The Royal Victoria Hotel is located in the oldest part of the medieval settlement of Pisa on the northern bank of the River Arno.
The earliest part of the building is a tower erected by the Winemaker's Guild in the 11th century, which served both as an inn and as their headquarters.
In the early 16th century when the city state of Florence conquered Pisa, the tavern became known as the Locanda della Vittoria (Inn of the Victory).
While working in London for some years he was introduced to the wealthy travellers going to Italy and began to organise their holidays in Tuscany, renting villas for them.
The hotel has had many illustrious and famous guests, including Charles Dickens,[5] Charles Lindbergh,[5] The Rockefeller family,[6] Émile Zola,[6] Alexandre Dumas, John Ruskin, Virginia Woolf, Lloyd George, Theodore Rousevelt, and the royal families from Austria, Bulgaria, Iraq, Russia, German states, Belgium, Netherlands (Queen Wilhelmine), UK, Japan, Brasil (emperor), Serbia, Norway, Sweden.