Season One of The White Lotus, HBO series, created, written and directed by Mike White, explored a week in the life of staff and guests at a resort in Hawaii. The seven episodes of Season Two are set in another of the fictional White Lotus resort hotels: the San Domenico Palace in Sicily, by the sea and town of Taormina.
Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya McQuoid returns for this new intriguing new plot, with Haley Lu Richardson as Portia, the young employee who travels with her. New characters include: Bert, Dominic and Albie Di Grasso, father, son and grandson travelling together (F. Murray Abraham, Michael Imperioli, Adam DiMarco); Quentin, an English expat holidaying with friends (Tom Hollander); Cameron and Daphne Babcock, (Theo James, Meghann Fahy), on holiday with Ethan and Harper Spiller (Will Sharpe, Aubrey Plaza); and Jack, a charming guest (Leo Woodall). The Italian cast features Sabrina Impacciatore as the general manager, Beatrice Grannò and Simona Tabasco as prostitutes.
Episode 1 presents the guests and staff of the luxury San Domenico Palace, founded in 1374 as a Dominican convent, and transformed into a hotel in 1896, with the addition of a new art deco building which welcomed illustrious guests like Oscar Wilde, King Edward VIII, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren. In the series, the resort comprises the restaurant La Cambusa, actually in Giardini Naxos several km from Taormina.
Episode 2 is dedicated to exploring the surroundings. The opportunity is offered by a hotel guest’s morning jog: in the early light of dawn, halfway down corso Umberto, the shopping street, the southern end of piazza IX Aprile, with its chequered flooring looks towards the endless horizon from its viewpoint over Taormina, while the square is closed on the other sides by the Baroque Church of St. Joseph, the Church of St. Augustine and the clock with its crenelated bell tower. Ethan then runs to the little church of the Madonna della Rocca, which offers a spectacular view over Taormina and the sea surrounding it. Equally panoramic in position is the ancient theatre, the second largest Hellenistic theatre in Sicily (behind Syracuse). The guests’ day is spent shopping, sightseeing and eating in local restaurants: mount Etna in the background reliably spews flames, especially visible at night time.
Daphne organizes a trip to Noto in Episode 3, taking Harper with her. In the capital of Sicilian Baroque, the imposing bulk of the Cathedral of St. Nicolò, atop a wide staircase, is clearly recognisable. The two women spend the night in a Baroque palace that Daphne has rented: villa Tasca, a storied building based on a 16th century nucleus in a park of 8 hectares that stands on the road leading to Monreale from Palermo. In the meantime, Bert suggests a tour of the locations from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather to his son Dominic and grandson Albie. The tour includes Castello degli Schiavi in Fiumefreddo di Sicilia (province of Catania), nicknamed villa Corleone, which provided the hideout for Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in the film.
Tanya makes friends with Quentin, a wealthy gay Brit in Episode 4 and he tells her a story about isola Bella off the coastline of Taormina, currently protected by the Naxos Archaeological Park, which Daphne and Ethan will visit in the last episode.
Quentin’s Palermo villa, where he hosts Tanya and Portia in episode 5 is actually villa Elena, a stunning residence near Noto, restored by Jacques Garcia, recognisable for its colonnades and reception rooms, especially the Green Room with its 18th century decorations. Quentin and his friends decide to take their “heroine” to the opera at the Massimo Bellini Theatre in Catania, where the foyer and stalls astonish Tanya, while Portia and Jack visit Palermo.
Lungomare Giuseppe Giardina in Cefalù appears in Episode 6 when Portia and Jack stop for an ice cream and a chat (a frame shows the city’s imposing cathedral).
Meanwhile, Bert, Dominic and Albie spend the day researching their roots and head to Testa dell’Acqua, a hamlet of Noto, with its piazza Sant’Isidoro, dedicated to the town’s patron saint.
Sets were also built at the Lumina Studios in Rome.
Season One of The White Lotus, HBO series, created, written and directed by Mike White, explored a week in the life of staff and guests at a resort in Hawaii. The seven episodes of Season Two are set in another of the fictional White Lotus resort hotels: the San Domenico Palace in Sicily, by the sea and town of Taormina.
Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya McQuoid returns for this new intriguing new plot, with Haley Lu Richardson as Portia, the young employee who travels with her. New characters include: Bert, Dominic and Albie Di Grasso, father, son and grandson travelling together (F. Murray Abraham, Michael Imperioli, Adam DiMarco); Quentin, an English expat holidaying with friends (Tom Hollander); Cameron and Daphne Babcock, (Theo James, Meghann Fahy), on holiday with Ethan and Harper Spiller (Will Sharpe, Aubrey Plaza); and Jack, a charming guest (Leo Woodall). The Italian cast features Sabrina Impacciatore as the general manager, Beatrice Grannò and Simona Tabasco as prostitutes.
Episode 1 presents the guests and staff of the luxury San Domenico Palace, founded in 1374 as a Dominican convent, and transformed into a hotel in 1896, with the addition of a new art deco building which welcomed illustrious guests like Oscar Wilde, King Edward VIII, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren. In the series, the resort comprises the restaurant La Cambusa, actually in Giardini Naxos several km from Taormina.
Episode 2 is dedicated to exploring the surroundings. The opportunity is offered by a hotel guest’s morning jog: in the early light of dawn, halfway down corso Umberto, the shopping street, the southern end of piazza IX Aprile, with its chequered flooring looks towards the endless horizon from its viewpoint over Taormina, while the square is closed on the other sides by the Baroque Church of St. Joseph, the Church of St. Augustine and the clock with its crenelated bell tower. Ethan then runs to the little church of the Madonna della Rocca, which offers a spectacular view over Taormina and the sea surrounding it. Equally panoramic in position is the ancient theatre, the second largest Hellenistic theatre in Sicily (behind Syracuse). The guests’ day is spent shopping, sightseeing and eating in local restaurants: mount Etna in the background reliably spews flames, especially visible at night time.
Daphne organizes a trip to Noto in Episode 3, taking Harper with her. In the capital of Sicilian Baroque, the imposing bulk of the Cathedral of St. Nicolò, atop a wide staircase, is clearly recognisable. The two women spend the night in a Baroque palace that Daphne has rented: villa Tasca, a storied building based on a 16th century nucleus in a park of 8 hectares that stands on the road leading to Monreale from Palermo. In the meantime, Bert suggests a tour of the locations from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather to his son Dominic and grandson Albie. The tour includes Castello degli Schiavi in Fiumefreddo di Sicilia (province of Catania), nicknamed villa Corleone, which provided the hideout for Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in the film.
Tanya makes friends with Quentin, a wealthy gay Brit in Episode 4 and he tells her a story about isola Bella off the coastline of Taormina, currently protected by the Naxos Archaeological Park, which Daphne and Ethan will visit in the last episode.
Quentin’s Palermo villa, where he hosts Tanya and Portia in episode 5 is actually villa Elena, a stunning residence near Noto, restored by Jacques Garcia, recognisable for its colonnades and reception rooms, especially the Green Room with its 18th century decorations. Quentin and his friends decide to take their “heroine” to the opera at the Massimo Bellini Theatre in Catania, where the foyer and stalls astonish Tanya, while Portia and Jack visit Palermo.
Lungomare Giuseppe Giardina in Cefalù appears in Episode 6 when Portia and Jack stop for an ice cream and a chat (a frame shows the city’s imposing cathedral).
Meanwhile, Bert, Dominic and Albie spend the day researching their roots and head to Testa dell’Acqua, a hamlet of Noto, with its piazza Sant’Isidoro, dedicated to the town’s patron saint.
Sets were also built at the Lumina Studios in Rome.
Copyright: Sky
Beatrice Grannò, Simona Tabasco
Copyright: Sky
Aubrey Plaza, Meghann Fahy, Theo James, Will Sharpe
Copyright: Sky
Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James, Meghann Fahy
Copyright: Sky
Theo James, Will Sharpe
Copyright: Sky
Theo James, Meghann Fahy, Will Sharpe, Aubrey Plaza
Copyright: Sky
Sabrina Impacciatore, Federico Ferrante
Copyright: Sky
Haley Lu Richardson, Jennifer Coolidge, Sabrina Impacciatore
Copyright: Sky
Sabrina Impacciatore
Copyright: Sky
Simona Tabasco
