All around reigns a horrendous, savage desert of rock. Here are the unique, rocky cones known as the "Faraglioni", unapproachable reefs of more than a hundred feet in height that rise from the sea like pyramids. One of these seems sculptured by the human hand, while another gives the appearance of a fantastic in-lay. Its shadow darkens the sea, making it melancholy, while the other reef is split in the middle by a cavern whose marvellous arched shape allows boats to pass through.
On the peak of the "Faraglioni" rocks are dwarf trees and wild grasses that shake with the wind while a gull lands on the rock or flies about, teaching its young ones to fly.
There they are, not painted but natural, those famous gothic cathedrals that proudly raise from the sea their spires and their arrows..
A. SAVINO, 1926
Malaparte's home, as conceived of by Libera, is a house of rites and rituals, a home that immediately lifts us back with a thrill to Aegean mysteries and sacrifices: an ancient game in the Italian light. It has something to do with the primitives, with their implacable demands.
With stones and leaves that are swallowed up, only to return as sea and sky.
With choosing between good and evil, and with the inevitable pathos of error.
With the emptiness of caverns and the inaccessibility of the sun. With the refusal of abstraction and lyrical enchantment.
And with the dilemmas and problems of our time as well.
J. HEJDUK, 1980
These splendid geological formations undoubtedly the best known feature of the island's jagged form - hold the numerous nests of Capri's large diomedei gulls. The first outcropping (Stella, or "Star ) is joined to the coast and stands 109 m. high; the .second (di Mezzo, or "Middle') is 81 m. high and has a natural tunnel roughly 60 m. in length that passes right through it, the third faraglione (reef), is 104 m. high and inhabited by the blue lizard (lacerta muralis coerulea), now a rare, protected specie.
A fourth faraglione, standing by itself in front of the Port of Tragara, is called the Monacone, named after the sea lion or "Monaca' ("Nun') seal that lived there until the last century.
The remains of Roman structures - which actually consist of an access stairway and a tub for collecting water and raising fish - have contributed to the legend that Masgaba, the African architect of the island's Augustan buildings, was buried there.
The Tragara PromontoryNothing is left of the fabulous imperial villa which, according to Tacitus and later historians was located between the Tuoro and the Unghia Marina, apart from a few artifacts that include a floor (found in 1885), which was subsequently placed in the Church of S. Stefano
Masullo Point and Villa MalaparteDuring a visit to Capri in 1936 the writer and journalist Curzio Malaparte (whose real name was Curt Suckert) bought from the Vuotto family a rugged point near the Faraglioni rocks known as Massullo point and decided to build a summer home. Despite local opposition Malaparte achieved his dream between 1938 and 1939. It was designed by the architect Adalberto Libera and worked on by the masterly Amitrano with Malaparte himself contributing. The now famous work is well-integrated with the landscape with its primitive yet highly modern outline resting on the rock.
Countless famous figures were hosted in the villa a including Moravia Togliatti Jean Cocteau and Albert Camus. At the writer's death it was donated to the People's Republic of China. Later it became the headquarters of a cultural foundation. On occasion it is used for conferences and art exhibits.