Italy has entered the world of The Gentlemen and unsurprisingly, Guy Ritchie has chosen a rather glamorous backdrop for it.
Season 2 of the Netflix hit takes Eddie Horniman, played by Theo James, beyond England’s country estates and into northern Italy, where Lake Maggiore becomes one of the defining settings of the new episodes. Among the villas, churches and glittering waterfront scenes is one particularly impressive address: Grand Hotel Majestic, the historic lakeside hotel viewers see throughout the Italian storyline. And unlike many fictional screen hotels, this one can actually be booked.
Where is the hotel in The Gentlemen Season 2?
The hotel seen in The Gentlemen Season 2 is Grand Hotel Majestic, located in Pallanza, part of Verbania on the Piedmont shore of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.
In the series, the property stands in for the fictional The Grand Hotel and becomes the setting for several important scenes surrounding a wedding. Theo James is also seen on one of the hotel’s balconies overlooking the lake.The production filmed extensively around Lake Maggiore, particularly in Verbania and Pallanza, with nearby Villa Rusconi Clerici appearing as the palazzo belonging to Bella, while the Chiesa di San Leonardo provides another major setting. Filming also extended to Stresa and the Borromean Islands.
For Guy Ritchie, moving the story to Italy was a deliberate expansion of the show’s visual world, bringing British aristocratic crime into contact with an equally cinematic Italian setting.
A Belle Époque hotel on the edge of Lake Maggiore
Long before Netflix arrived, Grand Hotel Majestic was already part of Lake Maggiore’s grand-hotel tradition.
Built in 1870, the property became one of the region’s prestigious addresses during the era when the Italian lakes attracted an international elite. Today, its pale historic façade still rises directly above the water, framed by landscaped gardens and views towards the Borromean Islands.
The setting does much of the work. The hotel occupies a waterfront position surrounded by mature gardens, with palm trees, flowers and centuries-old trees stretching towards Lake Maggiore. There is also direct access to the water and a small private beach.
It is easy to understand why the production chose it. The combination of old-world interiors, balconies suspended over the lake and formal gardens gives the hotel exactly the kind of discreet aristocratic grandeur that fits naturally into The Gentlemen universe.
Inside Grand Hotel Majestic
While the exterior immediately delivers the grand Italian-lake fantasy, the interiors continue the period mood rather than trying to reinvent it. French-influenced rooms, parquet floors, chandeliers and traditionally furnished salons give the property a deliberately classic feel. This is not contemporary minimalist Lake Como luxury; Grand Hotel Majestic belongs to the older European tradition of lakeside hotels built around ceremony, views and a certain sense of occasion.
That atmosphere becomes particularly important in Season 2, where the hotel hosts the build-up to a wedding and several significant exchanges between the characters. Some hotel-room sequences were recreated in England because the production had only a limited filming period in Italy, but the real Grand Hotel Majestic provided the central visual identity for the hotel scenes.
Why The Gentlemen moved to Lake Maggiore
Season 1 established its visual language through English estates, London clubs and inherited aristocratic grandeur. Season 2 widens that world considerably.
The Italian section centres around Lake Maggiore, which straddles Italy and Switzerland and has long been overshadowed internationally by its more famous neighbour, Lake Como. That comparative lack of overexposure was actually part of the appeal for the production. When searching for Bella’s palazzo, the location team considered properties around Lake Como before choosing Villa Rusconi Clerici on Lake Maggiore, attracted by the light, water and less-touristy surroundings. And that may be the most interesting travel takeaway from the series.
While Lake Como has become shorthand for high-gloss Italian-lake glamour, The Gentlemen offers a reminder that Lake Maggiore has its own collection of palazzi, grand hotels, islands and waterfront towns — with considerably less screen fatigue.
Can you stay at The Gentlemen hotel?
Yes. Grand Hotel Majestic operates as a real hotel in Pallanza, Verbania, directly on Lake Maggiore. Guests can stay in the same historic property used during filming and look across the lake from the terraces and balconies that appear in Season 2.
And for anyone watching The Gentlemen and thinking that the Italian backdrop looks suspiciously like the beginning of a very good weekend away, they would not be wrong.
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TheHotelTrotter.com is curated by greek journalist and fanatic hotel lover Eleni Stasinopoulou. With the eye of a fashion and lifestyle editor, Eleni hopes to inspire all connoisseurs of traveling, focusing on stylish hotel moments around the globe.
