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Hotel Italia
Rating: 3 Stars
International Media Distributors. Produced, written and directed by Lucas Kazan. Videography by Leonardo Rossi. Edited by Adam Rom. Music by Evan Lee. Starring Dario D'Alba, Ettore Tosi, Pietro Cattani, Erik Novak, Esmeralda Berg, Marian, Marco Ramazzotti, Daniele Della Valle, Roberto Volta, Andrea Albani, and Tiziano Cortese.
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Before Bambi-eyed Dario D'Alba trundles off to college in America, his Italian family manages one last summer holiday in Santa Margherita Ligure. At their seaside albergo, Dario and his boyhood friend Ettore (Ettore Tosi) occupy a room adjoining that of Dario's parents. Given a double bed to share, the two chums indulge in traditional late-adolescent Italian activities­ flogging each other with pillows, slurping on each other's cocks, and reciprocally fucking. In the adjacent room, Dario's father (Pietro Cattani) eavesdrops, aroused, behind the closed connecting door, while his wife sleeps nearby.

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I> Hotel Italia intercuts parallel stories of D'Alba's flirtation with Czech tourist Erik Novak and Tosi's seduction of D'Alba's padre. The five sex scenes include a masturbatory fantasy involving dissolves, super-impositions, and split-screen effects in which color alternates with black and white. There's also a sequence in which concierge Daniele Della Valle has open sex in the lobby with delectable guest Marco Ramazzatti. (This is not really the kind of albergo most young gay men would want to check into with their parents.)

The choice male flesh on display here tends to be of college age, but the most charismatic presence is Pietro Cattani, a beautiful hunk in his mid-thirties who fills a pair of snug white briefs more assertively than anyone else in the cast. His interactions with Tosi, ending in an ecstatic fuck, provide most of the erotic tension and much of the heat in an otherwise tame enterprise. (Falcon should snap up Cattani before you can say Portofino.)

Skillfully shot along the picturesque rocky shoreline of the Italian Riviera, Hotel Italia unfolds in a jewel-box setting that may be entirely new to gay adult video. A softcore version called L'Albergo is also available; it's a nearly identical serving of erotic pasta, but it's served lukewarm.