Heading
towards the Migliara as you go along Via Catena, a few metres from viale T. de
Tommaso, you will come across a wrought iron gate opening onto an avenue lined
with cypress trees. At the end of this small avenue, at the top of three steps,
you will find another gate, this time in white, which opens on to the church of
S. Maria in Costantinopoli. This was the first church to be built in Anacapri
and originally had no name. It was
decided to dedicate it to the Madonna after the Turks took Constantinople, being
the inhabitants of Anacapri in need of a saint to protect them. A simple
painting of little value, representing the fire of Constantinople with
Madonna and Child and Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the
Baptist at her sides, is actually placed in
the background of the church. It obtained the title of parish in 1596 thanks to
the capitulary Vicar of Capri, don Marcello Strina. The church is composed of a
rectangular nave terminating in an apse, in front of which we find a marble
altar. The roofing is divided into two ogival cross vaults going from the ridge
of one to that of the other. As you enter, on the right you can see a miniature
pulpit supported by a curve shaped console, accessible from the sacristy via a
few steps, these too in masonry. A good deal of restoration work has been
carried out, the most significant in 1899, the year the current sacristy was
built.
