Faraglioni – Stone Giants

Born 200,000 years ago, with the passage of time, they have been shaped by both the sinking of the karst-dolomitic coast above, due to telluric events, that for the action of erosion of rainwater, winds and the shaping force of the sea. The term Faraglione comes from the Greek Faleriones (white rocks of foam) or from the Latin Pharus, since on these high rocks in the sea fires were lit to orient the route of ships and to avoid accidents. The Faraglione di Terra called Stella (connected to the earth by an isthmus of 4 meters) is 109 meters high. Distant 8 meters, we find the Faraglione di Mezzo, high 81 meters, also famous for the arch, which is an underpass, 56 meters long and 15 meters high also called by sailors “Arco dell’Amore”. The Faraglione di Mare, called Scopolo, is 104 meters high and the distance of 8 meters that divides it from the Faraglione di Mezzo is called Saetta. On the top of Scopolo still lives the Blue Lizard (Lacerta Coerula Faraglionensis). The Faraglioni, defined by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda as “Sentinel of Capri”, have given rise over the centuries to numerous legends about their birth. The myth tells us that the struggle and love of the giants Sebeto and Vesevo for a beautiful girl, named Leucopetra, created these wonders of nature. But it is in the romantic interpretation of Ulysses’ Homeric deeds that we find the most imaginative version of their birth. The German painter Frederich Preller (his 16 watercolor lithographs can be seen in the Council Hall of the Municipality of Capri) tells us with his works the deeds of Ulysses in Capri scenes. We represent Polyphemus, who lives in the Grotto della Paglia, adjacent to the Arco Naturale, blinded by Ulysses and his companions. So, the giant mad with anger and pain, chases them and throws three large boulders of stone ( the Faraglioni) against their fleeing ships. As a testimony of this story we discover that in the island toponomastic the road leading from Tragara to the Belvedere del Pizzo Lungo, high rock spur that German painters remember as Finger or Giant’s Spur, is still referred to as Via Polifemo.

curated by Renato Esposito