# Hotel Portofino
**Hotel Portofino** is a British period drama television series about a wealthy English family that opens an upscale hotel for upper-class travelers in the resort town of [Portofino](https://www.edgepedia.org/portofino) on the [Italian Riviera](https://www.edgepedia.org/italian-riviera) in the late 1920s, as [Benito Mussolini](https://www.edgepedia.org/benito-mussolini)'s fascist movement rises in Italy. Created and written by Matt Baker and produced by Eagle Eye Drama, it premiered on BritBox in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2022, and reached the United States on PBS on June 19, 2022.[1](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625) • [2](https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/glamorous-period-drama-hotel-portofino-launching-exclusively-on-all-pbs-platforms-june-19/) Three seasons of six episodes each, 18 episodes in total, had aired by September 2024.[3](https://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/Hotel-Portofino-summary)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | British period drama with a whodunit mystery thread; 3 seasons of 6 episodes, 18 total, roughly 53 to 54 minutes each[3](https://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/Hotel-Portofino-summary) • [4](https://thetvdb.com/series/hotel-portofino) |
| Setting | Portofino on the Italian Riviera, beginning in the summer of 1926, under the rise of fascism[5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) |
| Lead cast | Natascha McElhone as Bella Ainsworth, Mark Umbers as Cecil Ainsworth, Oliver Dench as Lucian, Anna Chancellor as Lady Latchmere, Pasquale Esposito as Signor Danioni[2](https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/glamorous-period-drama-hotel-portofino-launching-exclusively-on-all-pbs-platforms-june-19/) |
| Premiere | BritBox UK, January 27, 2022; PBS US, June 19, 2022[1](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625) • [2](https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/glamorous-period-drama-hotel-portofino-launching-exclusively-on-all-pbs-platforms-june-19/) |
| Filming | Mainly in Croatia, with the title hotel played by a 1904-1906 villa in Lovran; some exteriors shot in Portofino[5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) • [6](https://www.kvarner-film.org/en/artwork/hotel-portofino) |
| Distribution | Sold to more than 70 territories by distributor Beta Film[7](https://www.betafilm.com/news/773) |
| Season 4 | Not confirmed; as of 2026 the show is described as effectively in limbo[8](https://www.britishtv.com/british-tv-status-updates-august-2026/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and characters
The series follows Bella Ainsworth, daughter of a wealthy British industrialist, who moves to Portofino in 1926 to open a quintessentially British hotel, hoping to give her family a fresh start after the First World War and to reach economic independence.[5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) • [9](https://www.ansa.it/amp/sito/notizie/cultura/tv/2022/02/11/hotel-portofino-giallo-british-nellitalia-anni-20_cc8343de-e8d2-4d45-96ff-4dab7b7231e7.html) Her husband Cecil, played by Mark Umbers, is charming in public but caddish, and their son Lucian (Oliver Dench) and widowed daughter Alice (Olivia Morris) are still searching for happiness after the war.[1](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625) Guests include the imperious Lady Latchmere ([Anna Chancellor](https://www.edgepedia.org/anna-chancellor)), while the corrupt local fascist politician Signor Danioni (Pasquale Esposito) threatens to pull Bella into the political turmoil of Mussolini's Italy.[2](https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/glamorous-period-drama-hotel-portofino-launching-exclusively-on-all-pbs-platforms-june-19/) • [1](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625)
The drama combines an upstairs-downstairs family saga with a light-touch crime plot. Baker described the structure as a family story with an emerging love triangle, threaded with an [Agatha Christie](https://www.edgepedia.org/agatha-christie)-style mystery that emerges and resolves itself across each season.[1](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625) Season 1 is set in the summer of 1926; season 2 begins in the summer of 1927; and season 3 moves to 1929, when the Wall Street Crash and the tightening grip of fascism reach the hotel's guests.[10](https://www.pbs.org/show/hotel-portofino/) • [11](https://www.assignmentx.com/2024/hotel-portofino-creator-and-writer-matt-baker-on-season-3-exclusive-interview/) In season 3, Cecil returns requesting a divorce, Bella fights to keep the business as she and Cecil lose everything in the crash, and the season ends on a cliffhanger.[12](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2025/08/26/hotel-portofino-season-3)
### Season 4 status
No fourth season has been confirmed. PBS said after the season 3 finale that there was no word yet on what is next for the series, and Baker stated that he was not actively writing a fourth season, though he had ideas for how the story could continue.[17](https://thedirect.com/article/hotel-portofino-season-4-pbs) • [18](https://klcs.org/matt-baker-full-interview/) As of 2026, industry trackers describe the show as effectively in limbo: cast and producers have said they want to make a fourth season, but production realities have delayed it.[8](https://www.britishtv.com/british-tv-status-updates-august-2026/)
## Origins and writing
Matt Baker, a former journalist who had written the ITV adaptation *Professor T* and the [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4) series *Suspect* and *Before We Die*, wrote *Hotel Portofino* in the autumn of 2020, during the second UK Covid lockdown, deliberately aiming for something sunny and escapist.[1](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625) • [5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) He developed the idea with Eagle Eye Drama executives Walter Iuzzolino and Jo McGrath, his wife; Iuzzolino is a native of Liguria, and the pair had attended the Ligurian Film Festival in Portofino.[1](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625) • [11](https://www.assignmentx.com/2024/hotel-portofino-creator-and-writer-matt-baker-on-season-3-exclusive-interview/)
Baker drew the period parallels deliberately: in his view the 1920s, reeling from the First World War, mirrored the 2020s after the financial shocks of the 2000s, with established hierarchies giving way as people who had traditionally lacked power began to assert themselves.[5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) He also used a history of modern Italy, Martin Clark's *Modern Italy, 1871 to the Present*, borrowed from his son's school reading, to ground the political background.[11](https://www.assignmentx.com/2024/hotel-portofino-creator-and-writer-matt-baker-on-season-3-exclusive-interview/) There is no real Hotel Portofino; Baker noted that many Portofino villas were converted into hotels in the early twentieth century and served as inspiration.[5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) Metacritic lists the drama as based on J.P. O'Connell's novel of the same name.[13](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/hotel-portofino/season-3/)
## Filming locations
Although set in Portofino, the series is filmed mainly in Croatia, whose Kvarner coast Baker called an almost exact replica of the Ligurian riviera's landscape and geography.[5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) • [6](https://www.kvarner-film.org/en/artwork/hotel-portofino) The title hotel is played by a villa in Lovran built between 1904 and 1906 by the Austrian architect Carl Seidl and once owned by the Austrian Baroness Louise von Wiesenburg; its original architectural features were preserved for the shoot.[5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) Croatian locations include the Lungomare promenade in Lovran, the Opatija riviera, Rovinj's old town, and Rijeka's Resolution Square; the first season's Croatian shoot involved 61 filming days with a crew of 224 plus 353 extras, in partnership with local producer Drugi Plan.[6](https://www.kvarner-film.org/en/artwork/hotel-portofino) • [14](https://filmingincroatia.hr/movies/hotel-portofino/) Some exteriors and the key branding imagery were shot in Portofino itself, including views from Castle Brown, the building where Elizabeth von Arnim wrote and set her 1922 novel *The Enchanted April*.[5](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf) Baker said the economics of filming in Croatia proved more favorable than working in Italy.[11](https://www.assignmentx.com/2024/hotel-portofino-creator-and-writer-matt-baker-on-season-3-exclusive-interview/)
## Broadcast and reception
The show debuted on BritBox UK on January 27, 2022, and was quickly picked up by Foxtel in Australia, PBS Masterpiece in the United States, and [Sky Italia](https://www.edgepedia.org/sky-italia), with ITV taking a second UK window in 2023.[1](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625) Beta Film has sold it to more than 70 territories across five continents.[7](https://www.betafilm.com/news/773) On Italy's RAI 1, the first two episodes peaked at 2.6 million viewers with an average 12.4 percent market share, and the series had earlier achieved the second-highest debut for an international drama on Sky Italia's Sky Serie channel; Radio Times called it "the new Downton".[7](https://www.betafilm.com/news/773)
Season 2 aired on BritBox from March 17 to April 21, 2023, and season 3 ran weekly from July 28 to September 1, 2024, with all six episodes available to PBS Passport members from the premiere date.[3](https://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/Hotel-Portofino-summary) • [15](https://www.pbs.org/articles/hotel-portofino-everything-you-need-to-know) Reviewers emphasized the show's visual appeal: the Globe and Mail called it "catnip for fans of British period TV" built around the Italian setting, while Paste scored the first season 8.5/10 as a relaxing getaway.[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/hotel_portofino/s01) On Rotten Tomatoes the first season's Tomatometer stood at 49 percent from three reviews.[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/hotel_portofino/s01)
## References
1. [Drama Quarterly: Room with a view (Matt Baker interview), Beta Film](https://www.betafilm.com/news/625)
2. [Glamorous Period Drama HOTEL PORTOFINO Launching Exclusively on all PBS Platforms June 19, PBS Publicity](https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/glamorous-period-drama-hotel-portofino-launching-exclusively-on-all-pbs-platforms-june-19/)
3. [Hotel Portofino Show Summary and Episode Guide, Pogdesign](https://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/Hotel-Portofino-summary)
4. [Hotel Portofino, TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/hotel-portofino)
5. [Hotel Portofino: Matt Baker (series creator) press pack, ITV Press Centre](https://www.itv.com/presscentre/sites/default/files/2023-01/hotel_portofino_press_pack_2023.pdf)
6. [Hotel Portofino, Kvarner Film Commission](https://www.kvarner-film.org/en/artwork/hotel-portofino)
7. ["Hotel Portofino" is audience primetime winner on RAI 1, Beta Film](https://www.betafilm.com/news/773)
8. [British TV Status Updates: August 2026, BritishTV.com](https://www.britishtv.com/british-tv-status-updates-august-2026/)
9. [Hotel Portofino, giallo british nell'Italia anni '20, ANSA](https://www.ansa.it/amp/sito/notizie/cultura/tv/2022/02/11/hotel-portofino-giallo-british-nellitalia-anni-20_cc8343de-e8d2-4d45-96ff-4dab7b7231e7.html)
10. [Hotel Portofino, PBS](https://www.pbs.org/show/hotel-portofino/)
11. [HOTEL PORTOFINO: Creator and writer Matt Baker on Season 3, Assignment X](https://www.assignmentx.com/2024/hotel-portofino-creator-and-writer-matt-baker-on-season-3-exclusive-interview/)
12. [HOTEL PORTOFINO: Season 3, KPBS Public Media](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2025/08/26/hotel-portofino-season-3)
13. [Hotel Portofino season 3, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/hotel-portofino/season-3/)
14. [Hotel Portofino, Filming in Croatia](https://filmingincroatia.hr/movies/hotel-portofino/)
15. [Hotel Portofino Season 3: Everything You Need to Know, PBS](https://www.pbs.org/articles/hotel-portofino-everything-you-need-to-know)
16. [Hotel Portofino: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/hotel_portofino/s01)
17. [Hotel Portofino Season 4 Gets New Update from PBS Amid Release Demand, The Direct](https://thedirect.com/article/hotel-portofino-season-4-pbs)
18. [Matt Baker from Hotel Portofino - Full Interview, KLCS](https://klcs.org/matt-baker-full-interview/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Adapted and franchise screen series › Literary and classic serial adaptations › Historical and epic drama adaptations*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license