The middle-aged couple, who were not identified, only discovered their error - the result of a tiny typo - when they asked staff in the local tourist office on Saturday how to drive to the island's famous "Blue Grotto".

"It's hard to understand how they managed it. I mean, Capri is an island," said Giovanni Medici, a spokesman for Carpi regional government, told Reuters on Tuesday. "It's the first time something like this has happened."

The picturesque island of Capri, famed as a romantic holiday destination, lies in the Gulf of Naples in southern Italy and has been a resort since Roman times. Carpi is a busy industrial town in the province of Emilia Romagna, at the other end of the country. But, not to be deterred by a small spelling mistake, the Swedes jumped back into the car and resumed their journey. "They were surprised, but not angry," Mr Medici said. "They got back in the car and started driving south."