Traffic Around Anacapri

Teresa is of the belief that there are too many vehicles on the island. Our time here supports her view. The island is well served by buses and the majority of locals are committed to this form of travel. It is the new residents and tourists who have brought the cars. Narrow winding roads throughout the island make for close encounters around each corner. Cars, motorbikes, scooters, vans, and three wheeled apes (ar-pays) compete with the buses for road space. The proliferation of vehicles has been aided by the spread of building. Dwellings have been allowed to be erected in more remote parts of the island and access becomes an issue. This translates into more vehicles on an already crowded and finite space.


We have spent a week at Pino. Situated ten minutes from Anacapri and a rollicking ride by bus, it is remote in terms of the centre of population. It is a place of solitude and peace. The only structure we can see apart from our own is the lighthouse. There is an exception to this tranquility though…

Each morning at 6.00 am from a place even closer to the shoreline, an ape' (arpay) is driven up the laneway directly beside Pino. Imagine the sound of a lawnmower. Then imagine the sound of a lawnmower to the power of ten; slightly higher in pitch and with all the appeal of a blowfly buzzing and you begin to gain a sense of the noise generated close to our window. You begin to think it is in the room with you as the three wheeled machine charges up the steep incline and out onto the road to Anacapri.