N. 29 - Capri

d’acquisto si chiamava Scannagatti.
Ma lo spirito felino aleggia da sempre in via
Vittorio Emanuele. È in questa strada che
nacque il primo caffé letterario dell’isola,
lo storico “Zum Kater Hiddigeigei” così
chiamato in onore del simpatico e sfaticato
gatto - Hiddigeigei appunto - protagonista
dell’opera di Victor von Scheffel, Il trombettiere
di Sackingen.
E Matisse incarna proprio quello spirito,
schivo e sornione, dei suoi predecessori
aggiungendovi un tocco di snobismo e ricercatezza,
maniera e grande ospitalità tipico di
Capri e di tutti gli abitanti dell’isola.
A WHITE CAT FOR A MASCOT
by Silvia Baldassarre
His name is Matisse and his
purring is the first thing that
greets guests at one of the oldest
hotels on the island
Matisse arrived on Capri three years ago,
on 12 August. No, not the celebrated
French artist, but the most famous
white cat on the island.
Yes, a cat, like the many other cats that
Capri has been and still is home to, between
the Faraglioni and the Piazzetta. Cats that
are believed by the more traditionalist, or
superstitious, depending on your opinion, to
be the reincarnation of the famous artists and
intellectuals that have written about, drawn,
lived on and adored the island; the popular
belief is that they loved the island so much that
after passing on to a better life they decided
to be reborn in animal form so that they need
never leave the island again.
Is this the case with Matisse? Renato Esposito,
owner of the White Cat Hotel, has no doubts
about it: in this cat, with its snow-white fur, he
can see the mannerisms and gestures of a
famous Italian journalist who loved Capri. We
cannot say any more than that, but the story
of Matisse is so unusual that one is tempted to
believe that it is true. He began life in the alleys
of Naples, where a woman found him, badly
injured, in her garden. The woman was a lover
of Capri and all its beauty, and after nursing
him lovingly back to health, she gave him to the
owner of the White Cat Hotel.
When he arrived on the island, no one could
have hoped for such a miraculous recovery.
The fur that had been sheared during his
treatment grew back whiter and glossier than
ever, and the hotel became his new home. His
fame now precedes him via the Internet, and
tourists arrive from all over the world, intrigued
by his story, along with presents and letters,
which always receive a prompt reply from
Matisse.
Of course, the choice of his new home was
no accident. In fact, the symbol and name of
the hotel where he lives were the result of a
happy intuition of the owners, who were able
to interpret the signs sent by fate when three
white kittens, born to a mother of the same
colour, were found in the lemon grove where
the hotel was built, and the notary who signed
the purchase was called Scannagatti (Catbutcher).
But the feline spirit has always been around in
Via Vittorio Emanuele. It was in this street that
the island’s first literary café came into being,
the historic “Zum Kater Hiddigeigei”, called
after the charming, lazy cat, Hiddigeigei, hero
of the poem The Trumpeter of Sackingen by
Victor von Scheffel.
And Matisse embodies the same spirit as his
predecessors: timid and sly, with the addition
of a touch of snobbery and refinement, and the
manners and hospitality so typical of Capri and
all its inhabitants.
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