(CNN) — With lavish Baroque villas, unique gardens, dramatic landscapes, historical artwork and a seductive vibe, Sicily appears to be the proper location for season two of darkish comedy sequence “The White Lotus.”
The award-winning present charts the tangled, erotic and typically harmful adventures of super-rich vacationers staying on the stunning clifftop San Domenico Palace, a five-star resort operated by 4 Seasons within the city of Taormina.
A former 14th-century monastery with distinctive views of the Etna volcano and shoreline, the lodge is as a lot a star of the present as its solid of Hollywood and Italian A-listers. And, says its real-life supervisor, Lorenzo Maraviglia, it is a match for its fictional counterpart.
“The resort’s actual vibe may be very a lot much like what you see and really feel within the sequence,” he tells CNN Journey. “It is vibrant, it is about Sicily — each romantic and horny –and about our unbelievable company who this yr included Madonna and Sharon Stone.”
Made for HBO (which, like CNN, is a part of Warner Bros. Discovery), the sequence is filmed round Taormina, Noto, Cefalù and Palermo, however the San Domenico Palace is on the coronary heart of the intrigue and steamy liaisons that develop over the course of the seven-episode season.
And whereas company on the lookout for their very own White Lotus escape may not get fairly the identical racy experiences, Maraviglia insists his lodge will not less than ship the identical stage of service loved by the present’s characters.
“The success of the sequence relies on the fact of what happens in a luxurious lodge; the interactions between employees and shoppers, and amongst shoppers, are very actual,” he says.
However the “excessive conditions like the 2 native escorts coming and going to entertain company are a part of the drama and theatrics that add a layer of spiciness,” he provides, insisting that issues usually occur at a extra sedate tempo — so far as he is conscious.
“We might discover if there are bizarre actions if a state of affairs turns into apparent, however Taormina and our resort are locations the place such issues normally do not occur. It is for households and {couples} on their honeymoon. Even when somebody might have a weekend journey, it’s not perceivable by us.”
Guests to the San Domenico Palace will discover it precisely as portrayed in “The White Lotus.” These connecting doorways between suites actually exist. There are lush gardens for sundown drinks, fairly cloisters, a panoramic pool and a terrace overlooking the bay the place company have breakfast and a Michelin-starred restaurant the place the present’s characters typically argue.
Not that Sicily is any stranger to frisson. The island has an historical Greek heritage of sexual freedoms — a previous mirrored within the sequence, with pagan statues and spiritual frescoes silently witnessing the rich company’ extravagant actions.
Saints and prostitutes
“The White Lotus” season 2 is filmed within the San Domenico Palace lodge in Sicily.
Fabio Lovino/HBO
Taormina is seen in all its glamor: the imposing historical Greek theater, the panoramic piazzetta, the pastel-colored dwellings, elegant alleys with cafés and shiny boutiques, the stylish eating places like Baronessa the place one bickering couple’s dinner scene is filmed.
The most effective suites within the lodge, the place many of the present’s intercourse scenes happen, have plunge swimming pools and work of saints made by the monks who as soon as lived there.
“The decor, the rooms, it is all unique, what you see is actual, even the employees uniforms,” says Maraviglia.
Whereas Maraviglia might not have needed to area a number of the extra outlandish visitor requests that crop up in “White Lotus,” he says he is needed to cope with extravagant requests because the San Domenico opened final yr as a part of the 4 Seasons chain.
“Some company wished to go to the Aeolian isles with a non-public helicopter and lease a yacht to Syracuse which is barely an hour’s drive away,” he says.
Bodily, there are solely two actual deviations from actuality — the seaside scenes and pictures depicting the company arriving by boat. The resort, perched 400-meters atop Taormina’s excessive rocky plateau, has no sea entry. The personal deck of a close-by fish restaurant, La Cambusa at Giardini Naxos, was used to movie sea-arrival scenes.
And because the lodge has no personal shoreline, the close by Unahotels Capotaormina resort is the place company can take pleasure in solar loungers and umbrellas at a seaside membership carved right into a reddish cliff flanked by rock arches and sea stacks, overlooking the small island of Isolabella.
The islet, which additionally options in “White Lotus,” is related to the shore by a slim strip of sand and is one among Sicily’s most stunning and widespread snorkeling spots due to its emerald-green, nonetheless waters. It is a part of an archeological park and has a villa surrounded by unique vegetation that hosts a botanical museum.
Most bathing and underwater scenes had been shot on the public seaside of the picturesque fishermen village of Cefalú, between Taormina and Palermo.
Taormina’s bay witnessed real-life intrigue again in 1955, when a Polish heiress was allegedly drowned by her husband below mysterious circumstances stated to be linked to an inheritance.
Spats between {couples} in “The White Lotus” are additionally true to life. In 1967 a livid Elizabeth Taylor apparently smashed a mandolin over Richard Burton’s head on the terrace of their suite.
Plant pots and phalluses
The lodge constructing is a 14th century former monastery.
San Domenico Palace, 4 Seasons
There’s a number of Sicilian lore in “The White Lotus,” alongside references to the island’s mafia connections.
A ceramic sculpture of a bearded Moor’s head is steadily proven within the present as an emblem of betrayal, a nod to an area legend courting again to medieval occasions. It is stated one among Sicily’s Arabic occupiers had his head chopped off and used as a plant pot by a lady he had an affair with.
“This story embodies the Sicilian essence of affection, ardour and vengeance that are all represented within the ‘The White Lotus,'” says Sonia Bonamassa, San Domenico’s public relations coordinator. “She beheads the Moor as a result of she loves him however he has betrayed her.”
These testa di moro ceramic heads are right this moment utilized by Sicilians as vases, lamp holders, citrus bowls and flower pots or simply to embellish rooms.
The mori are emblematic of Sicily’s Arabic heritage. Different native mementoes embody colourful pigne pine nut-shaped ceramics which are believed by Sicilians to deliver good luck.
“Director Mike White was extraordinarily receptive of those native issues, we might joke about them and he included a lot of our recommendations within the season, like Italian songs, adapting his strategy to actuality,” says Maraviglia.
One tip that didn’t make the minimize, most likely as a result of it was too excessive even for such an erotically charged present, was an area watering gap that the actors nicknamed “the penis bar.”
Bar Turrisi, within the picturesque medieval village of Castelmola close to Taormina, is stuffed with objects formed like phalluses. “Bottles, watches, cups, every little thing,” says Maraviglia. Even staircases and ground tiles have penises.
Waitress Giorgia Ponturo says the (actual) lodge employees and crew commonly visited after a troublesome day of taking pictures and hopes the sequence will draw vacationers to quieter, lesser-known locations round Taormina like Castelmola.
“This bar dates again to 1947, it was a brothel and homosexual hotspot,” says Ponturo. “Then the proprietor determined to undertake the phallus motif, which was an historical Greek image of sexual efficiency and fertility, to reaffirm the virility of Sicilian males. It additionally brings good luck.”
Wild events and lavish mansions
The lodge’s supervisor says real-life company can anticipate the identical stage of luxurious seen within the present.
San Domenico Palace, 4 Seasons
Some scenes had been filmed at a renaissance palace known as Villa Tasca, which is definitely situated within the city of Monreale, close to Palermo. Set inside a lush park it has luxurious frescoes and statues, king-sized rooms and an unique pool-pond with contemporary spring water. Rented for weddings and personal occasions, it’s stated German composer Richard Wagner stayed right here whereas creating one among his masterpieces.
One other extravagant mansion featured in “The White Lotus” because the scene of an orgy is Villa Elena, which sits amongst olive groves close to Noto. It is adorned with previous tapestries and marble items and has an enormous pool jutting out of a temple.
“The White Lotus” pays homage to “The Godfather” mafia films, that includes the placement of a basic scene — Castello degli Schiavi in Fiumefreddo, a sublime fortress with a cloister. It is a personal property open to guided excursions and occasions bookings.
The most effective of Sicilian meals is showcased within the sequence, too. Visitors gulp down ricotta-filled cannoli, cassata muffins, gelato and arancini rice-balls. Characters commonly quaff native rosé and Martini. Two {couples} spend a wine-tasting day on the Planeta canteen on Mount Etna’s flanks, the place the volcano’s fertile black soil produces high bottles equivalent to Eruzione (“eruption.”)
Because the 1800s Taormina has been a VIP worldwide hotspot famend for its wild events and sexual freedom that harked again to the pagan Greek days when homosexuality was the norm. Anglo-Irish playwright Oscar Wilde was one frequent customer.
It’s stated Taormina may need been the birthplace of D.H. Lawrence’s novel “Woman Chatterley’s Lover.” The writer and his spouse had been company at San Domenico Palace within the early Twenties and the e-book was apparently impressed by an affair between Mrs. Lawrence and an area donkey rider.
International highlight
Not like within the present, company cannot actually arrive on the lodge by boat.
Fabio Lovino/HBO
Locals hope the worldwide promotion of Taormina in “White Lotus” will additional draw vacationers to Sicily and increase its enchantment as a Hollywood stage.
Giacomo Chillé of Uncover Messina journey company plans to arrange guided excursions to the sequence’ places. “There’s monumental potential in cine-turismo (tourism linked to films), we already take Individuals to ‘The Godfather’s’ spots with tailor-made journeys,” he stated.
Not everyone seems to be comfortable. Enzo Anastasi, proprietor of lodge La Canna, on the offbeat Filicudi isle within the Aeolian archipelago, is anxious about “dumbing down Sicily to a wealthy man’s Disneyland.”
He stated: “These American sequence promote and painting the standard super-rich folks and their glamorous spots, which aren’t the true, genuine soul of Sicily the place traditions and easy life survive.”
Taormina native Giuseppe Quattrocchi, proprietor of Le Bistrot du Monde restaurant, thinks the sequence might be a godsend for Taormina’s tourism however says he did not recognize how Sicily was at occasions portrayed.
“When three company go looking for their ancestors in a distant village and get kicked out by their alleged family members, that is the alternative from our inbred hospitality,” he says. “Additionally, the escorts and the reference to native legal organizations depict a adverse picture.”
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