It was rebuilt at the end of the 17th century on the remains of a church that bore the same name.
The original design by the Neapolitan architect F.A. Picchiatti - three naves with a cupola at the intersection of the wings with small cupolas atop the side naves - was reinterpreted and completed by the masterful Marziale Desiderio of Amalfi, who used a free-spirited baroque style, especially in the roofing, where the traditional beaten lapillus technique was used.
Points of interest inside include the main altar, with the multi-colored floor made from marble in-lays rebuilt with fragments from the Villa Jovis: in the Chapel of the Rosary, a wood painting from the late 16th century depicts the Madonna and child together with Saints Michael and Anthony of Padua.
According to local legend, this picture, after having been thrown by pirates from the top of a cliff, was miraculously found back in its proper place.
The marble flooring is said to come from the imperial villa of Tragara, of which almost nothing is left; the rest of the marble pieces were taken from the Villa Jovis.
The basilica-like structure dates back to the beginning of the 13th century, while the facade is from the 1600's. The small interior consists of three short naves crossed by arches with raised curves that rest on fragments of Roman columns removed from the ruins of buildings on the island. The byzantine-style apses contain the remains of 14th and 15th century frescoes.
The church was built between the 10th and 11th centuries on the foundation of an older basilica.
Despite a series of expansions and restorations over the centuries, the original floor-plan, featuring a Greek cross inside a rectangle with 12 columns, has been preserved.
The original columns, some of which were made of ancient yellow and "cipollino" marble, were taken from the nearby imperial villa, the Palace by the Sea; in 1775, four columns were moved to the chapel at the royal palace in Caserta and replaced with granite columns.
The original entryway was on the left side, as demonstrated by the position of the apses and the belltower. In the 14th century, Count Arcucci added a vestibule on the north side and had a new facade put up with a tufa portal, shifting the entryway to a small front churchyard, which was later cut off by the roadway for cars. The church holds the remains of St. Costanzo, Patriarch of Constantinople, who became the patron saint of Capri for the miracles he performed in protecting the population during the many raids suffered by the island at the hands of the Saracen pirates.
Church of S. SofiaBuilt in the middle ages it was subjected to lengthy reconstruction beginning in the early 1500's. Judging from the varied appearance of the whole as well as the lack of symmetry among the three cupolas there would seem to have been no overall blue-print. Worthy of note on a minor altar inside the church is a wooden sculpture from the 15th-century Neapolitan school that depicts the Virgin with the dead Christ.
The church designed around a central lay-out with a cupola and a surrounding octagonal floor-plan that fans out into six radial niches with apses preserves baroque altars in painted wood and a choir also in wood over the vestibule at the entrance.
Built in 1719 the church was probably designed by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro and was part of a convent later demolished. Inside is an extraordinary tiled pavement created in 1761 in Naples by Leonardo Chiaiese a tilemaker from the Abruzzo region. Designed by Francesco Solimena it depicted the biblical episode of Adam and Eve being banished from the Earthly Paradise..
Sitting by the last step of the Phoenician stairway, directly over the sea, the little church of Sant'Antonio is tucked into the rock. A low parapet curves around the edge of the diminutive building's front churchyard, providing an extensive, spectacular view.
...A word about the chapel of St. Anthony of Padua, which can be seen, as by the flying bird or from the bottom of the sea, by those who look out of their windows while driving down the automobile road from Anacapri, at the point where that same road cuts by the hard, interminable Greco-Roman stairway...
...Here, for many centuries, wayfarers climbing up to Anacapri would pause to rest, having first placed on the ground the baskets and jars they had been carrying on their heads.
R. PANE, 1965
The small convent was built at the end of the 14th century by Dominican friars and consists of a small church with adjoining cottages, small monastic cells and panoramic terraces. The late-Gothic motifs are especially noticeable in the roofing made from beaten lapillus that forms an extraordinary set of shapes for an excellent contrast with the rocks in the background.
Uninhabited for quite some time, it is opened up on occasion by volunteers from Anacapri.
Anacapri's oldest parish, the church was built in the 18th century atop an older church possibly dating from the 14th century. The structure consists of a single nave that sits below two ogival crossings and holds a small pulpit. The facade, topped off by a tile church bell, stands at the far end of a garden once used as a cemetery.