Beautiful Capri is fed up with it: meaning, the ‘pollution’ of the masses of day-trip tourists that swamp the island’s extended shopping street, creating friction and obstruction along the small village’s backbone. We’re talking about the flocks of Japanese and Americans invading the marina at the crack of dawn, taking the funicular railway up, following their guide (the one with the red umbrella) through Capri’s boutique street, digitally registering everything that passes the lens - from the luxury shops of Prada and Louis Vuitton to the cats and dogs in the flower pots - then going back, Naples-bound, in the evening to take the flight to their next stop, Paris. The Capresi would like to ban them from the island - if they could - as they produce ‘unwanted waste’ without the spending - not even a gelato con straciatella, could you imagine... Capri, c’est fini.

Enter the Fondazione Capri, created earlier this spring for obvious reasons.  Reading almost like a real-life Southern-Italian saga, a few entrepreneurs from the island thought it was about time to finally get on speaking terms if they want to change this tourism anomaly: a few 5-star hotelkeepers, the head of public transport and a publisher/bookstore owner joined forces and funds by creating the Fondazione Capri to rethink the island’s future – recalling Capri’s golden period of the fifties and sixties. It is clear that they hope to attract other visitors, who will come to stay and savour the island’s beauty in slow motion, and who don’t mind spending in exchange for culture, adventure and romance, (re)making it a port of call for hedonists.

The Capri Trendwatching Festival – as a first take on the ‘contemporary’ by the foundation – was launched in mid October, and although we’re not quite keen on the word ‘trendwatching’, the programme promised some international ‘visionary’ speakers onstage at the chapel of the Certosa di San Giacomo, a magnificent 14th century Carthusian monastery, such as Chris Anderson from Wired, Sci-fi writer Bruce Sterling, fashion trendwatcher Li Edelkoort, social anthropologist Ted Polhemus and fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck. On the theme of ‘Tomorrow, Now’, the idea of the event was basically to reflect on contemporary and future lifestyles. Although some challenging directions were brought up, most of the speakers stuck to their usual ‘habitat’, also giving the impression of noodling around the subject. This was emphasized by the lack of interaction or discussion with these keynote speakers, leaving a lot to our imagination about the future. Wasn’t it a missed opportunity not to have had a discussion between Bruce Sterling and Chris Anderson about the future of the Internet or between Walter Van Beirendonck and Li Edelkoort about the virtues of trendwatching and fashion style forecasting? But on the other hand, we’d also love to experience a next edition that is tied more closely to Capri’s needs, aspirations and realities regarding its present and future identity, with topics and speakers selected accordingly. The material is all there. So, soon to be continued, we do hope.

Besides the festival, Capri has much more to discover for visitors curious about the island’s amazing nature, history and last but not least its gastronomy. By the way, don’t miss Roman emperor Tiberius’ Villa Jovis or the Villa Malaparte from Godard’s ‘Le Mépris’. Capri, c’est pas fini.