Walking through the majolica halls and flower gardens of the Grand Hotel Quisisana you magically retrace the history of Capri. Roger Peyrefitte wrote, describing the life of Capri in the early twentieth century, in the book “The exile of Capri…”: “The triumph of Quisisana was always that of Capri”. The secret of Quisisana is in its name. Mario Morgano, in an interview, recalled how the hotel had already been born in 1845 as a nursing home. The English doctor from Liverpool, George Sidney Smith Clark (English and not Scottish as mistakenly written on the plaque in the courtyard of the City of Capri) arrived in Capri around 1820 for a few days meets the “ciucciara” (asinara) Anna Lembo, called by the Capresi Nannarella. And, for the love of this beautiful girl caprese, he decided to open a nursing home, a sanatorium, to treat tuberculosis. Upon Clark’s death in 1868, the clinic was inherited by his wife and seven children. Already in the 1869 Beadeker, the Quisisana is referred to as a “very nice” hotel. However, it was the arrival of Federica Serena that transformed it, in a few years, into a luxury hotel famous throughout Europe. From humble dishwasher, this clever and intelligent caprese became a fine butler in London. Returning to Capri, he made the widow Lembo fall in love and became owner of the hotel. His friendship with the German magnate Alfred Friederich Krupp who, at the end of 1800, stayed for a month, with his numerous followers, in 5 suites of the hotel, led Serena in a short time to be Mayor of Capri. The hotel Quisisana became, at the beginning of 1900, “the hotel of Capri” favorite place of the rich German clientele who previously stayed at Pagano. Since then, much life and literature has been written in his rooms and salons. His guest book is a succession of famous people who have marked the history of the world.Political leaders, movie stars, restless writers, artists and dancers, fascinating top models, fashion designers and singers have stayed in its charming suites. Novels and novellas have had as scenario the hotel Quisisana. Ivan Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel prize winner of literature in 1933, has written a short story: “The Lord of San Francisco”, set in Capri and in the rooms of the Quisisana. Even Donald Duck was the protagonist of an adventure in the comic book “I Faraglioni di Pupria” that takes place in the fantastic ….” Quisisogna”. Since 1981, the Gran Hotel Quisisana has been run by the Morgano family. Mario Morgano and his family, descendants of Donna Lucia Morgano, founder of the mythical Zum Kater Hiddigeigei, a historic place where he met, sipping a coffee or drinking a beer, the most prestigious European intelligentsia of the early 1900, with such tenacity and passion, have made this hotel a jewel of the world hotellerie to which they follow and will follow many other characters to enrich the history and myth of this hotel, icon of Capri.
