The Church of San Costanzo is on a higher place, in the district of Aiano di Sotto. It is the most ancient catholic building on the island: as reported by the tradition, Costanzo Patriarch of Costantinople, while he was coming back home from Rome, escaped to a violent storm and landed fortunately on the isle of Capri. He interpreted his rescue as a God will and decided to settle on the island with his disciples in order to convert inhabitants to Christianity. His relics had been kept inside the church he founded and from then he has been worshipped as Patron Saint of Capri.

In 987 A.D. the Archbishop of Amalfi created the diocese of Capri and replaced the old christian church with a new one in Byzantine style: the church of San Costanzo was seat for the Bishop of Capri until 1596, when they decided to move the seat into the new cathedral in the centre of Capri, better protected from Muslim pirates (here still called Saracens). This transfer caused the rivalry between Capresi (inhabitants of centre) and the "Greeks" (people from Marina Grande). Since then, even if once a year the relics of San Costanzo are carried here and kept for a week during the festivity of the Patron in May in order to recall the origin of the worship, the religious paths were definitively separated and the Marina Grande chose another Patron, the Madonna della Libera (Our Lady of Freedom, once again against Saracens), whose festivity is on September. Also the Church took her name in 1972.  [ More...]