The cast of Riviera swap the Côte d’Azur for Venice by moonlight
Claire Webb - 7 October 2020
The novelist Somerset Maugham described the French Riviera as “a sunny place for shady people”. This famous quote was the inspiration for the Sky Atlantic drama Riviera, which is set in the glamorous world of the super-rich. Series one and two flitted from azure vistas to Nice’s old town and pretty Provençal villages, and would have been an excellent advert for the Côte d’Azur – if it weren’t for the characters’ duplicitous dealings. But in the opening episode of series three, Riviera swaps the superyachts and opulent villas of the Mediterranean for Venice’s canals and palazzos.
“We were there for three weeks and I soaked up every minute of it,” says New York actor Julia Stiles, who plays a corrupt billionaire’s widow who has turned art detective. “It’s such a magical city, with so much history. The architecture is amazing and having to get around by boat is very romantic.” In one scene, Stiles and co-star Rupert Graves glide down the Grand Canal at sunset in a deluxe wooden powerboat, alighting at a palazzo. “We felt like we were in a fishbowl, because the Grand Canal is the main highway, but touring Venice by boat while filming was lovely.”
The Venetian scenes were shot at the end of last summer and filming in peak season wasn’t the only challenge. Instead of a fleet of trucks, the film unit had floating pontoons and 16 huge barges for all the equipment. Partly to avoid the crowds, half the scenes were shot at night. “Venice is very quiet at night. We would finish as the sun was coming up, so our boat rides home would be at sunrise, which was a special treat.” The action then returns to the chic beach clubs and hotels of Saint-Tropez, before moving to Argentina, where the cast and crew decamped to Buenos Aires for three months.
Stiles’s favourite filming location was Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Perón was laid to rest alongside Argentina’s great and good, and stray cats prowl the towering marble mausoleums and elaborate crypts. “The mausoleums are so ornate, they’re like works of art.” There will also be a tango scene to pay homage to the birthplace of the dance. “I took some tango lessons and became obsessed. I’d go to the milongas, which are the dance clubs. Buenos Aires is a late-night town, so they don’t start until 10pm or later and that was hard to keep up with! The music is beautiful and the people are so lively and friendly. It’s a wonderful city.” Since shooting wrapped in March, Stiles has been living in Vancouver with her Canadian husband, Preston J Cook, a camera operator who also works on the show. “Because of Riviera, we’ve been to so many exciting, wonderful places in the past four years, and then all of a sudden it stopped [due to the pandemic]. Having this moment of stillness has let me reflect on how amazing working on Riviera was. I’ve been able to explore and live in some beautiful places, that people dream of going to just on vacation.”
The Venice Locations
Casanova's Home
Venice’s Grand Canal is lined with monumental palaces and this week’s episode opens with an art dealer’s party at one of them, the Palazzo Malipiero (above). Restored to 18th-century splendour, this antique-stuffed mansion was briefly home to Giacomo Casanova in the 1740s, but the teenage philanderer was thrown out after being caught with his patron’s object of seduction.
During the shoot, the Riviera crew stayed at one of Venice’s finest five-star hotels,Hotel Bauer Palazzo. The cast would have their hair and make-up done there in the morning and meet for an aperitivo on the canalside terrace at the end of the day. Presiding over the lower reaches of the Grand Canal, steps from St Mark’s Square, Hotel Bauer is spread over two palazzos and has a cameo in episode one — look out for its most sumptuous suites, which can cost around £7,000 per night in high season, while standard rooms start at around £195.
A 400-year old gondola yard
A chase scene in Riviera ends at a 17thcentury gondola workshop in the heart of the city, where a team of craftsmen repair the famous flat-bottomed Venetian vessels, which are all handmade and traditionally built from eight types of wood. Although Squero di San Trovaso isn’t open to the public, you can watch them at work from the opposite side of the San Trovaso canal..
The novelist Somerset Maugham described the French Riviera as “a sunny place for shady people”. This famous quote was the inspiration for the Sky Atlantic drama Riviera, which is set in the glamorous world of the super-rich. Series one and two flitted from azure vistas to Nice’s old town and pretty Provençal villages, and would have been an excellent advert for the Côte d’Azur – if it weren’t for the characters’ duplicitous dealings. But in the opening episode of series three, Riviera swaps the superyachts and opulent villas of the Mediterranean for Venice’s canals and palazzos.
“We were there for three weeks and I soaked up every minute of it,” says New York actor Julia Stiles, who plays a corrupt billionaire’s widow who has turned art detective. “It’s such a magical city, with so much history. The architecture is amazing and having to get around by boat is very romantic.” In one scene, Stiles and co-star Rupert Graves glide down the Grand Canal at sunset in a deluxe wooden powerboat, alighting at a palazzo. “We felt like we were in a fishbowl, because the Grand Canal is the main highway, but touring Venice by boat while filming was lovely.”
The Venetian scenes were shot at the end of last summer and filming in peak season wasn’t the only challenge. Instead of a fleet of trucks, the film unit had floating pontoons and 16 huge barges for all the equipment. Partly to avoid the crowds, half the scenes were shot at night. “Venice is very quiet at night. We would finish as the sun was coming up, so our boat rides home would be at sunrise, which was a special treat.” The action then returns to the chic beach clubs and hotels of Saint-Tropez, before moving to Argentina, where the cast and crew decamped to Buenos Aires for three months.
Stiles’s favourite filming location was Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Perón was laid to rest alongside Argentina’s great and good, and stray cats prowl the towering marble mausoleums and elaborate crypts. “The mausoleums are so ornate, they’re like works of art.” There will also be a tango scene to pay homage to the birthplace of the dance. “I took some tango lessons and became obsessed. I’d go to the milongas, which are the dance clubs. Buenos Aires is a late-night town, so they don’t start until 10pm or later and that was hard to keep up with! The music is beautiful and the people are so lively and friendly. It’s a wonderful city.” Since shooting wrapped in March, Stiles has been living in Vancouver with her Canadian husband, Preston J Cook, a camera operator who also works on the show. “Because of Riviera, we’ve been to so many exciting, wonderful places in the past four years, and then all of a sudden it stopped [due to the pandemic]. Having this moment of stillness has let me reflect on how amazing working on Riviera was. I’ve been able to explore and live in some beautiful places, that people dream of going to just on vacation.”
The Venice Locations
Casanova's Home
Venice’s Grand Canal is lined with monumental palaces and this week’s episode opens with an art dealer’s party at one of them, the Palazzo Malipiero (above). Restored to 18th-century splendour, this antique-stuffed mansion was briefly home to Giacomo Casanova in the 1740s, but the teenage philanderer was thrown out after being caught with his patron’s object of seduction.
The £7,000-a-night hotel
During the shoot, the Riviera crew stayed at one of Venice’s finest five-star hotels, Hotel Bauer Palazzo. The cast would have their hair and make-up done there in the morning and meet for an aperitivo on the canalside terrace at the end of the day. Presiding over the lower reaches of the Grand Canal, steps from St Mark’s Square, Hotel Bauer is spread over two palazzos and has a cameo in episode one — look out for its most sumptuous suites, which can cost around £7,000 per night in high season, while standard rooms start at around £195.
A 400-year old gondola yard
A chase scene in Riviera ends at a 17thcentury gondola workshop in the heart of the city, where a team of craftsmen repair the famous flat-bottomed Venetian vessels, which are all handmade and traditionally built from eight types of wood. Although Squero di San Trovaso isn’t open to the public, you can watch them at work from the opposite side of the San Trovaso canal..
CLAIRE WEBB