Capri

“It is always controversial to visit a place you have seen and heard much about.

You do not start clean. Instead, you see the edited images in your mind’s eye and compare.

Maybe that is why Villa San Michele feels so pure and wonderful to me. I had not heard about it until this morning.

And here we are. On the island of Capri, far enough from the Marina with its crowded streets, high up in the gardens of Villa San Michele.

The property used to belong to Swedish physician, psychiatrist and author Axel Munthe, who lived on Capri for more than 56 years.

Today, Munthe’s love of nature, art and ancient objects is here for anyone to enjoy.

The best thing here is just to enjoy how beautiful and singular everything is: the family memento, the historical items that, besides the layers of life, still contain the imprint of hands that created them, the sculptures and fountains and trees and flowers and birds inhabiting the garden, let alone the view over the ocean and the island.

I cannot help but feel that this is what I want to create in my own life and home – smaller scale, though – but something original, something passionate and beautiful. Something wonderful that takes a lifetime to create. My own paradise.”