The 'Hotel Portofino' Season 2 Premiere Has Lush Landscapes, Troubled Romances & Return Guests

The second season of PBS’s Hotel Portofino kicks off with some stunning news: It seems the marriage of Lucian and Rose is not going well. 

I know, I know. Who would have thought that an arranged marriage between two people who have absolutely nothing in common wouldn’t work out? Like you, I’m positively gobsmacked by this development. 

But, my friends, things are worse than we could have ever predicted. Lucian and Rose have been married for five whole months and have yet to, how do you say this in a formal British way? “We haven’t been properly intimate. . . .She’s completely terrified. Rigid with fear.”” Lucian tells his mother Bella. Rose’s dastardly mother Julia (Lucy Akhurst) knows this too because she is getting reports from Mary, her “second best” maid that she has sent to work at Lucian and Rose’s house. My guess is that there is more to Rose’s story and her fear of sex. 

Lucian, under the guise of his mother needing his help, heads back to the Italian Riviera for the summer. Indeed, much of the second season premiere, aptly titled “Returns,”  is spent figuring out a way to get everyone checked back into the gorgeous hotel for an extended vacation.

Bella has been busy since we last saw her and is expanding the hotel. She’s building a spa in the basement next to the kitchen, much to the chagrin of Betty the cook who has had it with the mud and cement dust traipsing through her domain. Bella’s Italian architect is very handsome and can make even something as innocuous as picking out the color for the tiles sound sexy. Bella thinks they will have to postpone the construction because of a lack of funds.

“I don’t have any other clients. None of whom share my passion for great design like you do,” he smolders, I meanBella’s nefarious husband Cecil (all together now: “BOOOOOOO! Hissss!) has been banished to London where he’s sleeping with Julia and coming up with more shady get-rich-quick schemes. Last year it was a fake Ruben painting, this time it is something about the import/export business and whiskey. Bella is totally fine with Cecil out of the picture. But her daughter Alice, who is planning a vacation to Saint Tropez, has other plans for her mother and writes to her father about the “dishy architect mommy has slaving away in the basement.” Alice doesn’t know her father beat her mother last season leaving her not only physically bruised but emotionally damaged. Just the sight of Cecil makes Bella frightened. But it’s not Alice’s letter that gets Cecil to travel back to Italy. It’s word that (criminal) casino owners want a face to face meeting with him.  says, to Bella. 

Lucian writes to his best friend Anish asking him to come visit. Nish is currently living in Turin with Gianluca, who has become much more involved with the anti-fascist movement. “He snaps his fingers and looks for you to come running,” Gianluca snarks about Lucian. But Nish is worried about Gianluca’s plans which now involve grenades and guns. “The riskier it is, the louder it will send a message. That nowhere is safe and we are not afraid,” he tells Anish.  

Bella’s nefarious husband Cecil (all together now: “BOOOOOOO! Hissss!) has been banished to London, where he’s sleeping with Julia and coming up with more shady get-rich-quick schemes. Last year it was a fake Ruben painting, this time it is something about the import/export business and whiskey. Bella is totally fine with Cecil out of the picture. But her daughter Alice, who is planning a vacation to Saint Tropez, has other plans for her mother and writes to her father about the “dishy architect mommy has slaving away in the basement.” Alice doesn’t know her father beat her mother last season leaving her not only physically bruised but emotionally damaged. Just the sight of Cecil makes Bella frightened. But it’s not Alice’s letter that gets Cecil to travel back to Italy. It’s word that (criminal) casino owners want a face-to-face meeting with him. 

Movie star Claudine (Lily Frazer) has gotten herself into a bit of hot water with the press and calls Bella hoping that the Hotel Portofino can be a place of refuge for her. Constance is no longer a nanny. Apparently, children should not be seen or heard in Hotel Portofino so Alice’s daughter Lottie has been shipped off to stay with her grandparents and Constance is now assistant manager of the hotel. The ever-pouty Alice doesn’t love this as she fears she will be replaced. “She could never ever replace you my darling. We’d be utterly lost without you. All of us,” Bella tells her. 

Lucian, never a happy camper, is a junior architect stuck designing gutters when what he really wants to do is paint, specifically a landscape painting for the hotel’s front desk. Returning to Hotel Portofino has put him right smack back in the middle of the quasi-love triangle that had been brewing last season between him, Constance, and Paola (Carolina Gonnelli). I mean, Lucian is nice and all --- but three women in one TV show all being in a twist about him is a bit much. 

Count Albani is also back but without his son. It appears the two have argued over politics. “In Italy, it’s become unavoidable,” the Count tells Lucian. Count Albani tells Bella that the green travel guide will be coming to Hotel Portofino to evaluate the establishment. The trick is they don’t know who the inspector will be. “Any of our guests could be the Green Guild inspector,” Bella tells Constance and Betty.
It’s so good to be checked back into Hotel Portofino.