The villa was then remodeled by the great Le Corbusier. But it was at the beginning of the twentieth century that the dancer and choreographer Leonide Massine fell in love with Li Galli, and bought them in 1924, building a villa the on Gallo Lungo. Later, they were frequented for hunting trips, taking advantage of the passage of migration birds. Around the middle of the Nineteenth century, a rabbit farm was established there, destroyed by a storm. The largest island, 400 meters long, was inhabited during Roman times and there are remains of a villa and a seaside district. Already present in a document of 1131, which speaks about Guallo, while “ Tre sirenas quae dicitur Gallus” were donatedto the monastery of Positano by Emperor Frederick II in 1225. And from their bodies half of a woman half of a bird, the islands took the name of Galli (Cocks).

Such was the shame that the three Sirens jumped into the sea and were transformed into rocks. Only two ships survived the disaster: Ulysses’ one, who had covered his ears with wax in order not to hear them, and the Argonauts’ one, thanks to Orpheus who, playing the lyre, managed to overcome the song. Sirenai or Sirenussai, this is how Strabo described the islands in his “Geography”, because there, for the Greek mythology, Parhtenope, Leucosia and Ligea, the Sirens, sang their irresistible song which ensnared and lost the sailors. And many ships interrupted their journey at that point, where the Sirens resided for the ancients. In a stretch of sea exposed to very insidious currents for the boats that sailed on the route to Scilla and Cariddi, the Strait of Messina. Strips of land bringing together what was once united, the Peninsula and the Blue Island. Three main islands, which together with the islet of Isca and the rocky spur of Vetara form Li Galli Archipelago, in the sea between Positano and Capri. The larger one, in the shape of a dolphin, which however has the name of Gallo Lungo.Īnd the other two accompanying it to the west, the Rotonda and, further north, the Castelluccia, also known as Isola dei Briganti (The Brigand’s island) because pirates stopped there to assail the ships passing through the Bocche di Capri. The timeless charm of these mysterious creatures has inspired and continues to inspire art and painting.Īlso in our ceramics we wanted to re-propose this theme so strongly connected to our territory, giving life to furnishing and decorative objects with a contemporary design.In spring, the yellow blooms of the daffodils colour the rich and low wild vegetation that covers the islands. According to the Legend, Ulysses, thanks to the stratagem of being tied to the mast of his ship, was thus able to cross the sea of sirens unharmed. The Homeric myth tells that the archipelago offered refuge to Partenope, Leucosia and Ligia, the three sirens who seduced the sailors with their amazing voices, until they lost control of their ships, drawing them against the rocks. There are many stories and anecdotes about these fascinating creatures, but the most famous one is certainly the legend of Ulysses and his encounter with the sirens in the Mediterranean Sea, where they lived. The mermaid, as we know it today, with the body half human and half fish, derives from the Medieval tradition and from the Nordic myths. The first to tell of these islands was Strabo, a Greek geographer of the 1st century BC in his “Geography”, identifying them as the headquarters of the mermaids and giving them them the name of Sirenai or Sirenussai.Įven the name, Li Galli (The Rosters), is in fact linked to these mythological figures, who in the ancient Greek iconography were represented as creatures with the body of a bird and the face of a woman. The biggest one, Gallo Lungo, is the only one which has been inhabited by the Romans., as the ruins of an ancient Domus also demonstrate, and it resembles a dolphin in shape. Li Galli islands are a tiny archipelago of three islands ( Gallo Lungo, La Rotonda, and Dei Briganti) located right in front of Praiano and Positano.

Gallo lungo