Capri Mount Solaro - Cetrella

It is the highest place on the island (589 metres above sea level). You can either walk there (by taking the narrow street at the beginning of Viale Axel Munthe) or take the chairlift. The chairlift station is quite near Piazza Vittoria and allows you to reach the top quite quickly while you enjoy a splendid view of Anacapri and the Gulf of Naples. Once you arrive on top you will see a complex of belvederes (with bars and solariums) including the remains of the "Fortino di Bruto", a blockhouse built in the early 19th century during the battles between England and France.

Although the undisputed protagonist of this place is the vast panoramic view going from the gulf of Naples to the gulf of Salerno, passing from the plain of Anacapri, the Sorrento peninsula, and Capri with its Faraglioni. The way back on foot is one of the most beautiful walks on the island. The quite smooth route allows also a visit to Cetrella, where you can admire the lonely church of S. Maria.

Cetrella

The small church of Santa Maria a Cetrella can be rather defined as a hermitage, since, besides the chapel and the sacristy, you find the cells, the wide and well-equipped kitchen, the service rooms and the small garden used by Dominican and Franciscan friars who retreated there in the past centuries. The origins of the place are dated between the 14th and 15th centuries, with subsequent modifications up to 1614-1619.

Through the little entrance gate, a garden with a wonderful terrace overlooking the Faraglioni and serving as a churchyard, through an ogival roofed vestibule you get to the chapel, with its typical roofing made up of four ogival cross vaults converging onto a central pillar. The chapel is divided into two aisles.

Behind one of the two altars is the 17th century sacristy; from the chapel you get to a boxroom, up the steps you reach the cells, one of which has a balcony with a marvellous view, if you go down to the left you get to the kitchen equipped with a wood-burning oven and a water tank, then go out to the small garden behind the building.

Church of Santa Maria a Cetrella

Get information about the opening times of the church (e.g. at the chairlift station) for it is only occasionally open at weekends thanks to the work of a group of anacapresi (people living in Anacapri); it is more likely to be open on May and September Sundays, when services are celebrated.