The “Royal Palace at Quisisana” is practically unknown even to those who know the area; yet it has claim to being the first royal palace in the north of the ancient Kingdom of Naples, even older than the Angevin fortress at the port (from 1300).

Quisisana is now part of the town of Castellamare di Stabia, at the beginning of the Sorrentine peninsula. The name may derive from Qui-si-sana (“Here is where you get healthy”), for here is where the Swabian dynasty, the Hohenstaufens, way back in the 1200s decided to build a royal residence on a hillside at about 400 feet above the sea so they could look out over the bay and get healthy. The other story is that the residence was built by Robert of Anjou in 1310 after a miraculous cure happened in the area. In any case—here is where you get well again. The site became a stop on the Grand Tour for artists and writers; even Bocccaccio had parts of his Decamerone take place here. The Quisisana residence was then inhabited by various members of the dynasties that ruled Kingdom of Naples until the unification of Italy in 1861.

Over the centuries there has been a succession of villas built on the grounds. In the 1500s the property came into possession of the Farnese family. Elizabeth Farnese was the mother of Charles III of Bourbon, who inherited the family farm(s), jewels, and statues. He then became the first king of Bourbon Naples in the 1730s. The villa was remade into a typically sumptuous Bourbon estate, and the recently restored building that you see today is that Bourbon villa from the late 1700s. It served as a royal residence right up to when Giuseppe Garibaldi used it as a hospital for men during his conquest of the Bourbon kingdom of the south.

The property was appropriated by the new Italian state and then sold to the town of Castellammare in 1879. The premises were about 12 acres; they contained the two-story main mansion with 100 rooms and typical royal trappings: workshops for making candles and saddles, riding grounds, two stables, a farm house, a church, various quarters for servants, and a five-acre park.

Quisisana became the Hotel Margherita in 1898, but remained little used for a number of years. It was a hospital in WWI, converted to a luxury hotel in the early 1930s, became a hospital again in WWII and was abandoned in the 1960s. The 1980 earthquake finished the job. Plans for restoration were drawn up in 1994 and work started in 2002.

Quisisana is now restored, but to what end, nobody seems to know. Proposals have been made to turn it into (1) an archaeological museum, (2) a school for the restoration of art and antiques, (3) a deluxe hotel, or (4) a gambling casino. The point of all these proposals is to help turn Castellammare around economically. In the vicinity of Pompeii and Sorrento, the town of Castallammare was never a tourist attraction to begin with. For centuries, the town worked for a living— the shipbuilder’s trade; the town was the site of very successful shipyards for centuries. That trade, too, has fallen upon hard times.

Since the Royal Palace of Quisisana was restored two years ago it has been the venue for occasional classical music concerts, classes in art restoration and exhibits of some of the considerable archaeological treasures in the area, but the premises are really just sitting there, waiting for someone to make a decision.