DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67375#0415
THE ISLAND OF CAPRI.
325
isolated from all the world. A few fishermen’s cottages
are built into the rocky arcades, and but a small number
of boats can find safe mooring in the little harbor; the
beach is very small, and is the only place on Capri known
to me from which there is no view. Barren rocks and
the broad sea hem in this tiny Marina, and the silence is
broken only by the lapping of the waves and the cries of
the birds far, far above on the heights of the cliffs. An
occasional vessel going or coming from far-away Africa or
the neighboring Palermo, as may suit one’s fancy, is the
only moving thing besides the rolling sea and the fleecy,
passing clouds.
Capri is so rich in grottos that one scarcely knows where
to begin in speaking of them; and, indeed, it would be
quite impossible here to mention all that are known, or
to do justice to any. The shores of the island are liter-
ally honey-combed by these caverns, and it is not probable
that they have all been visited by human beings. The
Grotto of the Stalactites, the White Grotto, the Marmo-
lata, Marinella, and several others along the shore from
Monte Solaro beyond the Faraglioni, are well worth
exploring. In some of them exquisite seaweed abounds;
in others, the walls and stones are of various colors, and
all beautiful. Again, the peculiar formation of the
chambers produces such sounds and cadences from the
waves as make a grander “ Ocean Symphony ” than any
heaven-endowed composer could either dream or write.
The celebrated Green Grotto — Grotta Verde — excels
all others in its beautifully arched shape and the splendor
of its surrounding peaks of rock. It is not entirely sub-
terranean, and at noon it might be most fittingly called
the Grotto of Hope, since it is lighted by that exquisite
emerald-green which is the symbol of that virtue which
S. Paul mentions in the celestial company of faith and
charity.
325
isolated from all the world. A few fishermen’s cottages
are built into the rocky arcades, and but a small number
of boats can find safe mooring in the little harbor; the
beach is very small, and is the only place on Capri known
to me from which there is no view. Barren rocks and
the broad sea hem in this tiny Marina, and the silence is
broken only by the lapping of the waves and the cries of
the birds far, far above on the heights of the cliffs. An
occasional vessel going or coming from far-away Africa or
the neighboring Palermo, as may suit one’s fancy, is the
only moving thing besides the rolling sea and the fleecy,
passing clouds.
Capri is so rich in grottos that one scarcely knows where
to begin in speaking of them; and, indeed, it would be
quite impossible here to mention all that are known, or
to do justice to any. The shores of the island are liter-
ally honey-combed by these caverns, and it is not probable
that they have all been visited by human beings. The
Grotto of the Stalactites, the White Grotto, the Marmo-
lata, Marinella, and several others along the shore from
Monte Solaro beyond the Faraglioni, are well worth
exploring. In some of them exquisite seaweed abounds;
in others, the walls and stones are of various colors, and
all beautiful. Again, the peculiar formation of the
chambers produces such sounds and cadences from the
waves as make a grander “ Ocean Symphony ” than any
heaven-endowed composer could either dream or write.
The celebrated Green Grotto — Grotta Verde — excels
all others in its beautifully arched shape and the splendor
of its surrounding peaks of rock. It is not entirely sub-
terranean, and at noon it might be most fittingly called
the Grotto of Hope, since it is lighted by that exquisite
emerald-green which is the symbol of that virtue which
S. Paul mentions in the celestial company of faith and
charity.