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 One
of the most weird personages of Capri outline was Curzio Malaparte (Prato 1898
– Rome 1957 – real name Kurt Sucker) : the mith of forever narcissist youth.
Hazel-brown
colored and smooth skin, very well nourished with oils and lotions; dark hair
always drawn and bright. Thick lips, straight nose, his glance was intense and
almost cruel as his well-drawn and tidy superciliary arch made it.
Malaparte
was cool and indifferent to everyone and the sun. He spent all his days cycling
on his house’s roof,
often wholly unclothed and until he was stunned.
A
place the other guests avoided because of the strong vertigoes the sunshine
caused.
Malaparte’s
cycling was probably the symbol of his anxiety.
He
was unpredictable and he always swam against the tide. First as a fascist and
then as an antifascist, just because of his political change of side he was sent
by Mussolini into internal exile and then he followed the Allies.
His
love with Capri began in 1936 when he paid his friend Axel Munthe a visit and he
was immediately crazy about it. Thanks to the intervention of a friend named
Galeazzo Ciano, Malaparte bought from Antonio Vuotto, an islander, a sheer to
the sea piece of land placed on a wild and impervious situation, just a few
steps to the “Faraglioni”. Malparte himself designed what will be later
considered a masterpiece of Italian Rationalism. His villa was christened
“House like me” by the writer. It consists of a large hall with four big
windows on its walls built in a way each of them offers a different view. Then
we find a study, a bedroom, a little guests’ apartment named “L’ospizio
– (The hospice)” and finally “La Favorita – (The Favorite)” a bedroom
for the woman he was going steady at the time.
He
died before he was 60 after a long journey in China where he knew Mao and where
he contracted a serious disease.
He
spent his last days surrounded by opinions of any kind as he asked the
consolation of catholic faith before
passing away.
His
house was left to Chinese people but his relates contested his testament.
Nowadays
his house cannot be visited.
To
obtain information please call the “Fondazione Ronchi”, phone number
(+39) 081/8377787.
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Axel Munthe