Alex Polizzi's Secret Italy

The subject matter is fascinating so it was bitterly disappointing to have it thrown away on a pompous twerp like Alex Polizzi. She starts in Venice and spends the first few minutes putting the boot into tourists that dare to show up! It really was quite embarrassing to watch her look down her nose at visitors and bemoan the fact that Venice draws a crowd. Years ago, Fry and Laurie did a superb sketch about pseudo-intellectual snobs discussing 'our Venice'. It all sounds precisely like that.

The whole thing is thoroughly spoiled by a terrible choice of presenter. Oh, and is it really a 'secret' that if you "open your wallet wide" you can stay in very expensive hotels? Do me a favour.

Horrible and pompous. Alex looks to show you "the secrets of Italy" but she's only really interested in the wealthy side of Italy and having camera fixated on her. Her interactions with normal locals are awkward. She only appears to get excited when she is in the presence of fellow elites. At one point during the first episode she showed us the inside of a $15,000 per night hotel room. Yeah, that's a pretty limited audience that's going to be able to afford that. She's also quite aloof; at one point she showed an extremely elitist hotel owner exploiting local Venetian prisoners to make her hotel's soaps, lotions, etc., and didn't seem to appreciate the moral conflict. I would pass.

Most of the other viewers are correct. Alex Polizzi is such a self-satisfied snob in this that it's hard to watch. It does get slightly better after the first awful episode, but we only made it to episode three before we couldn't take it anymore. Each visited town feels less like an opportunity to show the rarely seen side of Italian life and more designed to be a thinly veiled humblebrag about her family.

Who doesn't want to see her family reunion in an Italian mountain town, after all?

It gives the feeling of someone forcing you to look at their vacation photos, which are mostly just them posing in front of things they don't remember the significance of, while implying that you simply must borrow the family jet and just *go* dahling.

It's been a decade since this was released and it hasn't aged well.

I wasn't certain if I would stick with this after watching Episode 1 in Venice because Ms. Polizzi came across like a spoilt and entitled brat. However, Episode 2 in Rome and beyond was wonderful and Episode 3 in Naples and the Amalfi coast was equally enjoyable.

Someone in the production company needs to tell her to stop saying "Mama Mia" again and again because she looked and sounded ridiculous and even the mussel harvesters over in the Marche had a giggle at her. BUT -- the bottom line is that the filming is beautiful and there are both new cultural details and information about the production of regional goods that make it all worth spending the time occasionally cringing at her verbal gaffes. I give it 8 out of 10.

I came across this series by accident. Having lived in Italy for several years I was curious to see what I may have missed. I agree with two other reviewers in that Alex's presentation is cringe worthy.

I was truly disappointed after watching episode 1 of the Sicily tour. I waited for the full hour to see Siracusa. I am sure that the modern church is no secret to anyone. That was all she presented of the city and for future reference Siracusa is on the east coast of Sicily in the south of the island near the toe of Italy. (Not the North).

While at Palazzo Gangi the camera was focused more on Alex than on the beautiful interiors of the building which happened much too often. Alex shows up in the frame more that is reasonably necessary. The hat shop portion was ridiculous as too much time was spent watching Alex try on hats. How about the ancient artisanal crafts?

I thought the first episode that I watched and disliked was a fluke but unfortunately I will have a hard time watching the entire series.