“…E mentre sono qui, se potessi controllare il tempo, se potessi dare una direzione al vento …Prova con un mazzo di rose ”

“… And while I am here, I if could control time, if I could give a direction to the wind… Try with a bunch of roses ” – Pino Daniele – Scirocco D Africa

Monte Solaro is the highest part of Capri, towering 589 meters above sea level, and boasting a 360° panorama of the island of Capri. It’s my last day at the Capri Palace Spa, I decide to have a “quick visit” at nearby mountain and come back to the hotel, as I have the Measurement of energy expenditure still attached to my arm and I am still a little tired.

As soon as I pay for my ticket, I realize before I have any time to change my mind that I am about to be seated into an individual chair lift where an old Italian man tells me- “Non aver Paura” (Don’t be scared) and only after I am already sitting and aloft I answer : “Ho Paura” (I am scared). I’m on my way to the top of this famous Italian mountain.

I realize that despite being the courageous world traveler that I am, I have always been afraid of heights.

My camera quickly finds the safest place in my pocket. This is the reason why you will not see pretty pictures of the marvelous landscape at my back. The only thing I can think of at this moment, is to try to look up because this is what you are supposed to do in life.

Suddenly, I become a philosopher, a spiritualist, an analyst, a Bacardi addict, a Zen Master and even Mohamed, personifying whoever I need to be, in order to survive this moment and arrive safely at the top of this mountain Belvedere.

The biometric device on my arm must certainly be registering some extra heart beats from my poor heart which is remembering against it’s will childhood traumas of abandonment, fears of being dropped dead on the floor by my mother, being hurt and abused by humans that I have loved and trusted, the obscure financial world crises with a consequence of monetary uncertainty due to possible lack of sponsorship for my review.

I suddenly visualize in the bushes, myself constrained doing nothing better than eat junk food gaining all the extra weight I proudly lost at the Spa and look horrible in front of a disapproving mirror facing a useless human being.

After 12 minutes that felt like 12 hours (or a little more) I have finally arrived. I rush to the Canzone del Cielo bar and drink a glass of Aqua Minerale. The bar is part of a small restaurant built in the fifties at the ruins of the Fortino di Bruto (Brutus’ small fort) which itself was built at the beginning of the 18th century during a period of battles between the English and the French.

I finally catch my breath, my mind pauses for a while and the battles of my own heart lift a temporary white flag. Distracted by the beauty of the silent and imposing landscape In the distance I can identify the mountains of Calabria, the Pennine Alps, the Amalfi coast, the Sorrentine peninsula, the Gulf of Naples, and the islands of Procida and Ischia.

Monte Solaro is also called âAcchiappanuvole (cloud catcher) after the thick blanket of fog that forms around the summit, especially at dawn, when the thermal difference between the sea and the rock is accentuated.

During the night as the temperature drops, the warmer, damper sea air condenses in a dense mist on the ground.Where its path is obstructed, the vapors rise upwards generating a characteristic crown of clouds. This phenomenon also occurs in the evening, especially in the Autumn.

The wind clears away parts of cloud, randomly revealing various segments of the beautiful island landscape below. And like in a miracle, the clouds of my thoughts in my mind are also caught allowing me to breathe safely a relieving sensation of being suspended floating in a welcoming void completely free from past, present and future ghosts as at this moment there none around.

The descent is much, much easier, and with my new found courage, I manage to catch a few photographic shoots with my camera of what I probably missed on the ride up .

Flying back home from Napoli to New York, especially following the wonderful enriching detoxicating experience in Capri Hotel & Spa, I will have time to meditate about my life and recall the Mount Solaro “episode” that apparently balanced so much my unconscious stability.

But in the strenuous flight, we are held hostage by wind turbulence, falling oxygen masks, children throwing up everywhere, my silent vows with repetitious donations to religious Jewish charities in order to arrive home alive. All those unpleasant events are due to the imminent hurricanes in the region and who knows what other universal or personal premonitions of the actual social instability and financial world crash. During the repeated course of events, I decide to take action and control my own fears and life anxieties as soon as I step on American soil.

It’s a bright blue sky and sunny day in Manhattan. After two days sleep, I am ready and buy myself a ticket to the Rockfeller Center Plaza tower :  The “On Top Of The Rock Observatory” opended two years ago and is sponsored by Swarovski Crystal. The girl that sells my ticket to the high-speed elevator asks me, “excuse me miss… what a nice perfume you are using… where is it from? ” Nervously I answer, ” In Anacapri, not here. I am sorry!” She then insists, oblivious to the long line of impatient tourists behind me wanting to climb to the top of the world. “Can I buy it in New York? Not even online?”

I suddenly realize, Americans, especially New Yorker,s have access to everything they desire all at once!  With the globalized Internet, market consumer competition, new world-wide communication technologies and sustainable energy know-how, anyone can reach to the next level and obtain what is desired.

It’s just about asking for it and finding the passion in what’s is being done, created, invented, reaching slowly step by step into the next level and higher goals.

“Can I have your email address? Yes, of course, you can buy it on-line. Check out my next newsletter, “Capri Olympus ” and you’ll find what you are looking for in a small shop that is near a Mountain called Solaro, and they have an email address, and by the way tell them I said hello! ” – I answer to the smiley lady who will not stop thanking me for the simple information I provided.

The high-speed elevator to the sky took exactly one minute to ascend 70 floors, and I felt safe. Overlooking the crystal-clear breath taking 360 degree view of New York City from the heart of Midtown Manhattan, is something you must do before you die. I then imagine how John D. Rockefellerâ’ s vision for his center never wavered at the time where the country was facing economic catastrophe and the world was between two wars.

The Rockefeller Center and the observation deck were his and the thousands of laborers that build the buildings including Rockefeller Plaza, legacy proudly offered as a gift to Manhattan by opening the deck s doors for the world to see Manhattan the way he imagined it – a place for locals and visitors to marvel at the city he loved.

Experiencing with beatitude the gentle breeze over my thoughts my mind now like in a flying carpet reaches the Anacapri people who like Rockerfeller taught me examples of courage, soul searching, hard work values and faith in almost impossible visions, always respecting their legacy and historical roots.

Even during these tormented times, life goes on. New and better solutions will be proactively created and this my friends is all that is needed to reach to what I like to call, the top of the world!

Have a safe journey!

Part of the my success in loosing weight at the spa is due to the executive chef Oliver Glowig at the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa.

I asked Caroline Courteau the guest manager relations to have a talk with him as I apart from wanting to take a few of the delicious recipes at home, I wished to understand how the philosophy of the Mediterranean cuisine could be so simple and yet one of the most balanced of all diets.

Caroline sends me immediately through her new blackberry a message with an appointment for tomorrow at the terrace after my lunch and before my treatments. Coincidentally, and to my surprise, my friend, photographer Umberto D’ Aniello is there and as usual I took advantage of his kindness and asked hm to shoot a few pictures while Oliver and I were talking.

To my surprise, Oliver is German. Blue eyes, and extremely serious. Not the typical Italian exuberant chef. It’s very hard to extract a smile from him but easier to get a Michelin star (on it’s way to the second ) for the hotel he chose to work for after having married a Neapolitan woman six years ago.

We sit while Umberto’s at work and Oliver Glowig tells me he has spent 15 years in the restaurant and hospitality business mainly focusing on Mediterranean influenced cuisine.

His first relevant experience was with German Master Chef Otto Koch at “Le Gourmet” restaurant in Munich, a two Michelin star restaurant, where he learned the different cooking techniques of pasta, fish and meat. In 1995 he joined the “Acquarello” restaurant in Munich, an Italian gourmet restaurant with high ambitions. Chef Oliver learned new techniques and started to focus on appetizers and desserts.

One year later, he had the chance to improve his knowledge of Italian cuisine with the world famous Italian Chef Gualtiero Marchesi. After the Italian experience, he returned to Germany to the  Acquarellonrestaurant with the leading role of Executive Chef. In only one year he was able to get his first Michelin star, being described by newspapers and magazines as the ambassador of the Mediterranean cuisine in Germany.

In 2001, the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa offered Chef Oliver the opportunity to come back to Capri and measure himself with international luxury leisure customers.

Chef Oliver now leads a team of 22 cooks and offers a wide selection of traditional Neapolitan dishes, personal interpretations emphasized with low calories and the use of organic ingredients. In the prestigious 2007 Conde Nast Traveller Gold List, the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa was voted one of the Best Hotels In The World For Food”.

Finally, after enumerating his long currriculum, he explains that the Mediterranean cuisine which represents the traditional way of eating for the populations living in the Mediterranean basin is an absolutely balanced diet based on local products of the region: cereals, vegetables, olive oil and fish.

Wisely combined they give life to delicious and light dishes which are in  line with the most demanding requirements of today s nutritionists. You must eat a bit of everything! No limitations of carbohydrates nor proteins even less fats. Olive oil is good for your health so is an everyday intake of red wine. But all must be in reasonably balanced quantities.

He then confides me that he never worked just for the Michelin star: “The star is something you acquire naturally, paying attention precisely to detail, quality, but most of all working with devoted passion.” His suppliers, that he makes a point to visit and source during the winter season when it’s more calm at the hotel restaurant, are mostly from Naples.

In the Summer, after such a firm understanding of quality, they already know what he likes and send him his favorite ingredients with no need to even speak over the phone. The menu is dictated by the catch of the day and season. Quite frankly, this is how it should be.

Oliver’s dietetic kitchen of the Capri Beauty Farm is a combination of refined art, a rigid technique (German origins) and a holistic philosophy of life where the nutrition gives back balance and energy to body and mind.  The characteristics of every single ingredient combined especially with the way of cooking preserve the nutritional quality and at the same time guarantee the principles of a high gastronomy.

One of Oliver’s favorite combinations, believe it or not, are the mixing of fish and dairy. (Both my favorites too) Alici (Anchovies) with Ricotta is one of them. Oliver tells me very seriously (proving the previous point), that the Alici must absolutely not be purchased when the moon is full as they are hard to catch at this time and would not be totally fresh. (I will try to remember that on my return to New York City)

The art of Oliver and his team of chefs consists of creating culinary experiences of a high standard, personalized and innovative by preserving the aromas, colors and scents of the different dishes.

My customized diet was created by the Professor Francesco Canonaco in conjunction with  Dr. Cinzia Grassi, the nutritionist, as  I don’t eat meat, a certain kinds of sea food for religious dietary laws (Kashrut).

My menu was handed to me every morning in my room with my name on it on together with my breakfast so that I could psychologically prepare myself before meals to what was coming–knowing that it had been based to my advantage on the most recent and scientific researches in the field of nutrition.

Apart from being surprised by the exceptional taste of the œdie dishes within the range of an average of 900 calories daily diet, it was really  an essential component of my weight loss program; in fact, in association with specific treatments, it definitely represented the perfect formula to achieve my  well-being and psycho-physical balance.

Coming back home, I really felt much better. stronger and healthier. I adopted the diet that Professor Canonico and the nutritionist Cinzia Grassi gave me as follow up advice through email during the following months in New York City.

Thank you Oliver!

Joelle’s Tips:

Restaurant L’Olivo just got awarded with two Michelin Stars: Check the Press release November 20, 2008

l-olivo-restaurany-awarded-second-michelin-star

Menus:

Lunch

• Beauty Farm Cocktail: Fennel, Celerey, Pinapple, Melon (42 kcal)
• Steamed assorted vegetables (53 kcal)
• Stewed Scorpion Fish with Vine tomatoes( 192 kcal)
• Plums in red wine ( 45 kcal)

Dinner:

• Crudites (20kal)
• Vegetable Soup (24 kcal)
• Turbot with mint sauce and crunchy celery (255 kcal)
• Green Apple Sorbet ( 39 kal)

Lunch:

• Beauty Farm cocktail : Carrot, orange, ginger and mint (51 kcal)
• Zucchini and Asparagus pudding with Basil and Mint sauce (64 Kcal)
• Saffron scented gurnard fish with assorted vegetables
• Fruit Kebab with Yougurt sauce and cocoa beans ( 63kal)

One of the best things to do in Europe during the Summer, besides tanning under the sun, is to make sure you do not miss what’s going on in the upcoming Fall/Winter fashion trends. While you were chilling out, many magazine editors, photographers, models, stage setters and style experts have been working extremely hard for to give you the right feel of what should be the next new look.

My advice is that you start by buying some heavy magazines along with your morning espresso. Those of you traveling by jet can shed the extra weight (and not get into trouble with your baggage allowance) by tearing the pages you are most attracted to for later. Your next shopping is about the how you want to be renewed in your life, children, and home.

This is the reason why in Porto Cervo, Capri, Montecarlo, and Ibiza, you’ll find the latest in fashion, luxury and home design before it appears in the large cities like New York, Paris or London. Don’t be lazy.  “Oh, I do not feel like working now. I am on vacation and for nothing in the world I am going to try on heavy clothes and boots”especially as I will only use them in November and December in the snow. I have all the time on the world!”

Wrong! If you want that powerful feeling of being a trendsetter, style dictator, a glamour enchanter, a global Bohemian example of nonchalant understatements such as: “Oh, I just got those boots on my way to the beach before my flight. The kids ski outfits? I bought those in Capri, I am too busy now to shop.” These are the places and time of the season you should shop.

And while your friends in New York or London are trying to find last month’s sold out edition of Vogue Italia where the fashion trend is ‘black mourning‘, you’ll be peacefully having breakfast at Tiffany with your LTB (little black dress)  bought last month in Anacapri. “Gosh, it was such a long time ago that you have a feeling you’ve had it for years!”

One of most luxurious boutiques in Italy believe it or not, is in Anacapri. Founded right after the war by Tonino Cacace’s mother a daughter of second generation hotelliers. Although the only shop, at that time  in Anacapri it was very much visited due to its privileged location near the magnificent Greek Villa San Michele a place of great of magnetic attraction belonging to a well-known Swedish  physician, author and humanist ( 1857-1949 and to be lover of the queen of Sweden) Axel Munthe.

In 1950 the boutique was moved to a different location and to today’s size of 1,200 square meters by a visionary man called Mario Cacce, whose passionate encounter with Rita resulted in a marriage and a long lifetime partnership. One of the offsprings of such union, after ten years was the Europa Palace Hotel adjacent to the boutique, transformed  by their son, the entrepreneur Tonino Cacace into a five stars luxury hotel, the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa.

As I enter the Mariorita boutique after a long day at sea in the hotel’s  Capricorn boat , I notice the existence of different departments: mens, womans, sea and luxury. I am told that the amazing selection of its products is personally chosen by the owner himself, well- known to be an elegant man with a touch of personal Italian classic-casual style. At his right arm is a smart, quick young lady named Valentina Prezioso. Her surname already states it: ‘precious’  and preciosity is what Valentina is able to bring after her precious sourcing to the boutique.

Most of the fashion, luxury and home accessories items are exclusive to the Mariorita boutique. More important certain brand launch their products in anteprima, (beforehand) at the Annacapri boutique before any other  in Italy and sometimes due to the staff excellent relationship with the brands and the boutique exclusive elite clientele , worldwide.

This is the reason why I decided pick through my camera macro lens, a few of the items around the several department including the kids boutique, Aquamarina and the Pop Gallery so that you can enjoy the ride and visit with me.

The Man’s department holds Versace Collection, Hugo Boss, Armani Collezioni, Armani Jeans, EA7, Ice Iceberg, Tru-Trussardi, Trussardi Jeans, Maserati and Paul & Shark. My favorite are the Maserati leather jackets–sexy, very, extremely sexy . (Photo below left)

The women’s department also carrirs mostly Made-in-Italy exclusives with brands such as Armani Collezioni, M Missoni (my favorite black and white–see photo below far left),  Armani Jeans, EA7, Ice Iceberg with funny Walt Disney striped icons, and wonderful ski outfits in fluorescent lilac. Swarovski crystal engravings and fur, very dans-le-vent this winter, Tru-Trussardi, Trussardi-Jeans, Valentino Roma by the ” The Sheik of Chic’s” new creative director Alessandra Facchinetti, the collection though, with a lot of white lace and black velvet remains still very Valentino.

In the Sea department we have the Milanese brand Miss Bikini, the Israeli Gottex, Chloè, Atlantique, Vilebrequin for both fathers and sons.

The luxury department, founded in 2007, englobes stunning hand picked pieces most of which are limited editions.

The Bentley pens are one of example. The prestigious house offers the possibility of engraving the number of one’s Bentley engine in the roller or ink pen. Tibaldi Da Vinci Code Limited edition, is an opulent and precious work of art engraved with high precision on yellow gold and a touch of intrigue reproducing Leonardo Da Vinci’s Man Vetruvio, a series of the movie ’s sites, several codes and symbols.

Deciphering the code formed by letters and symbols decorating the pens cap will result in the combination of  the two words that in history consent the opening of the Cryptex. It’s price is 17,798 euros in case you decide to keep yourself busy. The boutique is the first global retail representative also from Tibaldi Giorgio Armani’s pen collection as well.

Another very special item, is the woman’s wrist watch from Chopard in white  gold and 1.58 karats of diamonds with a mother-of-pearl background belonging to the ‘Happy Spirit’ Collection the bracelet in satin or leather, the color you pick up. It’s price is 19,000,00 euros. Among the jewellery  Chopard introduced this year, for the first time in the market, leather line of handbags which in already a few months a high success. Mariorita is among the few worldwide stores to carry the 2009 collection in avant-premiere.

Among many types of jewelry, my favorite is the local Gioielli Di Luca.  Hand crafted and encrusted with cameos, corals, and precious woods. The owner, Gino Di Luca, is the president of Oro Mare association of jewelers and coral and cameos handicrafts.

Cartujano, a company from the Italian region of Puglia, specializes in leather accessories dedicated to smokers. Cigar pocket humidors made out of Cedar wood, portable pen, ties and individual watches cases luxurious for your elegantissmo man.

Memento, an Italian company specialized in home accessories, mainly vases and ashtrays.  They are produced out of glass and covered with a hand crafted embroidery of resin. Contemporary and decorative at the same time.

Carlo Moretti excellent maestro in craftsmanship of  hand-blown Glass from Murano. In exclusivity for the L’Olivo restaurant at the Capri Palace Hotel and designed by Tonino Cacace himself, dedicate a special collection of tableware and glasses. At the boutique, the client has a choice of having its name engraved or pick a  exclusive custom designed color also signed by Cacace.

Jewels Sandals by  Enrico Lugani, can be ordered and produced in nothing less than two weeks  after expressly picking the semi precious stones,  model, size, color with personalized name  of you man on the hill or a phrase such as: ” You can step on me dear whenever you wan my dear… always yours ” .  The box comes in black velvet and the lock in Swarovski  crystals as if it were a jewelry case. ( Picture above)

The Pop gallery, the most recent inaugurated this season and latest grand passion of Tonino Cacace. It involves a sponsored space with works of pop art mainly from artists and craftsmen of the Italian region of Campania. All the exhibits are the result of a thorough search of talented and gifted individuals with personal and original inventive creativity.

Aquamarina is the children’s boutique. The most successful of all featuring blue wood floors and a cloudy light blue ceiling makes you feel like Alice in Wonderland — what a trip!

Even with the current world economic and financial crisis, it looks like parents still need to spend time with their children–especially in Italy and worldwide.

The Made-in-Italy brands including Armani, Dolce & Gabbana Junior, Dolce & Gabbana shoes, Dior, Ferrari, Iceberg, Miss Bikini, and Vilebrequin are to die for. Cashmere sweaters with flowers and striped cotton Doppio Petto ( double breasted) for small and Junior boys nurture you a fantasy of acquiring immediate parenthood.

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy: D&G baby sneakers, Baby Dior wool small pink dress for little princesses and at last…

The motto on an Armani baby girl penguin sweatshirt: “I want to become an Eagle”  …

I have nothing else to add..

And enjoy the rest through the view of my camera lens!

‘ My home shall be open for the sun and the wind and the voices of the sea – like a Greek temple – and light, light, light everywhere!’

Axel Munthe

During my stay at the Capri Palace hotel spa I had my afternoon free. I did not feel to exercise at the gym with such incredible and beautiful sites to visit.

I decided to spend the afternoon and take a walk at the magnificent Villa San Michele near the hotel a few meters from Piazza Vittoria. I walk through the end of the characteristic shopping street to finally enjoying the breathtaking cliff edge views over Capri.

Villa San Michele is a Swedish cultural institute on the island of Capri, comprised of a museum house and gardens, accommodation for Swedish citizens engaged in cultural studies or research, and a nature reserve on the Barbarossa mountain for the protection of migrating birds and the preservation of Mediterranean flora.

Founded by Axel Munthe when he was still a young physician and decided to make his dreams, ambitions and ideas a reality by creating a home in Anacapri, a home soon to become famous throughout the world thanks to the success of his book, “The Story of San Michele” the most translated book after the bible..

Although he was a doctor by profession, it was for his work as a writer that Munthe became famous . ” The Story of San Michele” is regarded as Munthe’s life-work. It was the book he spent most time writing, and it has the story of his life, and has the title implies, of his home. He gained recognition as a man of art and culture, and as a philanthropist who nurtured a great love of animals.

Despite the fact that Munthe was born in Sweden and died here at the age of 92, he spent most of his life abroad. The floods of visitors to his museum-home and the fact that his book, “The Story of San Michele”, can be read in no less than 45 languages testify to the writer’s global appeal.

With the exception of a few sporadic absences, Munthe lived on Capri for more than 56 years. His interest for the island in the Bay of Naples coincided with the growing popularity of Capri as a preferred destination for the rich and famous from all over the world.

Munthe shared his love of music, animals, and nature with the Swedish queen, Victoria, who spent long periods of her life on Capri for health reasons.

Axel Munthe’s concern for the birds on the island, which were shot in disastrous numbers, led him to acquire the rights to the Barbarossa Mountain in order to create a sanctuary for migrating birds. Axel Munthe claimed that, on the island of Capri, ornithologists were treated to a continual symphony of bird song.

Together with the queen, Munthe arranged evening concerts with the Monarch herself playing the piano. Munthe had a splendid baritone voice, as well as a certain talent for both violin and piano.

The architecture is there to emphasize the magnificence of the landscape, at the same time forming a worthy framework for the works of art. In this respect the park plays an important role. For example, the statues overgrown with ivy and the mossy marble pieces scattered around the garden are characteristic. The number of objects in marble, stone, mosaic, and terracotta total around 655.

There are around 530 in wood, metal, ceramics and textiles. The collection can be said to be divided into several main themes, such as nature and animal images, as well as death and dying. But they are in no way exhibited programmatically. Rather they seem to consist of randomly placed pieces, of widely differing quality.

But regardless of the artistic quality of the individual object, what was important for Dr. Munthe was the message or personal memories it had for him. This was governed by the fact that the collections do not contain clusters of items acquired from other collections.

The museum’s inventory encompasses different periods from Antiquity to the early 20th Century. The classical antiquities are Roman, Egyptian, or Etruscan. Only a few of them originate from the imperial buildings that were on the site. These are remnants of buildings, ornamentation, and frescoes.

The origin of the objects varies. Dr. Munthe’s widespread contacts through-out Europe stretched from Scandinavia to Italy and from England as far as Russia.

The San Michele Foundation was founded on June 16, 1950 with the aim of administering the property donated by Axel Munthe for the Swedish state, as well as creating a guesthouse for scholarship recipients, and to promote cultural links between Sweden and Italy.

Villa San Michele on Capri in Italy is a magical place that must be experienced. While some speak of Feng Shui perfection, about a node for magnetic flows, and others about its enchanting beauty, it awakes a feeling of dread in some.

Undoubtedly, a unique and a living example of the dream that became reality. Perhaps a mad nightmare springing from a longing for beauty or an individual’s attempt to deal with his feelings of powerlessness. Was it megalomania and aesthetic madness or perhaps more a grown boy’s desire for love?

Peter Cottino ,director of Villa San Michele and Vice Consul of Sweden on Capri once wrote:

” Villa San Michele is a place for you who yearn, dream and search for answers. Welcome, you are in good company.”

Thank you Peter for Axel’s immortant hospitality, and regarding those answers, I found mine!

Joelle’s Tips:

The Source:

Capri .net :  Villa San Michele the home of Axel Muthe / the Story of San Michele : Emma Strindmar Norström, Department of Literature, Stockholm University / Peter Cottino director of Villa San Michele and Vice Consul of Sweden on Capri / Villa San Michele.eu

Villa San Michele:

Viale Axel Munthe
80071 Anacapri (Napoli) Ph. +39 081 8371401  / Fax +39 081 8373279
assistant@sanmichele.org

“For me an object is something living. This cigarette or this box of matches contains a secret life much more intense than that of certain human beings.“  Joan Miro’

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” — Pablo Picasso

Talking about washing people’s souls off from daily life: bidders defied grim market sentiment this month, with the majority of lots attracting enthusiastic souls bidding at Damien Hirst’s “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” sale at Sotheby’s, London.

The highly publicized sale, which took place over two days, realized $207,169,510  above the high estimate, and included a new auction record for the artist with “The Golden Calf“, which sold for $19,227,777 to an anonymous collector.

“We are born with a scream; we come into life with a scream, and maybe love is a mosquito net between the fear of living and the fear of death. ” – Francis Bacon.

A 1976 Triptych by Francis Bacon brought $86.3 million at Sotheby’s, last May, becoming the most expensive work of contemporary art ever sold at auction and a retort to doomsayers who had predicted that the art market would falter seriously this season because of broad economic anxieties. “Recession? What recession?” Barbara Gladstone, a Chelsea dealer, said jokingly as she was leaving the salesroom.

Although the sale had top-quality art and dealers predicted it would be a success, it went well beyond even the auction house’s expectations, bringing in $362 million, above the sale’s high $356 million estimate. Three telephone bidders went for the painting, the most expensive postwar work of art ever sold at auction and sold by the Moueix family, producers of Château Pétrus wines.

“Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.” — Andy Warhol.

Andy Warhol’s Two Marilyns (Double Marilyn) at Christie’s auction house in London October 14, 2008. The picture was expected to fetch up to 6.5 million pounds ($11.4 million) at the Christie’s post-war and contemporary art sale on October 19.

The death of Marilyn provided Andy Warhol with the perfect pretext to capture, in a range of monochrome and multi-colored works, her celebrated visage smiling out with a pout rendered slightly ridiculous by association… In Two Marilyns (Double Marilyn), one of the early images on this theme executed in the months immediately following the star’s death, these features have been printed in black on the primed canvas, creating an elegant, even austere Pop stele to the tragic star. It was Two Marilyns and its sister-pictures both ushered in Warhol’s own fame while cementing that of the star.

Nobody has done more to capitalize on Andy Warhol’s increasing popularity than Mr. Mugrabi. Together with his two sons, this self-made former cloth merchant from Bogotá, Colombia, says that over the past 20 years he’s amassed about 800 of the artist’s works, a stake that’s easily three times larger than any other private Warhol collection in the world and nearly as large as the paintings collection owned by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. Dealers and major auction houses rarely buy or sell a Warhol without Mr. Mugrabi’s knowledge, and anyone who wants to buy one at auction must be prepared to outbid the family.

Tonino Cacace’s story is a little different and more inventive a creative than the aggressive Mugrabi family approach. The owner of the luxurious Capri Palace & Spa, commissioned the Italian artist Giorgio Tonelli to paint the bottom of two of the hotel’s private swimming pools:  Andy Warhol and the Rene Magritte in the gardens facing the Monte Solaro with the inspiration of the artist’s works in the rooms and bathrooms. The Mondrian and Kandinsky suites have some of their walls painted with the same concept.

The hotel is an art gallery on its own. Tonino Cacace makes a point to share his refined taste on Italian post-modern and contemporary art collection with his guests. After all it’s for no reason that guests receive  on arrival a ” Welcome to your home ” key holder booklet on their way to the rooms.

Among the large collection of interesting art works, I decided to mention a few, especially as I loved the context in which each one has been carefully placed.   The five-star hotel owner’s passionate involvement with life and the space he created, visibly transcend through the artist’s own understanding about the present space, the atmosphere, and finally the cultural background. The result is a natural and harmonic blend of cognitive and unconscious associations of personal and intimate well-being and exclusive, almost private hospitality.

A beautiful painting Giorgio De Chirico, founder of the “Metaphysics School” in 1960, “Ettore and Andromaca” stands close to the reception desk almost implying the longing for the guest arrival.

Most renowned Italian sculptor and worldwide recognized by his particular spheres and discs, both made of bronze, Arnaldo Pomodoro’s “Disco” invigorate the hotel’s main living room creating around a dynamic  perceivable movement of people socializing. Keith Harring lithograph of people dancing in the middle of a pair of ormolue Louis xv style wall lamps reinforces the energy.

The intriguing and gigantic bronze helmet “Elmo” by Mimmo Paladino, has been exclusively created for the Capri Palace lobby entrance. The artist who represents silence made up of shadows and mysterious magic declares: “Art is not a superficial thing, nor a poetic storm. Art is a process around a language of signs.”

I have often noticed children playing around the eyes and openings of the art piece—almost perceiving with gentleness how Mimmo Paladino, the painter, sculptor, regards his work as nomadic art, based on repeated passages, and explains that by nomad he means a crossing of the various territories of art-both in a geographic and temporary sense-with a great technical and creative freedom. Children realize their stay  in “Paradise” is provisional and they’ll be back home and to school soon.

British artist, Allen Jones’ “Believe It or Not”,  whose inspiration by European avant-garde movement and Pop Art honored him with numerous international prizes and awards reigns over the bar near the terrace.  Jones’s art takes the form of paintings and sculptures. It’s easy to notice with a Bellini in one’s hand and a enjoyable company, how his work connects a woman’s threads:  As an object,  as a subject, with long legs on elongated stiletto heels, the absolute symbol of a timeless eroticism and, in particular, a mirror on our age. But we are soon reminded we are in the island of Capri and everything else like in a fantasy is okay.

One of my favorites is Fabrizio Plessi’s “Azzurra”. This exclusive installation realized by the artist for the Capri Palace Hotel represents a typical Caprese boat used by the local fishermen to go into the most famous and romantic Blue Grotto.

Five monitors projecting a water flow are arranged inside the boat. Water and video, frequent characters in Fabrizio Plessi’s work, have the same blue surface, the same capability to carry objects and ideas, they both acquire their beauty from the reflection of the light. Again living the contrast of reality versus fantasy and possibly be so powerful to be able to enjoy both in the morning at sea  and the art work at night in the TV room. Which is real and which is fantasy?

Fabrizio Plessi’s work represents a point of contact between technology and humanity: old elements, images coming from our memories and new video-electronic flow are greatly combined to recall a hardly ever seen neoclassical balance. He is one of the major interpreters of video-art.

“Uomo-Corno” (Horn-Man), in polished bronze, with an iron hook structure is the symbol and emblem of a mythological world in which past and present, irony and tragedy, tradition and modernity take concrete form in a new vision of the amulet — a good luck charm and artifice of its own destiny. We all know how superstitious Neapolitans are

His bronzes are worked as if they were made of clay with scratches and furrows, or modeled to highlight the refractive qualities of their smooth surfaces.

The artistic quest of Pignatelli in “Eroi Melanconici” (Melancholic Heroes), forges a path of fascination between archaeology and the exploration of myths—hemp canvases sewn together depicting skies of ash and dust that come alive with rips and stitches in huge spaces immersed in shadow. Depicting the icy face of a sad Aphrodite or the monumental, poetic countryside of reconnaissance flight, Pignatelli’s paintings are like mute images from a film projected onto a lacerated screen. I could personally feel Anacapri’s landscape, archeological importance  but mostly my own global condition of being an almost rootless gypsy (like most of today’s travelers) through this artist canvas.

I will end with Arman Fernandez’s “L’Envers du Désir”, potent and at the same time almost imperceptible among the small trees in planters and gray wicker furniture.

Influenced by Dada, and later by much of the Pop Art movement, Arman’s works stand out through their aesthetics; he was the master of composition and this provides even his most absurdest works with beautifully realized compositions. Whether paint on canvas or garbage in Plexiglas, Arman saw the beauty and relevance of the everyday world and created art to reflect his own imaginative ideas on the world. He dared to question traditional views on the nature of art, but stands out as he never abandoned the sense of beauty in composition that has been art’s foundation since antiquity. Apart from the incredible title, he is a Scorpio (as am I) and the intensity is of this feminine sculpture is unique.

Many more can be examined and appreciated individually. The Capri Palace “Art Gallery,” Mario Schifano,  Velasco, Domenico Cantatore, Alessandro Papetti, Stefano Cantaroni, Aldo Mondino, Jakub Nepraš: different artists with different styles, works of creativity that reflect a thousand shadings and life experiences that become the dominant elements within the eternal common denominator of artistic expression.

Apart from the Capri Palace’s complimentary acquarello (watercolor) painting classes conducted by painter, illustrator and art therapist  Michele Costantini (for guests as well as outsiders), the different art exhibitions that take place in the welcoming space also include a forthcoming project with the New York Guggenheim and Whitney Museums that consist in sponsoring trip expenses and stays in the hotel for young international talents so that they can be provided with ideal conditions to create their art. The world is teeming with art events this season. I will enumerate a few in Joelle’s Tips (below).

“I have been lucky enough to be able to live on my obsession. This is my only success” — Francis Bacon

The rest is up to you.

Joelle’s Tips:

Get your art Fix in the world next season events:

3rd Biennial of Contemporary Art of Sevilla – 3/10-11/1 (Sevilla)
Van Gogh at MOMA – 9/10-9/11 (New York)
Frieze – 16/10-19/10 (London)
Contemporary Istanbul – 16/10-19/10 (Istanbul)
SCOPE - 16/10-19/10 ( London )

I am not used to drinking Falanghina Wine, Chianti, and Bellini’s every single day. Moreover, I have never been a drinker. To add to all of this, I have been appreciating every single day all kinds of Mozzarelle di Bufala, Fior Di Latte and smoked Provole ” for a Lactose intolerant person, I have done my best as you can imagine.

Extra Virgin olive oil from Tuscany, Umbria and Campania was on every single salad, home-made bread, pasta and delicious antipasti. I have spent literally hours under the sun, dried my skin to the point where my mother thought I was somebody else when I went to visit her in Brussels for a few days. By the way, she though it was after all a long time I hadn’t tried her Belgian truffle chocolate Cote D’or and hazelnuts drinks  before going to sleep. “A little sugar won’t hurt, cherie!” A perfect time to burn off those calories, right?

Arriving in Anacapri, I realized (apart from not being able to look at myself in the Summer pictures of my review) that my heart is pounding every time I swim, walk or get irritated. Must be the coffee. I am not a coffee, even decaf, so, must be something else.

Yes, I am happy in Italy but the delicious food, the wine, the sun will not end for God’s sake! Can I just put some sensibility in my brain and get on with what’s really healthy for me at this moment? What is the solution? I am thinking silently: the person in front of the mirror looks like me but a bit more swollen than me, a bit more overweight than me, a bit less reasonable than me; and, does not want by any means to go back to New York City in this state having to face the harsh coming winter.

The solution appeared in the form of Caroline Courteau, Director of the Capri Palace Hotel guests relations, who is running towards me: “I have a few free minutes for lunch would you care to have a look at our marvelous Beauty Farm Spa? Of course, it’s just a visit as it’s completely booked up; during this time of the season it’s the busiest!” Without a word, I follow her. I know it’s a sign from God, not the Jewish one, maybe a Greek god, but it’s definitely a sign.

We walk through a kind of glass Gazebo, a corridor in the middle of an enchanting forest of bright green and healthy Ferns very well known in Brazil as Samambaias. We enter another very bright room of different ambiance and atmosphere where we are surrounded by a think curtain of yellow Bamboos, an refreshingly attractive aroma of Ylang Ylang incense.On the wall, hangs a dark art work known as “staging photography“by Italo-German artist Stefano Cantaroni depicting sculptural and half naked bodies draped in cloth as if they were in a Greek tragedy performance.

At the reception desk, Caroline introduces me to a smiling Valeria, Letizia, Clara and Veronika — all dressed in white and eager to serve you with your most intimate needs of well being and consolation. I hear myself whispering into Caroline’s ear: “Are you sure they have no availability for any treatment at all in this place?”

“I don’t know Joelle let me check, but maybe you would like to meet with the Professor. He’s available now.”

Professor Francesco Canonico is a charming tall man. White haired and stylish. By his looks, I assume he is for sure a connoisseur of women. Born in Cosenza graduated in medicine and surgery from the University of Modena, he holds degrees in pediatrics, food science and medical oncology. In 1980, he was elected to the board of the Italian Pediatrics Society. He is a lecturer in medical auxology, genetic medicine in the pediatrics and neuropsychiatry departments.

He asks me to sit and first thing he says without looking at any papers or asking me my name: ” Come stai? ” (How are you?). I love it!! I immediately take advantage and like a broken fountain confide him my despair from the chocolate cakes to the anguish of an imminent heart attack.

He pauses, asks me how long I will be staying in the hotel, and makes a phone call to Dr. Cinzia Grassi, the spa nutritionist (who severely asks me why I have put on seven kilos on during the year). After a few questions, specific and routine blood tests, a indirect calorimetry test with canopy, body impedentiometry to determine lean and fat body mass, intra- and extra-cellular water with the consequent quantification of water retention, determination of alimentary intolerance (these tests will be performed by the University of Milan). With the last few measurements she has the answers.

“What do you have generally for breakfast?”

“On Monday in New York City, granola, non-fat yogurt and strawberries. On Wednesday in Paris, a hot croissant with butter and home-made orange confiture. On Sunday in Sao Paulo, acai pulp mixed with Pao de Queijo and orange juice.

The Professor and Dr. Grassi look at each other and say simultaneously: “She needs the Metabolic Response  Plan (a project done in collaboration with Milan Center for the Assessment of Nutritional Status). ” You start today! The diet will be of 900 calories per day and at three o’clock. Clara and Letizia will be waiting for you for the La Scuola Delle Gambe (Leg School Treatment).

In 1994, when the professor became the medical director of the Capri Beauty Farm (he wanted to improve people’s lifestyle), his foremost contribution was to add medical treatments and aesthetic medicine to the existing cosmetology and fitness offerings.

The patented Leg School, is an original topical method for improving the venous and lymphatic circulation of the lower limbs. He then confides in me with a smile full of assurance (the result of many years of observing women in the stage of post pregnancy): ” If the circulation of a woman’s legs is healthy, everything else in her body will follow accordingly.” I immediately agree to undergo the miraculous treatment and theory without really knowing what’s coming next.

A personalized Mediterranean diet for lunch, at the Olivo restaurant over the pool. My name is on the table setting, very chic, (I write about the dishes it in my next post). Afterwards, anxiously walk to the open air garden of the gorgeous spa.

Letizia eager to start,  apples water and mud from the dead sea. This Medicated mud, a clay enriched with active substances which are invigorating, soothing and decongestive, has the natural freshness of seaweed all secretly manipulated by the professor himself here in Capri. I can recognize the scent camphor and licorice. Letizia assures that the vasco-active substances will help to improve the lymphatic system, the vein circulation and the elasticity of my skin.

“Believe me, it’s freezing,” I tell Letizia who assures me that the mud did not come out of a refrigerator, and that it’s just my body’s healthy and expected reaction to the active ingredients. “Adiposity, liposclerosis and cellulite are certainly going to disappear after a few session, stimulating and improving the blood circulation of your veins Joelle! – your he legs will prove highly beneficial sensation — you’ll see.”

Without a word and a bit shivering, I am then taken by Letizia to an open air shower that is sculpted inside of rocks full of beautiful leaves. She’s taking the mud out for me; I feel like a baby in her dedicated care. Medicated bandages are then applied over my washed legs. Apparently, they are highly effective in combating water retention; these supposedly invigorate venous walls trough the use of vaso-active substances. “Much, much colder you won’t believe how cold this is! Cold!” I ask for some hot detox tea which is served near the warm and inviting indoor pool (also sculpted inside a rock).

With the bandages off, I am asked to go to the third and final stage of this treatment, The Kneipp vascular treatment. Letizia says “it’s a little annoying at the beginning. The experience differs from woman to woman, but as time goes by after a few walks in the shallow tanks of medicated water enriched with vegetable and mineral extracts (the same applied in the mud and bandages) you won’t notice so much the difference between the (18°-38°) temperatures. Do not worry, it’s worth it. It will definitely bring back vitality and lightness while improving both your venous and lymphatic tone.” I start wondering if all that salt and sugar in my meals was worth it after all!

I was hard–very hard–but that night after dinner I drifted off into a deep sleep with a such a pleasant feeling of forgetting what life was all about.

And the days passed between Slimming Hydrofor, (the latest cure to treat cellulite, aging problems,
muscle and facial and breast hypotonia, wrinkles, stretch marks and localized adiposity carving the body),
LPG Endermologie, Electro stimulation, Slimming seaweed mud therapies with medicinal plants ingredients such as Ivy leaf, Centella Asiatica citrus extracts, in steam bath and open-air under the blue sky , Lymph drainage massages (almost as good as Brazilians) no gymnastics in thalassotherapeutic swimming pool or Personalized Fitness program, I do that all year round and did feel like using my time visiting the city of Anacapri, slowly pacing my rhythm down.

My favorite treatment apart from the Coffee Peel is the revolutionary exclusive Sun Peel. Patented by Professor Francesco Canonaco based on a chemical peeling for body and face, it has a combination of phyto-essences and essential oils and it’s basically characterized in two phases:

The first step, containing Tirosine, is applied by Veronika (a very kind and cute, blondish, tall girl) while explaining passionately that it’s natural component exfoliates the skin’s first layer and Rose Pepper containing Peeperine ingredient with marine salt, stimulates the production of Elastin and collagen. Thesecond phase, Holistic helps the new cells to produce melanin while Avocado and other essential oils will hydrate it. It’s magic my friends, magic.

While I take a few shots with my camera, I get the last precise explanation of the benefits of this treatment: it’s an ideal way to prepare the skin for sun exposure or to avoid peeling after an over-exposure, in my case. The tan gets brighter, homogeneous and lasts longer without leaving the skin stained. Seems like I can almost take New York back.

Everyday, I would gradually feel more resistant to the vascular Kneipp treatment, less salt intake, I was not particularly hungry, the diet was well balanced but I felt extremely tired without a real reason since I was not even exercising.

The answer came after uploading all the information from the efficient results of Measurement of energy expenditure and physical activity anamesis to a computer. During my past day’s 24 hours performance, Dr. Cinzia Grassi plugged in the armband, a small device on my triceps (upper arm) that I religiously kept on that day and night.

I went shopping, visit Monte Solaro (where I got the scare of my life), had three meals, went sunbathing at the pool and worked on my computer for a while.The next day on the discharged information, Dr Cinzia asked a few questions based on surprising facts and parameters of my energy consumption, physical activity and sleep.

During those 24 hours the results showed I walked 9.325 steps in 2 hours and 37 minutes of physical activity. Spent 583 calories, a larger amount at the time I was in Mount Solaro chairlift (I was nervous and afraid of heights) but what surprised me most was that I went to bed early at 10 o’clock in the evening (I was exhausted) and got up at 7 in the morning. Apparently I also woke up 10 times that night without even noticing — resulting in a total of only 4 hours of quality sleep.

No wonder I have been so tired! I understood that although I seem to manage my stress during the day and feel somewhat healthy, at night my sleep won’t lie! The doctor gave me some pediatric drops to help me sleep better.

I lost almost 3 and a half kilos, it could have been more if my body did not have to defend itself from fatigue and had spent more time at the spa. Cinzia promised to work on a overall customized lifestyle maintenance plan of my own once test results came back from Milan (and everything would be sent by mail directly to me in New York).

While waiting in the hotel lobby, getting ready to leave, professor Canonico probably on a break, introduces his pretty assistant cardiologist of La Scuola del Cuore program. With a straight face he then asks me: “Well done Joelle! Would you care for a Martini to celebrate?”

Joelle’s Tips ;

The Spa Treatments Plans:

La Scuola Delle Gambe -The Leg School

La Scuola del Cuore / The Hear School

Dimagrimento / Weight-Loss- Metabolic Response.

Capri Palace Hotel & Spa -80071 Anacapri, isola di Capri Via Capodimonte,14

Tel + 39 081 978 0111- Fax + 39 081 837 3191 /

beautyfarm@capripalace.com /reservations@capripalace.com

According to Tonino Cacace, a second generation owner of the hotel Capri Palace, “My little Village, is a place for the soul.” And in the preface of an elegant black and white Hotel brochure that looks more of an art book than anything else, he writes in a manner of a poet:

” The ancient Greek and inhabitants of Anacapri used to climb to their village thousands of years ago up steep steps cut into rock face overlooking the sea and rising up into the clouds. Later, this became a spectacular road that still exists to this day, and its peak amid the tiny dwellings and secret gardens of today’s town Anacapri (ana meaning above in Greek) becoming the Acropolis of the island.

And it is in this same small town, with its narrow alleyways and dazzling white buildings standing in sharp contrast against the  brilliant blue of the sea, preserving its typical Mediterranean architecture that sits the Capri Palace, standing over the ruins of a great Roman palace built by the Roman Emperor Augustus and further embellished by the Emperor Tiberius.

The columns arches and vaults bear a fleeting resemblance to the original Imperial Palace and the pure white architecture of the Mediterranean islands.

The sea he carries on is unquestionably the dominant element here : It is in the flavor of our dishes, and in the eyes and smiles of our people: the sea will continue to stir our soul as we relive the beauty of this magnificent place, where over the century time has elapsed slowly, and the days roll by at a leisurely pace”.

The day I met Tonino (diminutive for Antonio) Cacace,  was few weeks before my recent arrival in the hotel; he happened to hear, don’t ask me how, I was visiting his Palace asking questions around and like a Greek god coming down the Olympus, had someone call me in to present himself so that luckily, I could pay him my respects gracefully with an absolute stunning interview.

Before I have a chance to shake his hands , I am immediately captured by the magnetism of this tall and dark haired man with blue eyes, far bluer than the sea describes so poetically in his brochure.

I am struck almost breathlessly and in shock by the depth of such gaze into mine. Interlaced with simple and polite gestures, almost too humble for an emperor casually dressed in bright white linen,he asks for a San Pellegrino water for me and a grapefruit juice for him. Waiter disappears and here I am confronted with this charming Italian hotelier my Belkin recorder and the Caprean sea breeze reminding me I am alive .

Always through his eyes with a gentle but firm tone of voice, I learn he’s a man whose passions for art and philosophy make his day-to day a living inspiration for the close at heart Palace he inherited and the people in the village he was born. Through ethical, social and cultural responsibility his conscious mission is to preserve  the community of Anacapri historic and territorial roots transcending them all together into a modern, global and better place to live.No doubt his immense, restless almost spiritual devotion will allow him to reign supreme.

The Hotel has its origins in the inn “Mariantonia“, once located in the center of Anacapri, operated since the 19th century by the Cacace family. ” It was my father, Mario, who built the hotel in the sixties” he confides me with a serious look on his face then adds ” He was a man with a vision. He understood far in advance the hospitality development around the Piazzetta and to build a hotel in a mountain (at the foot of Mount Solaro with its magnificent views over the Gulf of Naples and Ischia Island) seemed at the time the idea of a fool.”

Sipping his juice without pausing for thoughts he carries on:  “He also knew how to raise a future hospitality entrepreneur, he therefore sends me to a severe college in Rome to follow humanistic studies where I ended up getting a degree in law which was not exactly what I had in mind for myself.  In 1975, my father unfortunately passes away tragically at only 53 years of age. I was 23″.

For a man that age, handsome and charming the way he already was and whose obvious only interests at the time were beautiful women and a life of carefree enjoyments, he found himself suddenly trapped by destiny  turning that ripe boy he was into a young busy entrepreneur with plenty of company and family duties on his plate.

With the utmost dedication and following in the footsteps of his father,  he dramatically transforms the previous four stars hotel, into a top luxurious five stars, today, member of the prestigious The Leading Small Hotels of the World group. Two restaurants featuring Caprese Cuisine one of which is gastronomic, l’Olivo which recently got awarded with a Michelin star, and working for its second, the magnificent  Beauty Farm considered by Conde NastTraveler readers as the best medical spa in the world, a luxury boat and limousine service, a Vip private heliport.

He achieves this clear success by reducing progressively the hotel physical dimensions , redefining thus the concept of luxury and its hospitality.

In the early Eighties he introduces before anyone else in Europe rooms with available private pools a revolution at that time, and from the 110 rooms in the seventies he reaches today to  a number of spacious 77. I must tell you my suite , reminiscent of the most beautiful Roman coastal villas, overlooks an internal garden filled with Jasmine, Lemon and flowering orange trees. And by the way, it is called Artemide like the Greek goddess. Among other ‘goddess’, La Callas, Monroe, Adjani, Athena, and Acropolis have black and white pictures on their walls that make you feel like taking pictures and stars home with you.

The Hotel interior has been gutted since and redone with a curious grace  and elegance as the result of a collaboration between Tonino Cacace and his ex-girlfriend, the talented architect Fabrizia Frezza. With the remodeling, the old hotel rigidity typical of the stark architecture of the seventies acquired a feeling of a  home hosting firstly friends than clients.

With its stone floors, columns creating at times the optical illusion of the Athens Parthenon, arches and vaulted ceilings, every element is a reminder of a glorious past that seems to come to life in all its splendor.

The Travertine baths, the warm tones of the fabrics and the sumptuous white and gold décor at time Louis XVI style at time reminding the light and the warmth of Mediterranean hospitality blended in each and every room with understated elegance and touches of minimalist rigueur.

” Excellence for me is the attention to detail, Tonino Cacace adds with an introspective look – it’s a consequence of an inner restlessness, uneasiness that constantly pushes your performance to its best being the example to all those that together work for the same scope; in a company or in a hotel, it does not really matter ”

As a result of this holistic concept ,prestigious  ‘Made-in-Italy’ companies like Loro Piana, six generation suppliers of cashmere and exclusive fabrics for plus-ultra demanding customers are partners with Tonino Cacace turning him into the top world consumer of the precious wool and striped grey linens for the hotel’s common rooms, restaurant small bergeres, Poltona Frau’s armchairs all masterly hand-crafted by the expertise of Loro Piana’s Neapolitan upholsterers. Trust me something ” literally I am writing home about!”

Carlo Moretti for Murano, the hand blown glass factory from Venice created especially for the restaurant original pieces giving us the feel that art and design must me part  harmoniously of our basic everyday life.

Antonio attends a phone call, I drink my San Pellegrino and around me I notice the clientele, mostly European , some Lebanese, a chic crowd, mainly young discerning and sophisticated couples of a self-made generation whose values were acquired by hard work. It’s a clientele that is far more contemporary and demanding, they consciously differ from their parents who are still satisfied  with the aristocracy of old- glamour cliche living without a doubt a trend that today, as iconic as it was, is finally over and definitely depasse.

Silence, discrection and spirit preservation are in today’s menu opposed to the sixties where everyone needed to be seen and Jamais- vu (never seen ) at a local charming Capri Piazzetta during un-globalized times

Clients are dressed in Missoni, Paul Smith and Hermes, their sandals are local, Saint Barth are the Lotions that circulate around the pool, Cowboy hats, the eye wear is from Etro, and lots of Coral understates jewelry. In the evening jewelry is from De Grisogono of course, a long time hotel habitue,

Gwineth Patrol recently was the star at the Capri Palace for the latest Diego Della Valle ( long time friend of Cacace)  Tod’s advertising campaign. Not to mention, and Tonino Cacace is discrete, in the space of just a few years, it became the favorite destination of famous personalities from the worlds of the arts, business, and entertainment. Among them Julia Roberts, Harrisson Ford, Madonna, Liz Huxley, Mariah Carey, Witney Houston, John Grisham, Frederick Forsyth, and the Hariri family.

A special suite, the Megaron, had been reserved for your stay. The roof provided with a heavy crystal layer can be opened allowing you to enjoy and gaze the starred sky at night from your personal and private round pool.  By your side standing in the cozy roof garden, the luxury of an olive tree to provide you with the feeling of  earthly fertility , and if you can, read me well, that olive tree has personally  been picked by Tonino Cacace himself especially for you  at mature age and installed using a helicopter. Knowing that tree would have only 50% of chances to survive, Tonino kept on talking to the tree so he could grow safe and healthy to harbor your wildest dreams and desires in case a falling star would knock at you small spot of sky.

Nothing more to tell in this post about this  Deus-ex-Machina whose personality and charisma made of the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa  one of the most undisputed exclusive and luxurious places in the world apart that…

On my bed side, a member of the hotel’s staff ( ” treated  like clients ” by Cacace on his father’s advice)  has left a small booklet with a collection of aphorisms by famous poets and writers illustrated by watercolors by Maestro Michel Constantini inviting their guests into a safe and good night sleep.

The one I picked before my own is from Khalil Gibran one of my very favorite poets: “You can’t touch the dawn, if you haven’t covered the paths of the night.”

I am sure Tonino Cacace’s soul as a man and an entrepreneur, checked that one out before falling into the  dream of a gold Palace upon a hill over a dark blue sea.

Yes, you’ve heard me! After almost three months in Italy I am still not ready to leave the country. I just received an email on my Blackberry that the coming winter there is going to be the coldest, longest and snowiest in the last 50 years… therefore (by now you know there is always a “therefore”) I decided to extend my Summer a little longer in a wonderful spot in Anacapri on the upper side of Island of Capri facing the  Sorrentine Peninsula where the ancient Greeks and later Roman emperors like Augustus and Tiberius liked to spent their time.

Marco, from the hotel where I am staying, frowns a bit because as usual I haven’t sent a previous notice about the time of my Aliscafo arrival from Napoli Mergellina.

I never know what time I’ll wake up when I am in Naples; and, I also know that Marco is so efficient that he will find a solution in the hectic port of Marina Grande which is filled with a dense traffic of suitcases and tourists on taxi lines.

It goes without saying, that the hotel limo with the driver has just left a minute ago and with no name such as Joelle Maslaton on the passenger list.

Holding my Panama hat, both my small and a large suitcase Marco makes a phone call on his mobile phone to a taxi driver (they rule the island) who is a dear friend of his from old times (he is obviously busy doing something else probably with another client). They discuss a little and the conversation ends with a smile  on Marco’s face. After 40 seconds the taxi arrives. Marco pays my taxi bill and instruct his friend with a simple question: “Guess where she is going?”

The Capri Palace Hotel & Spa in Anacapri is where I am going. As soon as I the driver opens the door, Caroline Courteau director of international guest relations, an impeccable Swiss young woman dressed in a classy blue suit and a red scarf around her neck, welcomes me with a large smile asking about my past trip in Tuscany.

I do not really feel like chatting too much as while we pass a stone wall covered by a silky cascade of falling water, I am profoundly touched by the immensity of the blue water of the swimming pool seen from below the surface through through small glass windows aligned on our right of the refreshing entrance hallway whose white linen curtains keep moving depending on the wind ’s orders.”

Did they get that from the Greeks? I wonder silently while Caroline animatedly carries on talking about something I have not quite heard like if that magnetic view of the pool in front of us did ever exist.

Looking around, the property of a curious and intimate grace looks far more of a private estate than a hotel. I realize that there are plenty of attractions to experience here. One of them, the most important, is the luxury of not letting anyone know that I am here so that I can finally get a well- deserved rest.

Believe it or not, after so much wine tasting, numerous gastronomical adventures, plane rides, staying up late and sleeping late, sun worship abuse and slight weight gain, I need to rejuvenate in a very quite almost hidden atmosphere where I hope to give my inner and outer self a new dimension that will prepare me mentally and physically to face the upcoming cold New York City winter season.

And like did Pablo Neruda, Axel Munthe, Graham Green, Gorky, Lenin, Friederich Krupp, Alberto Moravia, Oscar Wilde Marguerite Yourcenar ,Baron Fersen and Curzio Malaparte in this charming spot of the world which is the island of Capri, I will take advantage to finally rest quietly and who knows, get the inspiration for what is today my beloved passion and living reason, the art of expressing in words what I seem to understand about beauty, harmony and awareness in my own world, life and gifted spirit.

“The people of Anacapri have a certain gentleness and hospitality that is touching as it is inviolate, despite millenia of invasion, conquest, barbarians, lethal volcanic eruptions and the echoes of war after wars.

From the time of the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Carthaginians, down through the Etruscans, the Romans and the Arabs, the beauty of the island has seldom gone unoticed, and the delicate shyness you find in Anacapri is an attitude that carries with it, unseen and uspoken, a certain acceptance of and pride in the past. People who work in shops, restaurants, boats, drugstores-anywhere at all- in or near Anacapri-seem to command respect by virtue of not asking for it. How they have avoided the fate of the town called Capri, at the other end of the island where fountain of tourist money has resulted in a kind of businesslike cynism, I don’t Know, but they have” — Peter Fleibeman

With such a statement found in an insert of a 2005 issue of Town and Country magazine at the Capri Palace Hotel, I got extremely curious and decided to stroll around the few alleys of the small town. It’s September and I am lucky to be here during one of the most important festivals: the Settembrata Annacaprese organized each year by Anacapri town council, a competition held between the four ancient quarters of the town.

The competition puts the organizational, artistic, culinary, and tailoring skills of the inhabitants of Anacapri to a test in which the local people face with great passion, guaranteeing a fabulous show, whether or not their quarter wins an authentic slice of local folklore.

The atmosphere is quite festive lively and colorful, each shop, private house and islander has tailored their contribution with individual and mostly authentic creativity.  Flea markets are gastronomic Kermesse will guarantee my staying up until dawn.  During my visit, I picked four of my favorite shops shops.

Corallium

The word Coral most probably hails from the Greek Korallion, meaning ” Hard Skeleton”.Through there are those who believe that it derives from the Hebrew Goral , which was used to refer to the stone cast in the oracles in Asia Minor and the Mediterranean.

It’s a small shop that immediately caught my attention. A woman with red glasses is working on an enormous pile of raw and very bright red coral. Wow! I whip out my Belkin tape recorder and immediately ask her for an interview.

With a smile, she asks me to sit down and asks me if I don’t mind her working while she talks. Outside, there’s a procession of her grand children screaming and chanting; in the bar in front of the shop her husband is having a Limoncello with friends. She’s fine. Her story is as follows: Coral-fishing was practiced around Capri in ancient times through it only became an organized practice around 1800.

During the end of the 18th century, her family grew and worked with those Coral fishermen for generations. The coral deposits around the island of Capri and the Gulf of Naples, in the region of Torre del Greco at Mount Vesuvius feet where once only home to a small fisherman’s village, today is the capital and world ’s leading location of working the “red gold”.

“Coral banks” at the Maddalena in Sardinia and the Bocche di Bonifacio were another major resource for Capri fishermen, some of whom ultimately decided to settle on the island. Fishermen regularly sailed to the sandbank in the hope of great profit. By being so far from their home island, however they risked the wrath of sudden storms on the open seas.

In the 16 century, the coral banks around the island began to go into decline. Fishermen went to work for boat owners who worked out of Torre del Greco and set for Sicily and Tunisia. They endured backbreaking work, starvations and numerous dangers like being taken by pirates.

Even when times were very difficult, the family kept its passion believing that the coral had magical powers of attraction and established a small factory of extremely skilled artisans who selected the coral from those fishermen who came back alive and through immense creative fantasy transformed it in beautiful jewelry.

Ouvid wrote in his Metamorphoses: “It’s like soft grass that grows not on the ground but in the sea. The salt water putrefies the little plants until leaves fall off, and then sea spray carries them to shore. They harden in the air; anybody who touches them would say that they are made of stone,yet not long before they were grass“.

The company also imports authentic Suiko pearls, of a six year cultivation granting their authenticity. I ask about the difference between pale rose and dark red coral, raw and refined, earrings, Tunisian turquoise necklaces, gold Anticato (antiqued) charms and bracelets, small elephants, a Jesus face, mother of pearl artifacts and white coral.

Not to be missed is the most attractive collection of exclusive hand-made Cameos! Ultimately this shop could look like the cave of Ali Baba but with one exception: the same passion for what is hard to get but without a doubt, a legitimate right for creative ownership through generations to come.

Corallium Di. Ma Sas. Via Giuseppe Orlandi, 163-65 Anacapri( Na) Tel +39 081 838 2108 ( some items you can buy on line)  info@coralliumdima.it- didonnacrescenzo@coralliumdima.it

Pizzi e Merletti

Battistina Mariniello called ‘Tina” has been crochetting and knitting for over 40 years for her children and grandchildren. It’s only three years ago that her eldest son suggested she that open her own shop at the age of 75.

The shop sells her hand-embroidered table linens, towel sets, wool blankets detailed with crocheted small light blue flowers and delicately stitched baby clothes.

The show is adorned with pretty pictures of her recently acquired young and neo-clientele. The feeling is that you are walking at your grandmother’s house for a quick visit and must pick up something special for your powder room, a last minute present for your friends who invited you for dinner in New York or a Brit Milah in Paris. (Miss Mariniello made me promise I would send this post to her son in New York who works with the UN.)

Remarkably impeccable, those kind of crafts you could only find in small communities where time has acquired a fourth dimension.

Pizzi e Merletti

From $13 for socks to $227 for a three piece outfit.

Via Giuseppe Orlandi 189, 80071 Anacapri, Italy; Tel / Fax+ 39 081-837-3953 / +39 081 837.36.53

Aqva Fabrica Profumi Sirenis

Walking across Viale Axel Munthe, not far from the Villa San Michele in Anacapri, I notice from afar a glass window with Latin words of plants engraved in white Italic—almost as if it was a hand-written medical prescription.

As a backdrop there is an ancient wood medicine cabinet with old-style brown pharmacy bottles on the shelves. My kind of place!

This place is called  Antiqva Fabrica Profumi Sirenis. The owners, a young couple, founded this shop based on one of the grandfather’s healing home-made natural ingredients recipes he used to manufacture in his kitchen years ago.

Along a series of  bright colored soaps that look more like a bunch of real fruit with leaves hanging, bath gels and foams, milky body lotions is just what I need to release all the vitality of my walk through this Mediterranean Magnis.

Large hand-made candles can almost be mistaken for gigantic flowers, sea shells in charming straw baskets, romantically hand-painted pink carnation roses in tin planters are neatly displayed on light wood tables and organized in old medicine cabinets. The atmosphere is pleasant, especially because we are surrounded by thick green vegetation over the deep blue sea. The kind hosts invite their customers to realize that you are in a piece of paradise among aromas of one of the most beautiful Mediterranean landscapes, the island of Capri.

What really does attracts me is the enormous collection of old testers of Acque Perfumate (perfumed waters) sitting on top of the wood counter. A bunch of fresh Eau-de Colognes with hints of the sea breeze—among them the Aqua di Capri fragrance with the Antiqva Fabrica Profumi symbol of the mermaid with the Faraglioni in the background.

Their fragrance line also includes an ambient room perfume and a candle which releases the fresh fragrance into the air when lit. The Augustus and Flora bouquet, on the other hand, resonates around a core of flax flowers and amber, recalling the colors of Capri gardens.

I am personally a lover of citrus scents. I ask about  the availability of a lemon line of products and I am advised to try a cologne in which the leading notes of citrus are combined with cinnamon essence. Delicious!

Do not forget to offer your girlfriend, along with the delicious colognes, the cute little black and white vinyl sandals in a that Coco Chanel would certainly have used. I am sure she wouldn’t mind the lovely statement on the charming crystal encrusted heart “I love Capri”.

Viale Axel Munthe, 1 80071 Anacapri. Tel/Fax: 081.8372297 /info@sireniscapri.it

Mogador

The owner is from Marrakech and has long dark hair. She was “imported” by her husband who is a driver for VIP clients at the Capri Palace Hotel & Spa. She is very beautiful, very, very sexy. Her small fashion boutique is for men and women, an interesting blend of exotic flair with a touch of Italian glamour.

Beautifully embroidered Moroccan Babouches are easily combined with pure cotton Italian lace mini dresses in all colors to be worn on top of a bathing suit on the beach or in a day of high heat like today. (I bought one in red and one in black that I immediately put on) .

For men, the matching pure linen long shirts to wear with extra charming Panama hats over bathing shorts or white linen pants. Luxurious!

Her 2008 season must-haves are silk scarfs in the style of famous brands like Gucci, Burberry and Pucci—knotted with Brazilian stones and a nice golden buckle to use around the neck, as belts or as an accent in handbags accents. Real fun combination. I got one of each for my best friend, mother, sister, niece and cousin.

Scarfs: Price €55 each.

Via Giuseppe Orlandi,77 80071 Anacapri Na tel +39 081 837 1828 Mogador08@hotmail.it