[2] It was founded as a sanatorium in 1845 by the British doctor George Sidney Clark, who turned it into the Grand Hotel Quisisana in 1861.

[3] "Qui si sana" means "here one heals" in Italian.

[2] Notable guests of the hotel include Russian writer Maxim Gorky, Russian singer Feodor Chaliapin, Oscar Wilde (together with Lord Alfred Douglas) and Friedrich Alfred Krupp.

[4][5] Other notable guests have been Tom Cruise, Sidney Sheldon, Gianni Agnelli, Claudette Colbert, Jean-Paul Sartre, Gerald Ford, and Sting.

After escaping Egypt in 1952, King Farouk I was a guest of the hotel during part of his exile in Italy.