What links The White Lotus to Tom Wolfe and the Sicilian good life?

Holidays in hell

The wealthy wrong ’uns of The White Lotus went to Sicily … Photograph: HBO

Really rich people are terrible. That’s the quasi comforting lesson of many TV shows. So it is with The White Lotus, last year’s hit comedy-drama about wealthy wrong ’uns at a plush resort in Hawaii. Jennifer Coolidge’s zonked Tanya survives into the second round of the anthology series (Sky Atlantic/Now), with new guests including Tom Hollander, Michael Imperioli and Meghann Fahy holidaying at a resort in Sicily. Which brings our second lesson …

Things to do in Italy when you’re dead rich

… the rich of Succession also went to Italy, where filming is not new … Photograph: HBO

… namely, that American TV and films seem to be set in Italy because, well, it’s nice for everyone to go to Italy: Succession (the finest of rich-people-are-terrible TV) had a jaunt, as did Master of None. See also: Netflix romcom Love Wedding Repeat, and forthcoming Spin Me Round. More prosaically, it might be the generous tax breaks for productions, and also, it’s Italy – what’s not to like? Periodic bouts of fascism, perhaps, but we are where we are. Granted, filming in Italy isn’t new – who could forget The Godfather?

Contempt content

… Jean-Luc Godard made Le Mépris in Capri at Casa Malaparte … Photograph: Getty Images

And maybe a holiday wasn’t top of Jean-Luc Godard’s agenda when he made Le Mépris, but he did avail himself of sumptuous Capri locations. Specifically: Casa Malaparte, a dramatic structure built into a cliff, “transformed into a masterpiece” by controversial writer Curzio Malaparte, with the help of a local stonemason.

A home from home

… a book on which featured a contribution from Tom Wolfe who wrote The Bonfire of the Vanities … Photograph: Getty Images

Casa Malaparte has inspired many, not just the departed French-Swiss maestro. Karl Lagerfeld published a book of photographs after visiting the site, while Malaparte: A House Like Me featured contributions from fashion designer Carla Fendi and author Tom Wolfe. The latter’s 1987 blockbuster novel The Bonfire of the Vanities has more terrible rich people – less memorable is Brian De Palma’s flop film adaptation. (Hollywood history podcast The Plot Thickens recently revisited the production from the POV of a journalist who had been granted unlikely access to the unfolding disaster. Look out for their upcoming new season about Pam Grier.)

Last resort

… scripted by Michael Cristofer, who was in Mr Robot by Sam Esmail, who helped bring The Resort to fruition … Photograph: Getty Images

The Bonfire script came from playwright/actor Michael Cristofer – more recently seen in Mr Robot, a series by Sam Esmail. This summer Esmail helped bring to fruition The Resort, a mystery set in a luxury hotel, which the Guardian said was “like The White Lotus with added menace”. If it returns for a second run, perhaps they might sojourn in Italy too. In the meantime, we can make do with the real thing, with more terrible rich people, enjoying – or more likely, not enjoying – the good life in Sicily.

Pairing notes

Listen The White Lotus’s creepily infectious music is by Cristobal Tapia De Veer. The composer’s work is also in recent horror Smile.

Drink For a Sicilian taste, try the island’s Nero D’Avola grape. A bottle of organic Nero di Lupo red will cost you about £20.