At Villa San Michele in Anacapri, a splendid residence-museum, the permanent exhibition dedicated to the Marquise Casati, the first “living work of art” of the modern world.

It would be difficult to fully understand Capri’s extraordinary cultural richness without knowing the many illustrious figures who stayed there, even for short periods, from Augustus to Lenin, from Neruda to Scott Fitzgerald.

One of these was Marquise Casati, a key figure of the 20th century in fashion and avant-garde art, anticipating all the socio-cultural trends of our time.

You have to imagine the beauty, the silence, the charm of this house.

(letter of Luisa Casati to D’Annunzio about Villa San Michele)

The Villa San Michele museum, in the heart of Anacapri, is the first art center in the world to dedicate a permanent exhibition to Luisa Casati, housed in a splendid greenhouse-like pavilion nestled in the residence’s garden and open to visitors year-round.

Before becoming Marquise Casati, Luisa was born in Milan into the Amman family, cotton industrialists, from whom she inherited a fortune at just 18. In 1900, she married Marquis Camillo Casati Stampa and, aided by her exuberant and curious soul, inclined to the arts, began a lively social life, guided by an ideal that was revolutionary for the time: to become a living work of art.

Luisa Casati began frequenting the most important cultural salons of the time and, a visionary patron of the arts, had her portraits painted by many artists, from Giovanni Boldini to Man Ray, thus beginning to build her legend, aided by highly original outfits created for her without limits on budget and creativity by the greatest couturiers of the time.

From Paul Poiret—with his Fountain Costume—to Mariano Fortuny—she is said to have been the first to order a Delphos dress in 1909—from Erté to Léon Backst—who would design for her the famous Queen of the Night dress decorated by Charles Frederick Worth.

Her connection to Capri began in 1920, the era when its fame as an Eden for the international jet set began, as a guest of Axel Munthe, a Swedish doctor who had chosen the island as his retreat, building the splendid Villa San Michele there, which the Marchise would later rent.

Luisa Casati would become a fervent participant in the island’s social life, where she would also bring her pet cheetah, from séances to garden parties.

The exhibition is curated by Anna Bergman Jurell and Nils Harning, who also created the stunning mannequins and the dresses they wear, inspired by the wax figures the Marchesa loved to have seated at her dinner tables during social gatherings.

The installation features reproductions of a selection of paintings and photographs depicting Luisa Casati, including famous images by Augustus John, Giovanni Boldini, Man Ray, and Adolph de Meyer, printed on the pavilion’s glass. Luisa comes to life in a video work, projected inside a cylinder, which reflects her legend but also speaks to the loneliness of those who choose a life unconventional.

The exhibition space also features facsimiles of telegrams and letters between the Marquise and Gabriele D’Annunzio, one of her famous lovers, the originals of which are kept at the Vittoriale degli Italiani.

A unique and moving opportunity to immerse yourself in the life of the woman known as the modern world’s first “performance artist.”

The Secret

Marquise Casati will die poor but indomitable in London. Her grave in Brompton Cemetery bears the following inscription from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra: “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.”

Useful Info

Villa San Michele
Viale Axel Munthe 34
80071 Anacapri, Napoli
Tel. +39 081 8371401
For winter opening hours, please visit the Museum website

Full ticket price: €12, including a visit to the Villa Museum