Why go
Monte Solaro, at 589 metres, gives a useful reference for the whole island. Its massif, together with Monte Capello, separates Anacapri's western side from Capri town and the eastern headlands. Understanding that barrier makes the winding road connection and the difference between a coastal view and a coastal walk easier to judge.
The full story
Much of Capri's near-surface rock is limestone formed during the Cretaceous period. The rock has produced karst features: cavities and other forms created as limestone dissolves. The Blue Grotto is a sea cave, while the Arco Naturale exposes a different opening in the eastern landscape. Their shapes belong to the island's geology rather than to a continuous, easily walkable shoreline. The southern ridge falls sharply towards the Tyrrhenian Sea. Elsewhere, smaller heights help define the island: Monte Tiberio stands at its north-eastern end and Monte Tuoro in the south-east. Mediterranean scrub, known as macchia, includes rosemary and mastic shrubs, with surviving patches of holm oak woodland. Even the island's name has competing explanations. Proposed links to Greek words associated with boars and Latin words associated with goats remain uncertain; neither should be read as a settled account of Capri's origins.