The square! At three the sun beat down in full force, splashing light over the stone stairway, whose steps, covered with the vases of flowers offered by a travelling peddler, lead to the magniloquent and recently restored cathedral.
To the right, acting as an extension of the street, a terrace ringed by white columns and carrying a sign that points to the entrance of the funicular, dominates the sea.
An old belltower, which wears its clock of blue Faience tile like a monocle, holds a Bourbon crest, as well as the blind windows of unlikely eating establishments. It stood guard at the corner of the terrace, and though massive in size, seemed to stutter while sounding the hour.
The town hall, three cafés, two barbershops, a pharmacist and a vegetable shop with a lady owner and a blackish sign from which red peppers hung all filled the four corners of the square with their white, yellow and pink facades covered with posters.
And all this, amidst the bustle and confusion of beggars, fishermen and chattering housewives, smelled of musk, frying olive oil and garlic.
At that moment the excitement was at its peak, because the steamship had just left for Naples. One found oneself in the first act of Carmen.
J. FERSEN, 1910
The "heart" of Capri is the Piazza Umberto I a small, compact, closed-off square that resembles a courtyard.
Surrounding the square are the 'Torre dell'Orologio', or Clock Tower, which may have been the belltower of the "heart" of Capri is the Piazza Umberto I a small, compact, closed-off square that resembles a courtyard of the old cathedral, plus the municipal offices (located in the rooms of the former bishop's residence), and a series of stores and cafés; the picturesque left side of the San Stefano church acts as a backdrop.
The piazza was probably part of the primitive inhabited area of Capri (5th-6th centuries BC), as shown by a number of sections of wall made from limestone blocks some squared and others formed in the more ancient, pseudo-polygonal-technique. The blocks are visible at the ends of the funicular terrace, having been integrated in the construction of the houses and the medieval walls on the northeast side of the town together with another section of wall on the slopes of the Castiglione hill, and still others that were destroyed in the Roman age, these blocks formed the mighty fortified perimeter of the Greek acropolis.
Gathered around the piazza is the medieval quarter Of significant interest
for its history and layout, it contains an intricate network of small, winding
streets.
The square of the Funicolar: pre-Roman walls.
This is one of the few remains of the most ancient fortifications in the town of Capri; two phases of construction are evident. The oldest consists of a pseudo-polygonal structure, while the more recent made use of square blocks.
Dated by various scholars to 1000 BC, or (by Maiuri) to the 5th and 6th centuries BC respectively, little is actually known about these fortifications, nor have digs or systematic analyses been performed.
In the past, they were made a part of the line of houses on the Via Longano; today they have been almost completely erased by the continuous renovation of the area's housing. They are connected to the belltower and to the town's ancient gate, which is adorned with arches, cross-vaults and fragments from digs while up above stands the plaque dedicated to the American Thomas Spencer Jeremy, a scholar who carried out extensive studies on Tiberius.
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