Capri

For ten years between 27 and 37 AD, the Roman emperor Tiberius ran the empire from Capri. He built twelve villas around the island, the largest being Villa Jovis on the eastern cliffs, where you can still walk through the foundations of the imperial council chambers and look down the cliff he was rumoured to throw enemies off. Capri has been a place to retreat from the world and rule it from a distance ever since, first for Roman senators and then for the writers and painters of the early 20th century, who turned the island into the model for what modern luxury tourism would become.

A yacht puts you on the right side of the island. From the deck you can see the Faraglioni, the three limestone stacks that rise out of the sea below Punta Tragara, and most charters anchor off them in the morning for a swim and lunch on board. The afternoon usually runs into Marina Piccola for shore time, while the morning visit to the Blue Grotto, the sea cave the German painter August Kopisch rediscovered for European tourism in 1826, has to be timed early because the cave is still entered by small wooden boats one at a time and the line builds quickly. Marina Grande, the working port on the north of the island, is where you tender ashore for the evening.

Capri itself is small, about ten square kilometres, with one road up to the town and no cars allowed in the Piazzetta, the small square at its centre. Most Bay of Naples charters pick up in Naples or Sorrento, and Capri is usually a stop on a wider Amalfi or Aeolian week rather than the destination on its own.