ANACAPRI VILLA SAN MICHELE

Villa San Michele is a residence located in the town of Anacapri, on the island of Capri.
The villa is named after a small chapel that stood in medieval times at the end of the Phoenician steps precisely in the territory of Anacapri.
Located at the bottom of the porch of the chapel, it dates back to the reign of Ramsete II in the 13th century BC. Everything suggests it comes from the Italian peninsula, but it is not clear how Axel Munthe had it. In The Story of San Michele he said to have found it in the country where he rushed in the morning after a premonitory dream:

"Everything that happened is too strange and fantastic to be translated into written words, and then you would not believe me if I tried to do it.I do not know where the dream ends and where the reality was at stake.Get the great granite sphinx, who is squatting on the parapet of the chapel of St. Michael, but you will ask in vain, the Sphinx has kept his secret for 5000 years, the Sphinx will keep mine. "

Before the Egyptian Sphinx was in its present position, the Etruscan Sphinx was later replaced on the terrace beside the entrance of the chapel. The choice of the Sphinx as a symbol of the Villa could have been inspired by the German poet Jean Paul, much loved by Munthe, who likened Capri Island to a sphinx.

source wikipedia

ANACAPRI VILLA SAN MICHELE

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