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I first read The Story of San Michele when I was in my twenties, but recently re-read it in preparation for a holiday that included a visit to the villa. Having now visited, I can better understand why Axel Munthe felt so passionately about the location.

The book is extremely well-known but if you haven’t come across it before, it’s made up of passages from the life of the author. Axel Munthe, (1857-1949), was a Swedish doctor of Flemish descent, and one aspect of his rich and varied life story involved purchasing a ruined building on the island of Capri, where he built what is today known as the Villa San Michele.

I remembered the book as being entertaining even though the author was egotistical. Both impressions were reinforced in my re-read. I suppose writing a memoir is by its nature an egotistical act, but Munthe comes across as a man with stratospheric levels of self-esteem. Humblebragging is his speciality, with lots of comments along the lines of “I saved the life of X, but I just got lucky�, or “Whilst I performed such and such a rescue, others did far more�. You get the idea. In addition, he seems to have been extremely opinionated and more than a bit selfish in his personal life (though not in his professional life).

BUT, the book is extremely entertaining. Munthe led a pretty extraordinary life. Large parts of it aren’t even mentioned in here, or barely so. He married into the British aristocracy but his wife and children in England are not mentioned in the book (it’s possible of course, that his wife preferred it that way). He was a doctor in the French Army during WW1 but that is only mentioned in passing. Most of the book relates episodes from Munthe’s life as a fashionable doctor in Paris or from his time in Capri, where he vividly describes the community of Anacapri where he lived. There are a couple of chapters describing visits back to Sweden, including one to Swedish Lappland. He also describes some of his famous patients/friends, who included Henry James, Guy de Maupassant, and the Queen of Sweden. The last apparently used to spend 3 months of each year in Capri, on Munthe’s recommendation. When I first read the book 30-odd years ago, I don’t think I knew who James and Maupassant were.

Munthe used the money earned from his wealthy customers to provide free medical services to the poorest people in Paris, and in one chapter he travels to Naples in 1884 to volunteer his services during a cholera epidemic. The description of this epidemic, and of the conditions in Naples at the time, are beyond horrifying. In complete contrast, parts of the book include fantastical elements where Munthe has conversations with ghosts and goblins, as well as various visions. I can’t tell whether he is being serious in describing these encounters. He says he is.

As you will have gathered, it’s hard to categorise this book. Many people love it, but some hate it.

I’ll probably have a bit of a run on Italian-themed books, following my recent trip.