The second season of the wildly popular HBO anthology series The White Lotus is here, with a brand new cast of delightfully cringe-worthy privileged patrons, this time setting sale for the spectacular, cerulean blue shores of Sicily.

The show’s second season sees the return of some the fan favourite characters who were embroiled in the chaos its first Hawaii-set iteration, including Jennifer Coolidge, who reprises her role as the eccentric, space-cadet heiress Tanya, for which she won a prestigious Emmy award.

This fresh cast also features a slew of talent from the Bel Paese, with the series’ dialogue split between English and subtitled Italian. Sabrina Impacciatore features in a delightful turn as a no-nonsense, plain speaking hotel manager, accompanied by Eleonora Romandini and Federico Ferrante as her employees, and Beatrice Grannò and Italian-American Michael Imperioli of The Sopranos fame as incendiary guests.

As for this season’s plot line, creator Mike White told Vulture that he has forgone the themes of colonialism that formed the crux of the power struggles of the show’s first season. Instead, Season 2 will hone in on gender politics and jealousy within relationships, amounting to what he calls “a bedroom farce with teeth.”

In this season, the guests are still staying at the fictional White Lotus hotel chain, this time in its Sicily location. Just as the first season was filmed at a real-life Four Seasons hotel in Maui (Four Seasons Resorts Maui at Wailea), the second instalment was also filmed in a property owned by the luxury franchise - San Domenico Palace, Taormina.

(Photo: The Four Seasons)

The resort is located in the north-east of Sicily; a five-star establishment perched atop rocks with a breath-taking view of the Ionian Sea, the Mount Etna volcano, and an ancient amphitheatre―Teatro Antico di Taormina, which was built in the early seventh century BC.

Mike White told Architechtural Digest:

“We saw a lot of properties in France and Italy, many of them were small and wouldn’t photograph very well. But when we went to the San Domenico…there was just something about it.”

According to AD, the resort was a convent in the 14th century, transformed into a hotel in 1896. Each of the monk’s cells was converted to be used as a guest room in the Ancient Convent Wing of the property, and a Grand Hotel Wing was also added.

“Over the years, a who’s who of Hollywood A-listers ― from Ingrid Bergman, Ava Gardner, and Audrey Hepburn to Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren, and Walter Matthau—have also vacationed at the exclusive getaway,” reported AD.

(Photo: The Four Seasons)

The hotel has only been owned by Four Seasons since 2020, when it was subject to an intensive multi-million dollar overhaul with modern touches such as smoked mirrors, bronze finishing and neutral tones with pops of colour incorporated into the facade and decor.

The series also shot scenes at Lumina Studios near Rome, as well as on location in various stunning spots around Sicily, including the island’s capital Palmero.

The White Lotus: Sicily is available to stream now on Foxtel and BINGE, with new episodes dropping every Monday at 12pm AEDT.