waited for me even longer. Constantino (I always call him Agostino) has put a fresh assortment of white towels and a large bottle of San Pellegrino water in a large ice bucket. And — who knows — the wind too may have risen with a song for me that only the sirens know how to sing…

Just wait a minute… Who is this rising from those deep blue waters with a warm smile?

Joelle’s picks:

The music: Sunday, by Nikonn /Huvafen Fushi Maldives: Mixed by dj Ravin limited edition on iTunes http://www.dancetracksdigital.com/search/full.php?FULL=74381

The book: The Captain Verses , Pablo Nerudahttp://www.amazon.com/Captains-Verses-Pablo-Neruda/dp/0811215806

The hotel: Grand Hotel Quissisana : Via Camerelle, 2 Capri / Tel:+ 39 0818376080 http://www.lhw.com/property.aspx?propertyid=131&Ext=Gqssana&gclid=CI-DrqKj-o0CFRnOXgodknozN

The stores: Canfora Capri Sandals :Via Camerelle, 3, Capri / Tel +39 081 837 0487 www.canforacapri.com

Lingerie: Intimissimi :http://www.intimissimi.com
Design : Daniela di Stefano Capri Home Interiors : Via Roma,80073 Capri / Tel : +39 081837 8463
Slave Sandals : Schettino calzature hand-made:Via Roma,53/57, Capri / Tel :+39 0818370946
Rare Books : Libreria La Conchiglia, Via delle Botteghe,12, Capri /Tel : tel. +39 081 837 6577 – fax +39 081 837 9989http://www.laconchigliacapri.com/

Shining white, Pompeian red, colonnades, vaults and secret gardens are found in Capri’s most fascinating villas, where famous guests relax gazing at the astonishing blue sea waters under bright sunshine. In the name of poetry or lofty laziness, the historical villas of Capri recall the life, joy, love stories and sufferance of the great from the time of the Romans to today. Augustus was a regular

Villa Jovis one of the 12 villas built by the emperor Tiberius and at the same time a fortress and a palace was built exploiting the natural slopes of the ground to give its visitors a sense of superiority and inaccessibility,  7,000 square meters on a cliff 354 meters above the sea and offering a breathless view of the Gulf of Naples to the visitor’s eyes when strolling the 90 meter loggia.

It is also in Capri, the oasis of pleasures where everything is licit, that the dream of the refined aesthete, the wealthy baron Jacques Fersen D’Adelsward, (1880-1923, related paternally to Axel von Fersen, a count who had a relationship with Marie Antoinette) Villa Lysis, takes shape.

Built also in an alluring setting of mount Tiberius, and “to live in beauty” was the Baron, attempting to calm the harsh treatment he suffered in Paris from the merciless scandal of being arrested on the very day of his engagement to the daughter of Viscount de Maupeou and thrown in a cell with charges of soliciting young males.

While his house was under construction, he went to Ceylon with some friends and here he discovered the sensual pleasures of opium. On his way back, the man who wanted to live in total beauty met a young laborer named Nino Cesarini onthe streets of Rome. The baron easily gained favor with the family of the ephebe, who followed him to Capri where he would receive an education and keep his company. Nino became his personal assistant and faithful lover. The young laborer from Rome became the object of his desire, the living statue of the temple he was building, the companion of a long and happy love story. In fact he lived the love story in the complete promiscuity of the island.

Fersen completed his ‘sanctuary’ in honor of the adolescence of love, built right on the cliff under Villa Jovis, the ancient residence of Tiberius. The splendid Neo-Classic building was called Villa Lysis in honor of the young friend of Socrates mentioned by Plato in the Dialogue of Friendship (Lysis). A monument in the name of love and his wounded ego. “If I were to built a city or simply a villa, I would do it to host poets, especially the maudit ones.” Inside, he built a little pagan temple with a statue of Narcissus, for which Nino posed as model. In the basement, Jacques built the famous “Chinese Room” where he kept the world’s most beautiful collection of opium pipes bought from the Emperor of China.

From 1905 to 1914 the owner of Villa Lysis lived a life of total pleasure, a poet with great ambition yet with poor skills who invoked the sky to grant him genius and glory, even if he knew he would never receive it. Only in his Chinese room the dream would become true. After another scandal — in Capri this time at the Grotto Mitra, the god without a woman, a mock sacrifice was emulated where Nino played the victim. It happened that such shocking performance was witnessed at dawn, by the daughter of the councilor who was mowing the grass and caused — after many rumors describing Tiberius representation of the worst orgies and dissoluteness — the baron to leave the island for a while putting down the scandal before it rose.

Soon the First World War broke out. On his return to Capri, opium had already become the support of Jacques’ life. A former sergeant from the 19th Infantry rejected him for “toxicomania” on a medical examination, obliged him to close Villa Lysis and enter the international hospital in the Vomero quarter (Napoli) where he experienced the horror of detoxification while Nino went to the front. Considered incurable, he went back to Capri where he started to smoke opium again, but this time mixed with cocaine. His poor health did not stop him from publishing, at his own expense, a new series of poems on opium. Fersen–  missing his long time and irreplaceable relationship with loyal Nino, who returned with a two point cross from war and noticed he was quickly replaced by a younger love Manfredi — felt that death was near and recalled his friend Oscar Wilde’s thought: “We must leave before the dream ends.”

One evening, in company of Nino and young Manfredi, all dressed in Thai pink silk sarongs –in a corner of the Chinese room, alone — he dissolved 5 grams of cocaine in his drink and drank it all at one go. He only had time to hand to Manfredi the the golden box containing the powder before he died.

It was in November 1923 that Nino and Manfredi led the funeral cortege that took Jacques to the cemetery down by the Marina. The baron Jaques D’adelsward had devoted all his life to freedom, beauty and pleasure.

In his villa, he carved a in a black marble slab the title, “Amori e dolori sacrum” in honor of the “adolescence of love.” He understood the charm of a young face, the real value of a benevolent look and the sweetness of innocence. He pursued D’Annunzio ‘s dream to live an inimitable life, he tried to do in the Modern Capri of the 19th Century, yet never achieved it, as he could not stop time.

My friend is calling me. My mind is still traveling the century while my eyes rest on this breathless view of  an emerald green sea. With its imposing and inexhaustible charm, I am bewitched by its grandeur and sensation of pleasure, its fairy-tale image of purity in the essence is the source of my inspiration…

My souls is at rest.

“I am coming… I am coming… what’s the pasta for lunch today at Luigis?”

Joelle’s Picks:

The book: la jeunesse d’amour – Villa Lysis a Capri: 1905-2005 #221 – AA.VV.

The Store: Libreria delle Edizioni la Conchiglia /Via Le Botteghe, 12 – 80073 CAPRI (NA) – tel. +39 081 837 6577 – fax +39 081 837 9989

The Place: Villa Lysis / Guided tours 80073 Capri (Napoli)
Ph. +39 081 8377878
Mob. +39 329 1115749
info@capriguideservices.com

The “place” perched on a cliff above busy Marina Grande port is called J.K Place. It’s apparently an outpost of a stunning J.K. Place boutique hotel already existing on Piazza Santa Maria Novella in Florence, idealized by Israeli Italian developer Ori Kafri in 2003, whose interiors and lifestyle concept are also designed by Bonan. His idea, the experience of spending time at J.K. Place boutique hotels is like being a guest in a house, in your house, with your own friends and help.

I arrive at six o’clock for the aperitivo (cocktail) dressed in a Pucci long cotton dress, invited by some girl friends from New York that I run into coincidentally at the Napoli aliscafo (ferry) on our way to the island, They were all staying at the J.K! Michele Bonan’s idealistic spell was already taking it’s course.

It’s now what the French call “L’Heure Blue” – the blue hour — that interval between sunset and the night, on the Mediterranean, it lasts more than an hour, sometimes two, everything looks blue, suave, nostalgic, mellow. It’s a feeling of a glorious day of sunshine slowly passing by, giving way to something yet unknown, the depth of a darker night, maybe the one of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel: Tender is the Night.

J.K Place welcomes my senses as I arrive at the elegant entrance hall, holding on to the railway of a Chinese motif staircase heading to the seaside terrace overlooking the Capri Bay. Feeling like a sophisticated and tanned woman from 1950′s American aristocracy, While waiting for my American friends in the hallway surrounded by tons of Phalaenopsis orchids, framed photos of vintage yachts, and white silk curtains, I notice a library at the end of the hall filled with books of tasteful art, architecture and photography. On my right hand side is a communal breakfast table. Very chic.

Finally, in the living room I realize my New York girlfriends got acquainted with some exquisite and charming young Mexican women whose friends knew my friends here in Capri. We say it’s a small world, but no, there are no coincidences. Everything is meticulously planned to the smallest detail; from the bottle opener to the universal law of attraction gathering brand-weary travelers thirsty for a new Dolce Vita moneyed with melancholy but with an awareness of simple values of true elegance and of what could be a simple “seaside perch.”

The Mexican, American and Brazilian women are now all together for the drink on the terrace. Soon we were all going to meet Italian hosts and the hotel owner for dinner. Laughing about our experiences with men, career, family and children, interspersed with text conversation with other friends spread all over the world who were obviously participating with us in our newest BlackBerry Curve, and special summer white leather edition Vertu phones, we realized that we were basically all the same. We wanted the same things, we promised each other to meet in New York, Playa del Carmen, Paris, Angra dos Reis.

One of us rushed to Verena Fiori, the welcoming Brazilian hotel manager and asked if Mr. Kafri had plans to open in any of those places so we could ask our Vertu Concierge to book in advance before those openings.

Ori Khafri — his name means my light in Hebrew — is arriving, and he is smiling. His plan went right.

Joelle’s Picks:

The Hotel: J.K Capri, Via Prov. Marina Grande, 225,8007 Capri,( Na) Italy / tel: +39 -081 8384001 http://www.jkcapri.com/home_ing.php

The Book: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald /download in pdf http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/tender//

The Music: Good Morning Blues, Billy Holiday, The complete Columbia recordings http://www.amazon.ca/Good-Morning-Blues-Complete-Recordings/dp/B00011V8D6

The Shopping: Pucci Boutique, Via Caramelle, 65 / Tel:+ 39 081 838 8200

“Ergo coge mori qvam sine te vivere coges”

(You force me to die because you force me to live without you)

This is the text I received on my BlackBerry when I got on the plane at Naples airport, leaving the unforgettable island of  Capri at sunset that afternoon.

The day I arrived I spent with my friends — a wonderful day on their boat — and on my way to the hotel near the Piazzetta, thinking how desperate I was to get into a fresh shower and use the restroom, I suddenly hear myself shamefully scream out loud in front of two pieces of jewelry quickly seen through a glass window.

I Immediately above the store window,  trying to recognize some kind of a brand and read the following name: Imperatore di Capri. The Capri Emperor? I tell my friends, “Yes I need to go to the restroom but please meet me at the Gelateria. I have to check something out, it will take me just a minute.”

“Buon giorno signore,” I say. Tony Modestini, the owner of this Pompeian red antique store, immediately recognizes my Brazilian accent and starts telling me that his father was with Pietro Maria Bardi the curator of the Sao Paulo legendary Masp, but whatever this Tony says, I only want to know about the rings I saw on the window. “Miss, I must tell you that you are stepping on a floor of marble used in antique Roman palaces, don’t you see the Breccia Verde at your feet? What about the Porfido Rosso from Egypt and the Africano from North Africa? This Roman bust is the god Apollo in marble from Tunisia. Perhaps you did not notice the coral collection from Murano,  “Signor Tony, please I have got something urgent to do at my hotel could I pleeease see those rings in the window?”

I finally touch what my fingers needed to feel around them. After having spent a never-ending day on the deep indigo blue waters of the island of Capri, I realize there is something between heaven and the sea, that the emperor Tiberius walking with his loyal companion, the astrologer Thrasyllos from Rhodes around the pine trees of his beloved Capreae often asked himself looking at the sea “Quid sirenae cantare sint solitae?” (What do the sirens sing?). And the difficult question for centuries since Homer placed the malicious enchantresses in one stage of Odysseus‘ journey home, is still unanswered, the myth arcane and indecipherable.

Mister Tony does not dare to interrupt my deep thoughts; he knows for a fact that tonight I will be wearing — like a muse — something that will enchant the one that wrote those words in Latin on my phone. The romantic icon of dangerous seductiveness coming from far in the antique Capreae is in the air today and certainly with me after sunset.

I now leave Tony Modestini’s store smiling while looking for a Nutella chocolate ice cream so I can be brought back gently to reality in the name of the otium cum dignitate! ( Leisure with dignity)

Joelle’s picks:

The store: Imperatore di Capri, via Roma 55-80073 Capri/www.imperatoredicapri.com

The music: Circie, Ursula Rucker, Jazzanova Mix, album: Departure Lounge part one http://www.33rpm.com/index.php?page=detail&id=3193

The lyrics: http://feelsmusic.com/ursula-rucker-circe-jazzanova-mix

The book: Franz Kafka’s selected Stories, The Silence of the Sirens /http://www.bradcolbourne.com/silence.txt

The boat Ride: Capri Relax Boats Via Cristoforo Colombo 34- Marina Grande. Tel : 39 81 837 4559/ www.caprirelaxboats.com