Villa Lysis
Villa Lysis stands on a Capri clifftop above the Bay of Marina Grande, with terraces overlooking sea and island. Gardens surround the house. Mimi Ruggiero designed the grounds with laurel, myrtle and a circular Ionic viewing platform. A grand staircase leads to a peristyle where Ionic columns frame the entrance.
Jacques d’Adelswärd Fersen built the retreat around 1904 or 1905 for himself and Nino Cesarini. Artists, poets, writers and intellectuals later gathered here. Louis XVI, Neoclassical, Greek, Art Nouveau and Viennese Secession influences meet across the interiors, with stucco, floral motifs, gold leaf and marble. The municipality of Capri began restoration in 2001, after decades of decline following Fersen’s death in 1923.
A vaulted salon, decorative tiled floors and a Roman bath for two reveal the house’s theatrical character. The basement once served as an opium den. Above the entrance, the inscription “Amori et Dolori Sacrum” gives the villa one enduring detail. A mostly uphill walk from Capri’s centre connects this setting with nearby Villa Jovis.
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Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Capri. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.
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myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.