Scott Dunn: ANYTHING ELSE IS JUST A HOLIDAY

The tour lasts 6 hours and includes many historical sites:

Monastery of San Jacob

The Chartreuse of Saint Jacob, simply called "La Certosa" (Chartreuse), is the most representative example of Capri architecture. It is an ancient monastery, which now includes a museum, a school, a library and a little garden.

Gardens of Augusto - a fine example of Capri's botanical ornamentation. Capri contains a vast variety of plants and flowers offering no fewer than 850 species and 130 varieties. Despite its extremely small surface area it includes some real rarities such as the dwarf palm which has survived in a number of inaccessible areas.

The Faraglioni Rocks

The most renowned feature on Capri. There are three in total - 'Stella' (Star) or also 'F. di terra' (F. on earth) at 109 meters high, 'F. di mezzo' (Middle F.) at 81 meters high and 'Scopolo' or 'F. di fuori' (Outward F.) at 104 meters. The rocks are famous for hosting a rare variety of lizard, the so-called 'Blue lizard' (lacerta coerulea muralis or faraglionensis) that generates a peculiar bluish colour all over its body.

Cape Tragara and St Stephen's church

At Tragara one of 12 Roman imperial villas in Capri was built, connected to the landing point of Tragara's port lying below, in the small sheltered cove behind the Faraglioni. During the hot seasons the Romans lived in villas on the northern side, exposed to fresh summer breezes. Today nothing remains of this magnificent villa, except for a marble roofing now situated into the Rosary chapel at St. Stephen's church, aside the Piazzetta (Capri's main square).

Villa Jovis

After visiting Capri in 29 BC, Caesar Augustus was so taken with the island's beauty that he bought it from the city of Naples, giving up the nearby island of Ischia, which was much larger, in return. Legend has it that his successor, Tiberius, who lived there from 27 to 37 AD, built twelve villas dedicating them to the twelve gods of Olympus. From the most magnificent of these dwellings, the "Villa Jovis", he ruled the Roman Empire. Other emperors spent time in Capri and it was visited and inhabited by Roman nobles up through the IV century AD. Unfortunately there remain only 3 ruins that you can visit: Villa Jovis, Sea Palace and Damecuta. Other ruins were absorbed into most recent villas or taken to palaces and museums abroad.

Marina Piccola

Capri is an island of limestone rock that represents the outermost tip of the mountain chain on the Sorrentine peninsula. The coastline, whose dolomite cliffs fall right to the sea in many spots, is dotted with countless caves and surrounded by reefs whose shapes suggest fantastic creations. Mount Tiberio (334 m.), to the east, and Mount Solaro (589 m.) to the west are the two main peaks on the island. Between these heights, on a saddle-shaped ridge connecting the Marina Grand ("Large Marina") at the north end, and the Marina Piccola ("Small Marina") to the south, is the town of Capri (138 m.).

Learn the tradition of handcrafted sandals which contributed to the history of exclusive fashion in Capri - worn and loved by Jacky Kennedy, Liz Taylor and Burt Lancaster.

The town of Pompeii, originally a native Oscan settlement founded in the 7th century BC, is 16 km south of Herculaneum. The city was conquered by Greeks, Etruscans and Samnites, and finally became a Roman colony in 80BC along with Herculaneum. Pompeii was a thriving, noisy market town of about 20,000 inhabitants, filled with shops and bars and small family factories. Traders constantly came and went, while wine and a potent fish sauce were Pompeii’s most popular exports. On the day Vesuvius erupted, Pompeii was the scene of a different but no less deadly series of catastrophes. Many more pumice stones showered down here than at Herculaneum, while dense layers of ash settled at the rate of about 15 cm per hour. Roofs began to collapse and the town was in almost total darkness. The people who died waited too long inside their homes, trapped by fallen timbers and they were unable to breathe from the gases.

The excavated city is much larger than Herculaneum, covering an area about one kilometre east to west, and about half a kilometre north to south. Plan on spending at least four hours here. Apart from the amphitheatre, however, you won’t find many places to sit and rest and the site is not well shaded. The most important sites are accessible to the public and others can be entered with a guide. Pompeii is the most visited site in Italy.