Piazza Umberto I (La Piazzetta)

Piazza Umberto I, known as La Piazzetta, was once Capri's market square. The old cathedral's clock tower overlooks it, and the square has served as a social centre since the twentieth century.

Why it matters

The square, formally named for a king and commonly known as La Piazzetta, is a central public space in Capri. Its compact form, the clock tower and surrounding historic buildings have made it a focal point of the island's civic life.

What to notice

The campanile carries the square's clock. It began as a watchtower of uncertain, possibly Byzantine origin, was remodelled under corsair pressure in the sixteenth century, and became a bell tower when the present cathedral of Santo Stefano rose on the square in the seventeenth century. Opposite it, the town hall faces the steps to the former cathedral.

Context and history

The square began as the practical centre of a fishing and farming town — the market where fish, vegetables and, only occasionally, meat were sold. Its transformation into a stage came in 1938, when a young islander, Raffaele Vuotto, set a few tables outside his bar; before that, the island's social life happened at home or in hotels, and afterwards it happened here, in public, facing the tower. The custom grew into the piazza's reputation as Capri's salotto, a shared public space at the centre of island life. A restoration project approved by the council in 2022 included work on the tower's bells.