Magic a caprese story
The long strip directed towards the island of Capri, today called Punta Campanella the zone owes its name to the fact that several centuries ago the inhabitants of the coast, built a bell tower to alert the population when Saracen pirates were about.
Today sailors still recount an extraordinary love story about the magic of the sea. One night under a full moon, a young fisherman was guarding the tower. He fell into a sound sleep and was oblivious to the pirate ships that had already entered the gulf, ready to go ashore and raze the village. The enormous bell remained mute and all the villagers were attacked in their sleep and robbed of all their possessions. Among the precious objects that the Saracens carted away were the women of the town – the most beautiful of which was the secret love of the unfortunate guardian of Punta Campanella. The young fisherman could no longer find peace, so turned his sorrow towards the sea, passing whole days sitting and crying on the rocks at Punta Campanella. Until one day, something extraordinary happened.
While he pulled his net ashore, he heard a little voice saying: “Friend, if you throw me back to the sea and save my life, you’ll have my eternal gratitude. If you follow me without question I will give you a magic talisman that will reunite you with your lost love.” The young man didn’t make the voice repeat itself, but threw the enchanted fish back into the sea. Almost as if under a spell he set off in his little boat towards Capri, following the wake that the swimming and jumping fish traced through the water. After a few miles he stopped in front of a grotto. There the fisherman dove into the water and entered a luminous cav, surrounded by little multicolor horns. The magic fish invited the young man to choose one. The fisherman chose the smallest but most colorful one and hung it around his neck from a cord taken from his fishing net. After this ceremony the happy sailor began the voyage to foreign seas where he would finally liberate his beloved. How does the story end? No one has ever known, but even now the old fisherman still tell it on nights full of magic, lit by the full moon, as they navigate the waters of Capri and Punta Campanella.
