10 July 2009

Alex Munthe on Capri

Axel Munthe's The Story of San Michele is briefly mentioned in the introduction to Allan Massie's "Tiberius: The Memoirs of the Emperor", the Roman History Reading Group's current read. Munthe was a Swedish doctor who built a villa on Capri, on what was allegedly the site of one of Tiberius's villas, in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. He left the house and his collection of antiquities to the Swedish state on his death in 1949, by which time it had become famous due to Munthe's 1929 book. It is one of Capri's major tourist sites, attracting fans of the book, and those wanting to see the collection, and the famous gardens and views. (photo of Alex Munthe from wikipedia is in the public domain)







The villa has its own website and is naturally featured on Capri tourism websites (for example capri.net and capri.com) as well. (photos of Villa San Michele are from wikicommons and are used courtesy of a Creative Commons licence.)

A long rambling review of Munthe's book, with copious quotations.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The Book is only the begining of a most beautiful place I ever visited. Those who read the book "The Story of St. Michele" must visit the place. Congratulations to those who show this masterful place.