On the subject of food, Procida produces lemons the size of grapefruit that have a sweetness to them that is the base of their lemon salad, made with garlic, mint, chilies and olive oil. La Pergola restaurant, up in a romantic lemon grove at 10 Via Salete, is probably the best place to go, even though you risk having the occasional lemon landing on your head.
THE ISLAND OF THE SKY – A visitor landing on Capri after visiting hard-working, understated Procida would be forgiven for thinking, after a stroll through the piazzetta, that this island’s main exports are hedonism and handbags. The island has always gone in for old-fashioned glamour in spades. Grace Kelly, Greta Garbo, Jackie Onassis, Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Faye Dunaway – all names from a more elegant time, all favoured Capri as a destination. I like to think that if green Ischia is an island of the earth and blue Procida is an island of the sea, then Capri, rising so abruptly out of the Mediterranean, is an island of the sky.
After all, every traveller in the know tells a first-time visitor to go up. Go up to Anacapri, the quieter, more exclusive part of Capri high above Marina Grande and its crowds of day-trippers. Follow paths lined with bougainvillea to go up to the white-pillared Villa San Michele, former home of the author Axel Munthe. Go up to gaze back at the stunning views of brooding Vesuvius on the mainland.
