Faraglioni of Capri

Interesting facts

The word faraglione is thought to come from the Greek pharos, lighthouse, while the name Scopolo means a promontory over the sea.

The tunnel through Faraglione di Mezzo runs about 58 metres through the rock and averages around 13 metres in height.

The narrow channel between the middle and outer stacks, called the Saetta, is about 8 metres wide and some 60 metres long.

Stella is tied to Capri by an isthmus only about four metres wide, and a grotto with green-blue water opens on its south-western side.

Karst erosion carved into the stacks reaches as deep as about 15 metres below today's sea level, a trace of times when the sea stood lower.

The blue lizard of Scopolo is coloured from throat to tail, a hue thought to have developed after the rock's population was cut off from the mainland.

Mediterranean monk seals lived on the neighbouring Monacone rock until 1904.

In the Italian comedy Il secondo tragico Fantozzi, the hapless hero crashes into one of the Faraglioni while water-skiing.

Nineteenth-century painters of the stacks included Johan Christian Dahl, Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach and William Stanley Haseltine.

Why it is worth it

The Faraglioni are three limestone stacks rising straight out of the sea off the south-eastern tip of Capri, and they have been the emblem of the island for as long as painters have come here. Each has its own name. Stella, the one still joined to the island, is about 109 metres high. Faraglione di Mezzo, 82 metres, is pierced at sea level by a natural tunnel large enough for a small boat. The outermost, Scopolo or Faraglione di Fuori, rises to about 106 metres.

Scopolo has a small secret: it is the only home of a blue variety of the Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus coeruleus, found on this rock and nowhere else. Painters were drawn to them early: Josef Rebell and Albert Bierstadt both painted the stacks. They also appear in Italian cinema, from the comedy The Emperor of Capri (1949) onwards.

There are two ways to see them, and both are worth it. From land, the classic viewpoints are the terrace at Punta Tragara at the end of a walk from Capri town, the Gardens of Augustus, and the path of Via Krupp; for a quieter view, Punta Cannone looks over the same coast. The beach at Marina Piccola sees them from below. From the sea, boat trips round the island pass close beside them; sailing through the arch of the middle stack is no longer permitted.

Getting there

The stacks lie off the south-eastern coast of Capri, and Punta Tragara is about a 20-minute walk from Capri town. The island is reached by boat; tours and ferries depart from Naples, Sorrento and Positano. Naples International Airport (NAP) is about 38 km away in a straight line.

Faraglioni of Capri

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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