When Hollywood Came To Giardini Naxos

As most of my regular Blog followers will know every morning I check the internet for any news or articles about Sicily or anything Sicilian which I then share with you. Earlier this year several articles popped up on the same day with news that the producers of an American TV series called 'The White Lotus' would be setting their second season in Taormina.

The White Lotus is a comedy-drama television series created, written and directed by Mike White that premiered on the US HBO channel in July 2021. The series was filmed in Hawaii in late 2020 and featured a ensemble cast including Hollywood actress and comedian Jennifer Coolidge.

I had never heard of it and so I immediately downloaded the first season to see what it was all about ...

The first season consists of six episodes and features the lives of the staff and guests at a fictional tropical luxury resort in Hawaii. The series details a week in the life of vacationers as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. With each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture perfect travellers, the hotels cheerful employees and the idyllic location.

Following its critical acclaim and number of viewers the show was renewed with the second season telling the story of a different group of travellers during their stay at a White Lotus property in Sicily and according to the news the next White Lotus Resort would be filmed at the newly renovated Four Seasons Hotel San Domenico Palace.

The San Domenico Hotel was once the convent of the Dominican Monks until 1866 and became a favourite hotel of many of Taormina's muses and famous people and boasts quite an impressive guest book. Its beautiful interior seems still to this day to preserve signs of its great guests of the past with the updates expected of a Four Seasons property. The hotel has hosted the designers Dolce and Gabbana who chose its cloisters to shoot one of their fashion campaigns and the hotel also played a part in the G7 summit in 2017. Rumours were that the hotel was completed blocked out for reservations until early April and that filming would commence in March.

In February word got out around town that casting sessions were being held in Taormina for extras and between you and me a few of my friends actually got parts. Others were involved in providing props and transportation. But my lips are sealed.

Eventually the new cast and crew arrived in Taormina and filming commenced.

The only character from Season One to return is Jennifer Coolidge who reprises her role as Tanya McQuoid, a troubled woman who in the first series mother has just died. Jennifer won the Critic Choice Award for her performance as Tanya.

The first announced big named stars other than Jennifer Coolidge was Michael Imperioli, best known for The Sopranos, and Audrey Plaza who play a married couple. Meghann Fahy and Theo James will play a husband and wife vacationing and British actor Tom Hollander of Pirates of the Caribbean fame takes on the role of an English expat.

Photos of the stars and cast in Taormina started to appear on social media exploring Taormina and having fun and at long last the Four Seasons San Domenico Hotel was transformed into the "White Lotus Resort & Spa".

Filming was still in progress when we arrived in April with our dog Daisy. Could Daisy get a part as Jennifer’s Coolidges pampered pet????

As most of you know Daisy's preferred part of the beach to play in our town out of season is at the far end of Giardini Naxos towards the port located in front of the La Cambusa Restaurant. This part of the beach is very quiet and where the fisherman leave their boats to moor. The water is very shallow here which is perfect for Daisy to cool off in the sea and dig holes in the fine sand. Many a tennis ball has been lost in her holes. This part of our beach boasts the best view of Taormina across the Bay of Naxos. During the summer months La Cambusa extends into a exclusive beach club and preparation of laying out sunbeds, umbrellas, gazebos and a bar area usually commences late May or early June when bathing season officially commences and by this time the weather is too hot and the beach too busy and this is when Daisy usually heads home to London for summer.

Giardini Naxos has a pretty postcard setting and is located five kilometres south of Taormina. The town has gone from being a sleepy fishing village into a popular resort with its spectacular location in a sweeping bay overlooked by the volcano Mount Etna. The town is a low key resort and a very good choice if you want to stay next to a beautiful beach and not in the centre of Taormina which can sometimes be crowded and expensive. It also boasts very good restaurants. Giardini Naxos is most famous in Sicily for being the first Greek colony on the island dating back to 734BC.

On the 30th of April, early one morning, whilst down at the beach we noticed that diggers had arrived to smooth out the sand and that bright white new sunbeds, gazebos and umbrellas were being put out. We found this all very strange because as I just mentioned this process usually does not happen to at least late May. My suspicion's told me that just maybe this tranquil location was going to be used as a filming location for The White Lotus. It would make sense with the stunning views.

As we sat on the beach we noticed a massive beautiful yacht moored at the port, this happens quite often during summer months but not so early in the year.

After Daisy had turned the beach into a sandy construction sites of freshly dug holes we headed back to our car and did what we usually do and drove around the port road to head back home. As we drove around we saw blacked out Mercedes mini buses with logos adorned on the back and sides saying "White Lotus Resort & Spa Sicily". Oh my goodness!!! I was right Daisy's beach was being turned into a filming location for season two of the White Lotus. The beautiful yacht we had seen started to head out to sea and we could see lots of people of onboard and a camera crew. How exciting!!! But sad news for Daisy because her preferred spot of beach was now being taken over by Hollywood which meant that we had to go to an alternative beach.

The final confirmation was seeing the La Cambusa logo and sign being changed to "White Lotus Resort Sicily".

The following week the White Lotus vehicles were spotted going up and down to Taormina and huge lorries with the words 'cinematografici' filled the parking spaces leading up to the port zone. The main bus terminal of the town located in Recanati became the location for more lorries, cast and crew canteen and the wardrobe department. Hanging rails were heaving with different costumes, outfits and accessories for the beach.

Whilst we located to nearby San Marco Beach we still could not resist taking a drive down to the port every morning to see what action was taking place and on many occasions traffic was stopped whilst shots were taken as huge cameras on scaffolding loomed over La Cambusa restaurant down to Daisy's little beach where we could spot cast and extras sitting. Eeeeeeek !!!

We saw the yacht heading out every morning and heading back early evening with smaller boats following it with a camera crew and a helicopter following it obviously shooting aerial views. We could also see the yacht at sea from our roof terrace and the helicopter passed over our heads.

I have to say I did get a bit emotional to see all this action going on at Daisy's beach and thought to myself, they will never know how many lost tennis balls are buried deep below them.

So did we see anyone famous? No, not in Giardini Naxos but I did see a famous actor in Taormina but I cannot tell you who he was because it might spoil the plot.

Other locations on the island rumoured to have been used include a vineyard on Mount Etna, the Baroque south east town of Noto and as we left in early June there was calls for extras in Cefalù which last autumn was used as a filming location for Indiana Jones 5.

I cannot wait to see the new series especially to see Daisy's beach, our town and Taormina also to see my friends and other locals on the small screen and one thing is for sure our town will never forget When Hollywood Came To Giardini Naxos.

Now enjoy my post

The White Lotus Filming Locations

Created from Local Inside Knowledge with a bit of behind the scenes action and the real legends of the Moorish Heads and Persephone

https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2022/12/blog-post.html

Photo Album

NB: some photos are taken from our car

Day One