Between the second half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, a large and anomalous colony of wealthy foreigners was formed in Capri. Among them there were bankers, entrepreneurs, artists, eccentric types, lesbians, pederasts, femmes fatales, opium smokers…
These people, dazzled by the beauty of the place, made it their home, building charming villas and in many cases even reserving a place at the cemetery.
Around these foreigners great economic opportunities were created for the Capreses;
However, for some of these characters, despite the wealth, the island was fatal.
An emblematic case, although not very well known, is that of Hugo Andreae, a rich German banker, married to a young Italian woman, Emma De Simone.
The good Hugo built, as a buen retiro for him and his wife, a sumptuous villa at the beginning of Via Tragara, with interiors like a royal palace and a mythical garden full of statues, colonnades and exotic animals.
Because he was a man who cared about religion, following the completion of his dwelling, he financed the construction of the Evangelical Church nearby; but in order to obtain the necessary authorizations, he was asked in exchange to finance the construction of a small church in Marina Piccola, for local fishermen. The one that will be the Church of Sant’Andrea and that today is a chapel so loved by locals as well as tourists, as well as highly sought-after location to celebrate weddings.
For this project, the banker decided to rely on Riccardo Fainardi, a painter-sculptor originally from Collecchio, but who had been stationed in Capri for some time.
In 1899 the Evangelical Church was inaugurated, which had so much luck among the thick “foreign colony” of Capri, while the following year, on Christmas night 1900 even fishermen celebrated their small church.
However, in the same year, (according to some, just that Christmas night), Andreae discovered that his beloved Emma was betraying him with his “technician”, the 35-year-old Riccardo Fainardi…
The poor banker, deeply wounded, left Capri taking his wife with him, but after about a year, unable to bear the pain, he took his own life.
At that point Emma De Simone returned to Capri and married the Fainardi. In a (perhaps innocent) mocking manner he renamed the house, changing the name from Villa Andreae to Villa Capricorno. But her presence with the new husband lasted only a short time: the chatter created, forced them to sell everything and leave the island. Emma died in 1924 while Fainardi enjoyed the inheritance until his death on Christmas Eve 1959.
Another foreigner who made the fortune of the island, but not his own, was the Scottish doctor George Sidney Smith Clark, who landed on Capri after being widowed and fell in love with the island as much as with an islander, Anna Lembo, whom he married in 1856.
Determined to stay on the island, he thought it was a good idea to open a clinic here, convinced that he could attract wealthy northern Europeans who already then left for southern Italy in search of a warm sun to relieve the sufferings of rheumatism and lung diseases. Thus was born the Quisisana.
However, the lack of a sufficient number of patients led Clark to make it a good hotel.
Clark was named an honorary citizen, also for his commitment to the local poor and sick, and is still remembered with a plaque in the courtyard of the town hall of Capri and with a place of honor in the cemetery of Anacapri.
But after his death in 1868, his wife Anna and his young son Alfredo had a lot of difficulty in running the business.
It took advantage of a young caprese good looking, Federico Serena, son of a baker, who at that time, after an experience of six years in England, worked as a waiter at the Quisisana. He seduced the widow Clark and made her understand that he would marry her, he leased the hotel for 30 years at a fraction of the price. Once he owned the hotel, he did not want to know about poor Anna and married a beautiful Frenchwoman, housekeeper of a guest.
Later, the widow Clark and her children, now in difficulty, sold him the Quisisana in exchange for a pension and a villa near the hotel.
Federico Serena, on the other hand, became the most successful entrepreneur, as well as the beloved mayor of Capri (for thirteen years) and was appointed Commander of the Crown of Italy.
According to some, in addition to Clark’s widow, Serena also seduced the German billionaire Friedrich Alfred Krupp, the richest man in Germany, “the king of guns” (and “captains”, according to Matilde Serao), who entrusted him with the management of his money and responsibility for the construction of Krupp Street.
According to others, this gossip about the alleged homosexuality of Krupp would be slander born from political reasons.
The fact is that, following his death, the heirs of Krupp claimed back part of the money entrusted to Federico Serena, and after the departure of this, the widow gave up the hotel to pay all debts.
Finally, the story of Otto Sohn-Rethel, an excellent painter from the Düsseldorf school and an important German entomologist, leaves a bitter taste.
Born in 1877, after having spent his early years travelling to the East (he visited China, Japan and Indonesia), from where he returned with a large collection of art objects, he first landed in Anacapri in 1904. After the First World War, he settled there, dedicating himself to his greatest passions: painting naked and catching butterflies.
He formed a great friendship with the Swiss futurist painter Gilbert Clavel, who accompanied him on his lepidoptera hunting trips, and opened in his home, Villa Lina, a gallery where artists could freely exhibit their works and meet to discuss art.
In 1943, when Italy signed the armistice with the Allies and then declared war on Germany, Otto to avoid expropriation of the house, he gave it to a friend anacaprese, his former servant; who, however, after the war, instead of returning it to him, He took possession of it with all the goods, pictures and designs contained in it.
He was then hosted by his industrial friend Hans Berg, his neighbour.
Throughout his life, Otto discovered, studied and collected many types of butterflies and moths, some of which, until then unknown. A subspecies of moth was also named after him, the Chortodes Morrisii Sohnretheli .
The British Museum wanted to buy its rich collection, but Otto refused the offer, saying that it had to be heritage of the island of Capri.
However, at the death of the “farfallaro”, all his troubles ended up rotting in a basement.
by Antonio De Gregorio
