Capri, Italy

“There are a few things you should know about Capri before getting strapped into the flight, the trains, the ferry, the tourist scams, the accidental hikes, and the hot pink convertible taxi it takes to arrive...”

I boarded the flight frantically after having chugged my beer and gifted my cousin’s beer to a lucky neighbor after the delay announcement turned into a instant take-off. I hadn't even been sure I was actually going to Italy that day, but now he was being rushed off to first-class and I was apparently late. I had a backpack, a phone, and a last-minute exclusive invite to a wedding on the island of Capri, Italy. 

Okay, so technically I didn't have an “official” invite. But my cousin did, and I knew the couple well enough to comfortably crash. To be fair, it wasn’t even a real wedding. The couple, the type who you call Aunt and Uncle even when they’re not related to you, were renewing their vows after 30 years of marriage. They’re also the type of couple to invite you to Italy and give you no other details whatsoever, so all I knew was that I was the well-traveled-enough cousin irresponsibly deemed responsible enough to help my cousin traverse Italy, given both his recent surgery and his knack for being a “too-loud'“ rambunctious American even while still in America. I had a free buddy pass flight from my real Aunt, a veteran flight attendant, which is all we thought we needed. We landed in Rome with zero plans of where to stay or go next, besides South. 

There are a few things you should know about Capri before getting strapped into the flight, the trains, the ferry, the tourist scams, the accidental hikes, and the hot pink convertible taxi it takes to arrive. First of all, it’s worth it. As the former summer home of Roman emperors, I can barely imagine how they made the trek, let alone why they would ever return. To be fair, one of the (several) Roman rulers named Tiberius never did, and his recluse on Capri has been left nearly unexplored since his alleged debaucheries. The €800 we spent just to get to the actual island looks like nothing compared to the 800 A.D. gilded church that sits covertly like a Queen’s winning chess piece in the cobblestone piazza, next to a Mediterranean view that looks like it inspired the word sapphire all on its own, after inventing turquoise.

An Italian piazza is nothing like the “town square” you’re imagining, even if that is the typical translation. It’s a gathering place, sure, the way the bright pink, purple, and blue top-down convertibles that speed through the narrow streets are mere taxis. Capri’s most famous Piazza Umberto is the answer to why one would ever desire to build on this perpendicular cliff. Walk in the square during the day, and you’re likely to see models strolling from the shops of Gucci that sparkle and past the gelato shop, almost as pretty as the thin margarita pizzas ubiquitously served. Walk in the square when it hits dark, and the smoky Campari and the cigarette-laden company is not likely to let you leave until the real night starts, far closer to midnight. While phones are unlikely to work regardless, it’s unnecessary to even try. Anyone you know or might want to know will be at the Piazzetta turn dusk any night of the week, with no forefront plan, no questions asked, and no expectations. This is, to put it romantically, simply how Italy works.

We didn’t know it yet, but we’d begun with the Capri mindset. Upon our unlikely arrival two days after landing in Rome, we landed in the fashionable Piazzetta enduring sweaty cotton t-shirts and gym shoes that belong in a parody; we looked nothing like the beauty that awaited us. It didn’t matter. The true luxury of Capri isn’t in the glamorous villas or the allure of the mid-Mediterranean, but the atmosphere that no matter where you are on the island, you feel as if you’ve arrived at the right place. The yachts in the Tyrrhenian Sea give a sense of another layer of opulence to be experienced here, but wisps of discontent dissipate with the island's promise of a rowboat to take you to its true jewel, the fluorescent underwater cave called the Blue Grotto. I learned later this was the site of the couple's unlikely love story- and without a plan, I went.