The air of Capri has had an extraordinary effect on many remarkable people down the centuries - as if the island had come to the collective decision that it was made for pleasure, a commodity that foreign visitors have always found there in spades.

It was on Capri that the Emperor Tiberius built a palace where he 'gave vent to all the vices' that he hadn't been able to indulge in Rome. In the nervous days following the trial of Oscar Wilde, English homosexuals found Capri a perfect haven. And in 1919 one Capri resident even remarked on the necessity of swathing her two dogs in chastity belts...

James Money's Capri, first published in 1986, is the first full social history of the island: a rambunctious tale that boasts a vivid cast of characters, usually found in various states of congress.