Our Town: Capri shows off natural beauty of Italian landscape

Dr Tom Ferraro

Did you know that there are 319,602 Italian Americans in Nassau County?

That is 23 percent of its population and makes us No. 3 in the nation in numbers of Italian-Americans.

Right here Williston Park we have Luigi Suppa the tailor from Rome, Mike, Steve and Donna  Mistretta who own Frantonis Restaurant and Mike the barber who was born in Naples, the bustling city that invented the pizza.

In Williston Park I work next to Anthony Capetola, one of Long Island’s most powerful divorce attorneys and I’m very good friends with Vince Albanese, senior partner at Albanese and Albanese.

I play golf with Richard Ferrucci a vice president at Alliant Insurance Services.

Another Italian-American I knew and loved was  Freddie DeMatteis, one of Long Island’s biggest developers.

So how does one describe an Italian American?

Are they any different from an Irish-American, an Hispanic-American or a German-American?

Luigi Barzini wrote “The Italians” back in 1964 and his book still remains the definitive summary of the Italian character.

He described them as open, transparent, friendly, emotional, loud and warm. He remarked that you can read an array of emotions on an Italian waiter’s face ranging from warmth, disdain, boredom, interest and respect depending upon how and what you order.

But what Barzini emphasized most was the uniquely Italian gift for dramatic display and presentation including the way they dress, design towns, make furniture, build cars, make shoes, cut hair, act, sing  opera and even stroll down the street which they call ‘passegiata.”

How sad that in America we don’t even have a term to describe this type of leisurely way of walking.

Italy are geniuses in fashion (Armani, Ferragamo, Versace, Prada), in car design (Ferrari, Lamborghini), in acting (DeNiro, Pacino, Brando, Sophia Loren), in directing (Fellini, Scorsese, Coppola) and most of all in urban design.

They have created some of the world’s most breathtaking cities including Rome, Venice, Lake Como, Positano, Sorrento and Capri.

Stendhal was one of the 19th century’s greatest romantic writers, a Frenchman who spent much time in Italy.

He remarked “their natural ways, bonhomie, the great art of being happy which is here practiced with this added charm, that the good people do not know that it is an art, the most difficult of all.”

Barzini expanded on Stendhal and concluded that the reason so many foreigners love to visit Italy is the feeling of happiness or joy in the air often described as ‘la dolce far niente.’

Barzini concluded that Italy’s glorious weather combined with wonderful town squares draw the Italian out each evening to walk, sip coffee, have gelato, gossip or just watch others. He felt these dynamics make Italians the masters of social presentation.

Last week I wanted to go to Rome but thank God my wife talked me into going to Capri instead.

There is nothing that could have prepared me for what I experienced.

As the hydrofoil boat approaches the island it looks a bit imposing, even mountainous, about two miles wide and eight miles long.

We were to stay at the Grand Hotel Qvisisana which is in the center of all the action.

The driver took us up these tiny winding streets and then someone else escorted us on our walk to the hotel since no cars are allowed in the town itself.

Everyone strolls about with smiles on their faces.

We meandered through the town square, along 1,000 year old cobblestone streets, past all those luxury stores and then to our hotel.  A sweet lady took us to our room on the third floor and in we went.

The floors were all white and blue tile and as she showed us through the suite I noticed we had a balcony.

I walked onto the balcony and looked out.  And there before me was the magnificent island of Capri.

I can assure you I will never forget the sight.

There were the hotel gardens and light blue  pool below us surrounded by flowers and off in the distance was an azure  blue ocean framed by mountains on either side, a town built into the side of the mountain with all white homes, a clear blue sky above and white clouds floating by.

All I heard was the light chirping of birds in the trees.  I almost started to cry.

I had once read in graduate school of the Stendhal Syndrome which is a reaction to sublime and extreme beauty when it’s encountered in art.

This was first described by Stendhal when he visited the art in Florence. As he was looking at some of Michelangelo’s works he became dizzy, confused and nearly hallucinated.

The vision on this hotel balcony in Capri was something so beautiful, sublime, and breathtaking that I felt like I was in a dream.  And I continued to have this kind of Stendhal Syndrome reaction all week long.

As an example one day we took a stroll down Via Tragara in order to see the Faraglioni Rock.

It is wrong to call this merely a walk down a street.  This ancient street was carved into the side of this mountain and it was lined with stones walls and flower gardens that smelled like perfume and always to the right were views of an azure blue ocean down below and rock formations.

The views from this road are so stunning that it inspired some of Dore’s illustrations in Dante’s masterpiece “The Divine Comedy” written in 1320.

The wealth of the Roman Empire was used to build the city of Capri.

Emperor Tiberius ruled Rome but feared assassination so he fled to Capri which is where he built his home.  And now you can see celebrities like Anne Hathaway and Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise and Mariah Carey and Samuel Jackson vacationing in Capri in an effort to flee the paparazzi and to enjoy the majestic beauty of the place.

Italy is one of the world’s most magical places and the isle of Capri is its crowning achievement.

This is one place you simply must see before you die so that you will know exactly what heaven will look like when you get there.

My wife remarked that “Capri may be the world’s greatest dream.”

My friends Vince Albanese and Anthony Capetola and Luigi Suppa and Mike  Mistretta and Richard Ferrucci are all alike in their good nature and joyful disposition and generosity.

I think this characteristic comes from the pride they must have in coming from such a gloriously sunny and happy and beautiful part of the world.

Thank God there are places like Capri to visit and that they have invented jet places to take us there.

Give yourself the greatest gift of your life. Go visit Capri.

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