The floor of this church is a painting: majolica tiles covering the whole surface and depicting the earthly paradise, with Adam and Eve driven out, the serpent in the tree and around them dozens of animals, some copied from prints and others invented. It was made in 1761 by a Neapolitan master, and to avoid ruining it you walk around it, not on it.
What to see
The animals are the amusing part: there are the unicorn, the elephant, the crocodile, the horse, the dog, the birds, drawn by somebody who almost certainly had never seen them alive. The landscape is full of trees and flowers, and the colours are those of Neapolitan ceramics, yellows, greens and blues.
The church is octagonal, with a dome and pale walls, and the structure serves one purpose only: to let you see the floor. That is why there is an upper gallery, reached by a narrow stair, and from up there you look at the whole composition as you look at a hung picture, from above and all at once.
Visiting
The church is in piazza San Nicola, in Anacapri, five minutes from the main square; paid entry, with seasonal hours and closing in winter. Twenty minutes. You walk round the edge, on the walkways.
Our editors' tip
Go straight up to the gallery before looking close up: the composition only reads from there, and from below you see only fragments. Then come down and hunt for one animal at a time along the edge: it is how the people of Capri looked at it in the eighteenth century, having all the time in the world during mass to study it.
