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The
Grotta Azzurra
The
Grotta Azzurra is very famous throughout the world for its huge wideness, for
the intense blue coloring of its interior, and the white silvery splendor that
objects have while resting in its waters. It is already mentioned in the 17th
century in a map of the island drawn by the geographer Coronelli, bearing a
different name: Grotta di Gradola. It has had this certain name since 1826 when
two german painters A.Kopisch and E. Fries first explored it accompanied by
Giuseppe Pagano, a hotel-keeper that had urged them to venture out there before
1826.However the fame of the Grotta had already spread because of the
descriptions of it given by other romantic authors like W. Weiblinger, H. C.
Andersen, and Alexandre Dumas Sr. The opening in the rock, widened by the romans
during the Augusto- Tiberian age, to adapt the Grotta as a small marine temple
devoted to the nymphs that belonged to a villa built above it (Gradola), today
amounting to a few ruins, was broadened even more after its discovery in 1826.
In 1964 two roman statues belonging to the small temple were later found laying
on the sea floor: one of these symbolizes Poseidon, the other a triton. They are
both on display in the Certosa di S. Giacomo museum. Inside, the Grotta features
a spectacular blue coloring, produced by sunlight filtered through water. The
Grotta's underground maze consists of many other caves that are unkown to
visitors who see only the biggest of them all, called "Duomo Azzurro".
This represents an eroded cavity about 60 meters long, wide 25 meters at the
most, deep 22 meters near the Grotta's entrance and 14 meters deep in its inmost
part. Entering the Grotta on the right the rock walls connect to each other
creating another cavity, meanwhile on the left various underground tunnels open
up, maybe communicating with the nearby Grotta dei Guarracini. In the southwest
area there is a platform, levelled artificially by the romans, that pushes
itself towards the inside for about 100 meters. Next to it there is the Galleria
dei Pilastri, that continues up to the Sala dei Nomi, so called because of the
many signatures of visitors on the rock walls. The Galleria then narrows itself
into the depths of the mountain, along the so called Passaggio della Corrosione,
up to furthermost accessible point. The Grotta's blue color is due to the fact
that daylight enters through a underwater hole near the entrance and is filtered
by water that absorbs red colors and releases blue ones. The Grotta Azzurra can
be reached from Capri by sea, only
with authorized boatmen, instead from Anacapri either walking along short-cuts
or by bus or taxi along the paved road that begins at Via del Pagliaro, or at
the De Tommaso cross-road, or at Via G. Orlandi, and or at Via Caprile. The road
is about 3 km long, very quiet and with a beautiful view and furthermore before
arriving to the Grotta Azzurra, it goes by the Damecuta archeological site.
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