The Villa takes its name from a small chapel of the tenth century, which stood in Medieval times at the end of "Scala Fenicia", in the territory of Anacapri. In 1895, Swedish physician Axel Munthe fell in love with the ruins of ancient chapel dedicated to San Michele, while he carried out the restoration works, in adjacent vineyard he found the remains of an ancient Roman villa, which he designed to decorate his new villa. Numerous archaeological finds are still visible. In the garden there is also a Greek tomb, with a granite sphinx that dominates from the lookout point across the island of Capri.