Ischia is also about culture. Here it is a guide to museums not to be missed during a stay on the green island.
An extraordinary place, suitable for all needs: sea, spas, entertainment, good food, but even culture. Lovers of history and art will be fascinated by what this island has to offer.
The findings held in the Archaeological Museum of Villa Arbusto and in the archaeological site of Santa Restituta in Lacco Ameno take you back in time to the eighth century BC, when settlers from the island of Euboea founded the first Greek colony in the West so far known, called Pithekoussai.
Nestor’s Cup, in the Villa Arbusto museum, is a must. It bears an inscription of three lines written from right to left, which represents one of the earliest examples of Greek writing. In the archaeological site of Santa Restituta, among the many testimonies dating back to greek – Roman era, you can see the base of a temple with three cells, a long gym, the ruins of a steam bath and the remains of a mill with millstones and mortars to grind wheat.
Music lovers cannot miss the William Walton’s House Museum in La Mortella’s gardens. The famous English composer moved to the island in the 50s with his Argentinian wife Susana and, with the help of landscape architect Russell Page, they created a small park of rare beauty, rich in rare tropical plants perfectly set in this corner of Ischia with a special microclimate.
Cinema lovers, instead, should visit the Colombaia – the Dovecote – which was once the summer residence of the famous writer and director Luchino Visconti. Among photos, videos, posters and costumes of his most important works, you are transported in the creative world of one of the most important figures of cinema of all time.
Last but not least, the Museum of the Sea, in Ischia Ponte, inside the Clock’s Palace. In this museum you will find maps, photos, models, tools and equipment needed to fishing and navigation: a true monument to the sea.
