Hotel Portofino
Set in the beautiful backdrop of the Italian riviera in the late 1920s, Hotel Portofino tells the story of matriarch Bella Ainsworth, who wants her eponymous hotel to be a home away from home for wealthy English travelers. As well as demanding guests, she struggles to contend with an errant husband, and being blackmailed by the local fascist politician.
- 2022-2024
- 3 seasons
- PBS
- Drama
- TV-14
Set in the beautiful backdrop of the Italian riviera in the late 1920s, Hotel Portofino tells the story of matriarch Bella Ainsworth, who wants her eponymous hotel to be a home away from home for wealthy English travelers. As well as demanding guests, she struggles to contend with an errant husband, and being blackmailed by the local fascist politician.
Season 1 Episode Guide
6 Episodes 2022
Episode 1
First Impressions
Sun, Jun 19, 2022 54 mins
Italian Riviera in the summer of 1926. At the newly opened Hotel Portofino, owner Bella Ainsworth is already short of both money and staff. Her guests prove to be difficult to please. And the country's political development, led by Mussolini, does not make it any easier either. Bella's aristocratic husband is obsessed with arranging a favorable marriage for his son Lucian, all in order to secure the family's property and to be able to continue his extravagant lifestyle.
Episode 2
Lessons
Sun, Jun 26, 2022 54 mins
Lucian enjoys giving language and art lessons to his aloof potential fiancee Rose Drummond-Ward and foxy maid Paola, who proves most gifted at both when Rose's bossy mother Julia insists to come along even to a painting session on the beach. Cecil believes mixing with Italians is good for business, but sanctimonious Black-shirt mayor Vincenzo Danioni, who let him use the town's only telephone to ear-drop, arranges the locals to boycott the hotel so he can blackmail Bella, whose bacon is saved short-time by waiter Billy and his non-fascists friends, but he has to bring one along bleeding after a brutal beating from Black shirts. Cecil has a close relative in England send him an heirloom 'unsigned Rubens', although the American dealer doesn't commit.
Episode 3
Invitations
Sun, Jul 3, 2022 54 mins
Tennis star Pelham Wingfield asks for a bicycle, which Lucian arranges through Billy. Pelham sneakily listens in on the American telling Cecil the Rubens isn't in fashion, but top quality. Using a flyer, Anish drags Lucian along to meet the anti-fascist local youth Billy's mates belong to, which must scatter as black shirts and police raid the place. While the elder hotel guests are delighted by an invitation form a local aristocrat, the kids build their own wilder jazz party in the hotel, even the shy girl whose domineering mother finds she feigned illness.
Episode 4
Uncoverings
Sun, Jul 10, 2022 53 mins
Will Bella finally decide to stand up for herself?
Episode 5
Discoveries
Mon, Jul 17, 2023 54 mins
As the local police search the Hotel for the missing heirloom and various guests and employees come under suspicion, Cecil finally confronts Bella over her compromising letter.
Episode 6
Denouements
Sun, Jul 24, 2022 54 mins
The mystery of the missing heirloom is resolved, and the police investigation is closed, as Cecil makes a surprising discovery about Danioni.
