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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Hotel Portofino

Lily Frazer in Hotel Portofino.

Streaming on PBS

It seems like everyone is summering in Italy at the moment. But there’s no need to brave air travel now that Matt Baker’s Hotel Portofino has landed on PBS. This transportive drama, set in 1926, stars Natascha McElhone (luminous as ever) as Bella Ainsworth, the hotel’s cheerful and enterprising proprietor. An erstwhile painter, she left behind a complicated situation in England in favor of a fresh start in Italy, where she turned her attention to a different type of canvas. And what a rich tapestry she weaves—not only in terms of the sumptuous hotel but of the snafu-prone characters who flit about its rooms, terraces, and kitchens. At the end of the six-episode series, only some of these guests and staffers get their Hollywood ending. Fortunately for us, a second season is being filmed right this minute. In the meantime, another limoncello, please. —Ashley Baker

Photo courtesy of Eagle Eye Drama Limited 2022