After visiting the ancient church of S . Costanzo, in Marina Grande, we climb up to via Fenicia, where the homonymous Scala begins, which was the first access road, together with the Passetiello, to Anacapri. In truth, it was the Greeks and not the Phoenicians, in the eighth century A.C. to design and dig into the rock the 921 steps that lead us to the medieval Differencia Gate, access to the village of Anacapri. Many historians identify the Cimmerians, a Greek population who worked in Baia and in the Phlegrean Fields building tunnels, as the architects of this monumental work. The same name “Ciammurri”, the nickname by which the Capresi call the brothers Anacapresi, could derive from this etymology, “Cimmeri”. After a stop at the small church of S.Antonio, place of hermitage and meditation, you come through the old door in viale Axel Munthe, where there is the villa with museum and park of the famous doctor-writer Axel Munthe. Immediately after, we take a path on the right that, along the Castle of Barbarossa, observation point of the Lipu for the passage of migratory birds, leads us slowly to Cetrella and Monte Solaro, green lung and natural oasis of the island. The name Cetrella, according to some historians, is attributed to the presence of a temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the Venere Citerea. Others think that the name comes more simply from the presence in this area of the Melissa Aurea, the common lemongrass, with an intense lemon scent. Walking through pine forests, bushes of broom and myrtle and spots of colorful euphorbia, you arrive at Monte Cappello, 514 meters above sea level. Continuing, after visiting Casa Mackenzie, where you can admire testimonies of the peasant culture, you arrive at the Eremo di Cetrella, a small jewel of local religious architecture. Place of hermitage and prayer, dear to writers and poets such as Rainer Maria Rilke, who dedicated beautiful poems to this Place of the Soul. Climbing along the ridge you reach the summit of Solaro ( 589 m.), where the view stretches over the Gulf of Naples, Vesuvius and the Land of the Sirens. At this point, you can easily go down to Anacapri with the chairlift or continue along the path that leads to Cocuzzo (496 m.), up to the Migliera, from where you return comfortably to Anacapri.
curated by Renato Esposito
