{"id":113496,"date":"2021-05-04T09:46:50","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T09:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=113496"},"modified":"2021-05-04T09:46:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T09:46:50","slug":"capri-italys-blue-island-emerges-from-the-pandemic-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/capri-italys-blue-island-emerges-from-the-pandemic-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Capri, Italy's blue island, emerges from the pandemic blues"},"content":{"rendered":"
CAPRI, Italy (Reuters) – Capri\u2019s world has always been blue – the color of the water surrounding the Mediterranean island, many of its fishing boats and, most famously, the light in its Blue Grotto.<\/p> Now, the glamorous tourist destination with magnificent mansions, classy restaurants and world class shopping is hoping to shake off the pandemic blues after a year of on-and-off closures that have depressed the economy.<\/p>\n \u201cI can sense a positive spirit, a spirit of recovery,\u201d said Paolo Federico, general manager of the five-star Punta Tragara hotel. \u201cMaybe this anxiety will not be part of our baggage anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Capri, like the rest of Italy, is slowly reopening. Outdoor dining became possible again on April 26 and indoor dining will be allowed at the start of June.<\/p>\n Tourism to the island, made famous in the last century by superstar habitu\u00e9s such as Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren and later by Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lopez, plunged by about 70 percent over the pre-pandemic period, when up to three million people visited yearly.<\/p>\n Optimism trickles down from luxury fashion shops and top-tier restaurants such as La Capannina, where a photo of Jackie Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis eating there 50 years ago hangs on the wall, to more modest haunts as well as to fishermen and boat operators.<\/p>\n Vincenzo Iaccarino, president of the island\u2019s Blue Grotto boat drivers, found it strange for Capresi – as the island\u2019s natives are known – to have the place mostly to themselves, almost as if a key ingredient was missing in a recipe.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful but it doesn\u2019t dance\u201d without visitors, he said, using the popular Italian idiom \u201c\u00c8 bella ma non balla.\u201d<\/p>\n Iaccarino, 57, a boat owner authorised to take tourists inside Capri\u2019s famed Blue Grotto, has for 33 years shepherded them past the narrow, low opening, just as his father did.<\/p>\n Sunlight passing through an underwater cavity creates an illuminating reflection so magically blue that the Roman Emperor Tiberius, who had a villa on the island, is said to have used it as his private swimming hole 2,000 years ago.<\/p>\n Fourteen of Italy\u2019s 20 regions, including the Campania region where Capri is located off the coast of Naples, have been designated yellow zones with a relatively low COVID risk. Five are classified orange and one red.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m optimistic and I hope we will work because (we won\u2019t be able to stand) another year like last year,\u201d said Iaccarino.<\/p>\n The European Union has said American visitors, a traditional mainstay for Capri\u2019s tourist season, can travel to member countries this summer if they have been vaccinated. Europe is racing to launch a digital health \u201cGreen Pass\u201d scheme in June to save the holiday season.<\/p>\n Capri\u2019s mayor, Marino Lembo, is hopeful that the worst is over for the island\u2019s 14,000 residents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are optimistic, the world has changed and many negative things have happened but, looking to the future, I believe we will come out of this situation slowly, respecting the rules,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n