One of the most representative characters of Capri is without a doubt the “Bella Carmelina” who with her story has contributed to the myth of the island.
Carmelina was born in Capri in 1880, beautiful and handsome from an early age she became passionate about dancing and it was a few years later that, while she let herself be carried away by her passion, a young man saw her who fell in love with her and married her.
Together the two young people decided to open a tavern on the road to the slopes of Monte Tiberio where, in addition to being able to taste the typical cuisine and good local wine, in the evening you could attend the dance “Bella Carmelina” Who barefoot performed in a lively Tarantella rotating his wide and colorful skirt to the rhythm of the tamburello. And not only with the dance, the young lady delighted and intrigued the frequent visitors and tourists of her business with stories about Tiberius, or Timberio as she used to call him, whose anecdotes were partly true and partly invented. It aroused the curiosity of those who listened to it by reporting the aberrations that had marked the long stay of the emperor in Capri, including the most famous one referring to the legend of the Leap of Tiberius where it seems that the ruler used to get rid of rebel slaves and enemies Throwing them ruinously into the sea below. And to give greater truth to what he told, The beautiful dancer, claimed that such events were revealed to him directly by the ghost of the same Emperor who in the nights of full moon usually appeared to her and while she delighted him with his sinuous movements he told her about the pomp and vices of his empire.
And thanks to these so-called confidences that the tourists and even residents of the island who frequented his tavern named her “the handmaid of Tiberius”.
His fame grew disproportionately and many landed on Capri attracted by his myth, Some also famous including the Kaiser of Germany William II and the archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri who fascinated by the tales of the beautiful dancer decided to deepen the excavations of Villa Jovis bringing to light everything that was still buried in the ancient structure.
At this point, the popularity of “Bella Carmelina” began to decline.
The tourists now more than listen preferred to see and visit the ruins of the past glory of Tiberio in Capri and the tavern became the meeting place of dusted and sweaty workers who worked on the excavations of the Villa.
The “Bella Carmelina” became the shadow of herself, unable to accept that no visitor stopped at her place and especially that no one wanted to listen to her imaginary stories and see her dance.
And after a few years that see her surrender to the passage of time and with the mind no longer lucid Carmelina Cerrotta known by all as the “Beautiful Carmelina”, after having burned the dresses of dancer, in a hot day of July, he ended his life by flying down from the balcony of his house.
So ends an existence in some ways extraordinary even if, especially in the years adjacent to that lusty event, many claimed that in the clear summer nights, for the little road leading to Villa Jovis, to have seen the beautiful Carmelina, young and beautiful, dancing in the full moon before her Emperor who admired her “handmaid” bewitched.
Photos – web source
