Have the preening hordes ruined Capri for good? JANE FRYER

The Grotta Azzurra, or Blue Grotto, is a vast sea cave - 200ft long, 80ft wide - set deep into the limestone cliffs at Capri's eastern tip.

Over the years it has been Roman Emperor Tiberius's personal swimming hole, a marine temple, a home for witches and monsters and, more recently, a very private swimming spot, I'm told, for .

But its big moment came in 1826, when the cave was 'rediscovered' by German writer August Kopisch and his friend Ersnt Fries, after a local fisherman took them there.

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