Casa Rossa

Next to an ancient Aragonese tower, the Casa Rossa in Anacapri stands out for its vivid colour and its unusual history. It was built between 1876 and 1899 by the eccentric American colonel John Clay MacKowen, who chose Capri as his buen retiro. A visionary and passionate art lover, he transformed the residence into a small personal museum, enriching it with artefacts discovered on the island—from Villa Jovis to the Villa di Gradola—and with objects collected during his travels. After his tragic death in 1901, the house changed hands several times until, in 1990, it was restored and reopened to the public as an exhibition space. Today it is one of the five sites that make up the Autonomous Institute of Museums and Archaeological Parks of Capri.