The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe

"The Story of San Michele: A magical memoir of turning dreams into reality" is by Swede Axel Munthe, first published in 1929. While the book includes visits to Lapland, Paris, and Naples, its core tale features Capri and Anacapri.  As my first taste of Italian travel literature, it was rich and sweet.


I learned of the book during my first trip to Italy in 2005. My Roman tour guide insisted it was a must read since my next stop was Capri by way of Positano. Arriving in Positano, I stumbled upon a nest of a libreria tucked in among the many clothing and leather boutiques. I spotted the vibrant blue cover of "The Story of San Michele", and luckily, the shop's only English copy.


Munthe, a humanist, Swedish physician, animal lover, architect, and poet, visited Capri as a young man. His journey around the island included the ruins of a chapel, dedicated to San Michele. The remains rested over a villa once belonging to the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Munthe's enchantment with this magical place fueled his commitment to return, which he did years later, to rebuild Villa San Michele. It is a testament to his dreams, love of light, nature, and belief "the soul needs more space than the body."

View from Villa San Michele

The book is a series of vignettes, shared in a whimsical timeline, some dream-like, some like poetry, while others like letters to a friend. He converses with the animals he loves, angels who guide him, and the various friends and patients collected through life. Ultimately losing his sight while growing old at his beloved Villa, Munthe poetically and beautifully accepts the rapid advance of the end of his days. 


In contemplating what is to come, Munthe personifies Death and they engage in conversation. Death complains of character assassination, and reassures Munthe his role is apolitical. Death is simply a natural law...and poet:

'I heard a golden oriele sing in the garden yesterday, and just as the sun went down a little warbler came and sang to me under window, shall I ever hear him again?'

'Where there are angels there are birds.'

'I wish a friendly voice could read the "Phaedo" to me once more.'

'The voice was mortal, the words are immortal, you will hear them again.'

'Shall I ever hear again the sounds of Mozart's Requiem, my beloved Schubert and the titan chords of Beethoven?'

'It was only an echo from Heaven you overheard.'

'I am ready. Strike, friend.'

'I am not going to strike. I am going to put you to sleep.'

'Shall I dream?'

'Yes, it is all a dream.'

'Shall I awake?'

No answer came to my question.

I found this book enchanting, whimsical and somewhat meditative. Munthe's humour, wit and wisdom are clear from the book's opening pages. In the 1930 preface, he notes a reviewer's comment there are enough stories within the book to inspire plots for countless "sensational" short stories. Munthe, a man of action and purpose, responds

"Surely it must be a more comfortable job to sit in an arm-chair and write short sensational stories than to toil through life to collect the material for them, to describe diseases and Death than to fight them, to concoct sinister plots than to be knocked down by them without warning!"

The author describes his journey though life, and the wisdom he has acquired along they way, by using different forms of writing including personal narrative and fantasy.  In either form, Munthe's insight on the pace of life, and its constant change is exhilarating.

Garden at the Villa

Described as an "incorrigible dreamer", friends could not understand how a man of society and culture could settle in the "wretched little village" of Anacapri to build, without an architect, the Villa San Michele. Munthe was steadfast.  His company would be his dogs and perhaps a monkey; his music would be the sea and birds in the garden.  The building of the Villa would take care of itself.



I did not visit Villa San Michele during that particular trip to Capri, or the following two visits in the years to follow. Visiting San Michele remains on my list of places to see, and to experience its spiritual quality and beauty. I guess this means another trip to Capri. How convenient... 




P.S.  I tend to save sentimental items in my books. In this book, I find:

1. a heart-shaped leaf
2. a postcard with a picture of a kitten and the words "like I care"
3. a piece of torn magazine with quote by John Barth "Stories last longer than men, stones than stories, stars than stores. But even our stars' nights are numbered."
4. a few torn magazine pages dated 2008 October with January Jones channeling Grace Kelly