Seasoned character actress Jennifer Coolidge is currently enjoying a very well-deserved moment in the sun! Not only is the mystery/thriller series “The Watcher,” in which she stars as overly aggressive Westfield, N.J. realtor Karen Calhoun, garnering stellar numbers on Netflix for the third consecutive week since its debut, but the highly-anticipated second season of her award-winning HBO show “The White Lotus” has just premiered to much fanfare, as well. With new episodes dropping each Sunday through mid-December, the latest season sees Coolidge reprising her role as eccentric multi-millionaire/White Lotus Blossom Circle member Tanya McQuoid, as she embarks upon a weeklong European getaway with her now husband, Greg Hunt (Jon Gries).
Originally envisioned as a limited series (born out of a pandemic-centric need to shoot an entire show in one controlled location), HBO shifted gears once “The White Lotus” became “the talk of the town,” as executive vice president of programming Francesca Orsi explained to Cosmopolitan, promptly renewing it for another go-around with a different cast of characters, save for Tayna and Greg. Each more mysterious than the last, newcomers include humorless employment attorney Harper Spiller (Aubrey Plaza), womanizing show business bigwig Dominic Di Grasso (Michael Imperioli), gassy octogenarian Bert Di Grasso (F. Murray Abraham) and disgruntled personal assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson), among others. And yes, as is shown in the opening scene of the first episode, one of them will be dead by the time the final credits roll!
Along with a new cast, the current season also features a completely new setting. While season one took place at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, this time around, the cast and crew descended upon San Domenico Palace, Taormina, another Four Seasons property nestled atop a picturesque promontory overlooking the Ionian Sea and the Mount Etna volcano on Sicily’s eastern coast.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons Hotel The posh resort was initially constructed during the 14th century as a private home for wealthy Taormina local Baron Damiano Rosso d’Altavilla. In 1430, following his passing, the sprawling blufftop estate, the oldest in the area, was temporarily bequeathed to the Dominican religious order for use as a convent. It continued to operate as such for more than 400 years until ownership was ultimately reverted to one of Rosso d’Altavilla’s descendants, Prince Cerami, who added a large wing to the property and transformed it into a luxurious hotel. Opened to the public in 1896, the former convent proved an idyllic spot for a lodging. As a 1907 Dunn County News article extolled, “The old monks would no doubt be surprised could they look in on their old home and see the commodious cells comfortably furnished, heated by steam and lit with electricity and gas. The large refectory makes a fine dining room with loggia where on fine days breakfast is served, the cloisters and garden, now a beautiful park, delightful places in which to sit and exercise in during the day, in rain or shine, while the 300-foot corridors, wide and furnished with numerous tables and chairs are comfortable as promenades or social halls.”
San Domenico Palace soon became the place to vacation in Sicily, with luminaries such as playwright Oscar Wilde, novelist D.H. Lawrence and King Edward VII all holidaying there. Although it was taken over by the German troops during World War II (and was even bombed by the Allies), it reopened as a luxe lodging in 1946, quickly rising to the same popularity it enjoyed in its early days, with Hollywood heavyweights like Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn and Truman Capote all checking in. Famously tumultuous paramours Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are said to have come to major blows at the hotel one night in 1967, which resulted in the actress smashing a mandolin over her husband’s head!
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Image Credit: Courtesy of San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons Hotel The summer of 2021 ushered in a new era for San Domenico Palace as it was thoroughly updated and rebranded as a Four Seasons resort. Today, the property offers the utmost in service and luxury, with 111 rooms and suites, a first-class gym, a pop-up Botanica Spa (a permanent spa will be added next year), a 69-foot infinity pool, three onsite eateries, a grand ballroom (which formerly served as the Church of Santa Agata), a plethora of lush gardens and courtyards and over 18,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space.
Open seasonally, each spring through fall, the hotel provided a highly convenient location for “The White Lotus” shoot, with the winter closure allowing cast and crew to take over the resort in its entirety for the extended filming.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons Hotel Purported to be the White Lotus Resort Sicily on the show, San Domenico Palace is proving a gorgeous landscape for the storyline to play out, which, if season one is any indication, will definitely be a twisty-turny ride full of drama and mystique.
Of choosing the locale, series creator Mike White said, “I think Sicily is the perfect place for romance and sexual politics . . . When we saw the Four Seasons in Taormina, it was just such a beautiful location and it just sold this kind of Old World European Summer vacation.”
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Image Credit: Courtesy of San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons Hotel The inaugural episode, “Italian Dream,” which hit HBO on October 30, makes copious use of the sprawling resort, with scenes captured in the lobby, the main courtyard, the Bar & Chiostro lounge, by the pool and on one of the many large terraces overlooking the water.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons Hotel The hotel’s signature restaurant, Principe Cerami, also makes a prominent appearance in “Italian Dream.” It is there that the main characters share rather awkward dinner experiences their first night at the White Lotus Sicily. In real life, the eatery is helmed by award-winning Italian chef Massimo Mantarro and offers fine Sicilian cuisine in a luxe dining room with views of Taormina Bay.
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Image Credit: HBO Some of San Domenico Palace’s actual rooms are also being used by the production, with Tayna and Greg checking into the top floor Royal Suite, described on the hotel website as “our most glamorous suite,” a luxe 1,507-square-foot enclave outfitted with a living room, a dining room with seating for eight, two bathrooms, one bedroom with a king bed, a terrace and a plunge pool. The space was altered a bit for the shoot, with the production team transforming the dining area into a bedroom.
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Image Credit: Janus Films A couple of other productions have also been lensed at the resort. Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti) and Claudia (Monica Vitti) attend a party at San Domenico Palace in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960 film “L’Avventura.”
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Image Credit: Gaumont Film Company And Jacques Mayol (Jean-Marc Barr) and Enzo Molinari (Jean Reno) stay at the property during the World Diving Championships in the 1988 drama “The Big Blue.” Upon checking in, Mayol asks, “This the hotel San Domenico?” To which the front desk clerk replies, “Yes, it has been so for 127 years!” It’s a lengthy history, indeed!