The origins of the Artis Domus Relais go back to the nineteenth century when the building was the house of the Sorrento poet Silvio Salvatore Gargiulo, named Saltovar. Among the most important vernacular authors in Sorrento, he was one of the earliest to understand the importance and to promote the development of handicraft, of tourism and of trade in Sorrento. 

The son of a Sorrento inlayer, a skilled artisan as well, known for his generosity, his political, journalistic and entrepeneurial commitments, he produced, ranging over different genres,  a copious series of literary and poetic works, then become a historical source from which to get precious information about life in Sorrento between the two centuries.  

In the early 1900, he collaborated  with the magazine Sorrento, of whom, in shor, the became owner and director . In 1907 he was a town councillor, in 1911 he took part in the foundation of the Circolo di Cultura di Sorrento (a Sorrento cultural association) and in 1919 he founded a periodical magazine, 'O Friccicariello. Though he did not take part in the Great War, he did not leave out the commemoration of  Sorrento fallen, being maker of numerous initiatives which involved him actively from 1921 to 1926. 
In 1925 he commissioned the construction of the Artis Domus, a Neo-classical building with Greek- Roman decorative motifs. Deeply in love with his land and with Tasso, he was engaged, until his death, happened on November 4th 1944, in the organization of a series of commemorative and promotional shows.