From Augustus to Tiberius, from Lenin to Neruda, from Countess Casati to Scott Fitzgerald, many famous figures have lived on Capri, leaving behind an incredible cultural legacy. Let’s discover an itinerary of its museums, restaurants, and most beautiful places, guardians of the island’s artistic soul.

Capri, “queen of rock”, as Pablo Neruda called it in his famous verses, boasts a beauty that’s hard to conquer and makes it impossible to forget. Yet its very beauty and sophistication risk overshadowing the profound social impact it has had on European history and the extraordinary museums it offers.

So let’s discover its cultural side, as profound and vivid as its sea and cliffs, truly surprising for a tiny island of just 10 square kilometers.

It can be said that there is no place on the island, from Via Krupp to Villa San Michele, that is not linked to the name of an illustrious character. (Raffaele La Capria)

Our cultural guide to Capri begins with its most recently established museum: the Certosa di San Giacomo, the oldest building on the island. It served as a convent, prison, and high school, before becoming an exhibition center in 2024, housing the Capri Archaeological Museum and the Diefenbach Museum.

Here, the exhibition “The Island of the Caesars. Capri from Augustus to Tiberius” is currently on display, showcasing 120 Roman artifacts, including sculptures discovered in the Blue Grotto and precious silverware that testify to the luxury of the imperial villas.

It was precisely during this era that Capri’s greatness began, chosen by Augustus and Tiberius as a “buen ritiro,” thanks to which it became the beating heart of the Roman empire, welcoming embassies and hosting prominent figures. This was also due to the island’s location at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Naples, which made it a key stop on Mediterranean maritime traffic routes.

From the Certosa, you can stroll to the Gardens of Augustus, marvelous flower-filled terraces overlooking the Faraglioni rocks of Capri, created in the early 20th century by industrialist Friedrich Alfred Krupp, who had fallen in love with the island (after the war, the gardens were renamed by the municipal administration in honor of the Roman emperor). Here, you can still admire the two spectacular marble lions commissioned by Krupp for his villa (which he never built) and a curious monument in honor of Vladimir Lenin, who spent a long period here in 1908 as a guest of the Russian writer Maxim Gorky.

Lenin is just one of the illustrious figures who lived on Capri in the early 1900s, when, during the Belle Époque, after years of pirate invasions and ecclesiastical intrigue, it became a favorite destination for intellectuals and artists in Europe.

After seeing the plaque on the house in the center of Capri where Lenin lived, you can make a reservation at Luce (open only for dinner), an excellent restaurant that debuted on the island in 2025; at Aurora, a 120-year-old hotspot for his Dolce Vita and all the international celebrities who frequented it; or at Concettina ai Tre Santi, the famous pizzeria in the Rione Sanità district of Naples, another opening in 2025. You can also, of course, enjoy a coffee or breakfast in the legendary Piazzetta at Il Piccolo, one of its most beloved “salons” where you can enjoy a “view” of the island’s social life.

Our itinerary continues, about a 30-minute walk from the center (Capri is almost entirely pedestrianized, unlike Anacapri, which can be reached by one of the traditional convertible taxis), towards Villa Lysis, built in 1904 by Baron Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen, who chose Capri as his home and where he often invited illustrious guests drawn by his parties and lifestyle, dedicated to beauty and entertainment.

The villa, built by architect Édouard Chimot, best known as an illustrator and painter, embodies everything its owner loved: classical inspirations such as Ionic columns and golden mosaics, Art Nouveau decorations, and oriental touches, such as in the smoking room, the so-called “Opium Room.”

From Villa Lysis, you can visit the Natural Arch, a Paleolithic sculpture, the remains of a deep, lofty cavity that was originally underground and, after a landslide, was exposed. A few minutes’ walk away, you can reserve a table overlooking the sea at Le Grottelle, one of Capri’s few exquisitely authentic restaurants, originally located in ancient caves carved into the rock. It is still run by the extraordinary Vuotto family.

Back in the Piazzetta, a taxi ride awaits us, followed by a visit to Villa San Michele in Anacapri, another marvelous residence born from a love for Capri and the fruit of a great dream.

The Villa was built by the Swedish physician and writer Axel Munthe—personal physician to Queen Victoria of Sweden—beginning in 1895, on the ruins of an ancient 10th-century chapel dedicated to Saint Michael. It became the embodiment of his ideal of a Greek home and temple, symbolized by the curious sphinx (reportedly from a temple of Isis in Benevento) gazing out to sea.

Villa San Michele, as strongly desired by its superintendent and honorary Swedish consul on the blue island, Kristina Kappelin, is also an important center for disseminating the history of Capri and the personalities who made it famous.

Here, in fact, is an exhibition, the first permanent one in the world, dedicated to the Marchesa Luisa Casati, who lived at Villa San Michele for long periods. She was one of the first socialites, It girls, or today we would call her an art influencer, and tomorrow who knows, famous for being portrayed by all the great artists of the era, from Giovanni Boldini to Man Ray.

At Villa San Michele, you can also take a break, lunch, or aperitif at its beautiful Billy’s Bar, named after Axel Munthe’s wine-loving monkey, which offers a wonderful view of the sea.

For dinner (by taxi or, for the more energetic, by descending the 921 steps of the Phoenician Staircase, a Greek masterpiece), the must-visit is Da Paolino, a true Anacapri institution. Originally a tavern and bocce court in the 1930s, it later became the first renowned restaurant outside the historic center. Paolino had the vision to adorn it with hundreds of lemon trees and tables made from Singer sewing machines in the 1980s.

And for accommodation, two addresses in the center of the island: La Minerva, a typical and elegant Capri home of the Esposito-Cannavale family, and the Tiberio Palace, a 5-star luxury hotel founded in 1917, famous for its Bellevue Suite, one of the most beautiful on the coast and the only one on Capri with a fitness area, outdoor dining room, and heated pool, totaling 250 square meters.

And before leaving Capri, you can’t miss a lunch at La Fontelina, a beach resort overlooking the Faraglioni since 1949 that has embodied the island’s iconic imagery around the world, an open-air museum of its Dolce Vita, past, present, and future.