Dolce Amore

Synopsis

Serena Marchesa (Liza Soberano) is a young and beautiful Filipina who was adopted by rich Italian parents when she was an infant. When she finds herself stuck in an arranged marriage, she runs away to the Philippines, a country she has been fascinated by since she was little from the stories she heard from her Filipina nanny and the stories that her Penpal friend from the Philippines has been talking about. There, she meets and falls in love with her Penpal friend, Simon, also known as Tenten (Enrique Gil), a poor and hardworking adopted boy from Tondo who takes unconventional jobs for his family.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Liza Soberano as Serena Marchesa / Monica Urtola-Marchesa

Hannah Lopez Vito as young Serena / Monica

She is a Filipina who was adopted by a rich Italian man as an infant. She is raised as a 'princess', with several servants around her at all times, including a Filipina nanny. Despite her upbringing, she longs for a simple life, which her mother disapproves of. She is fascinated by the Philippines, from the stories she hears from her nanny and from her father who always speaks to her in Tagalog and later on reveals her true parentage. Attempting to escape her arranged marriage to her best friend, she travels to the Philippines to search for a young billionaire who can save her family's company. But when she fell in love with Tenten, Luciana wants to break them apart, as she knows that the Ibarra family that could make their lives worsen. After Binggoy kidnaps Serena, Simon tries to save her but Serena does not believe Simon so they got on an accident, Serena have amnesia and her family went to Italy. When Serena find out the truth about Giancarlo's death, Serena got angry at Tenten, as he is the mastermind for killing Giancarlo. In the end, she married Tenten and lived happily with each other.

Enrique Gil as Simon Vicente "Tenten" Ibarra

Marc Santiago as young Tenten

He is a sickly orphan who lived in an orphanage before he was adopted by a family. They lost everything after he falls ill, and he had to start taking unconventional jobs to get their house back. He meets Serena while doing one of his jobs, as a call boy, under the impression that she was hiring him. He is angry at Giancarlo, as he know the involvement behind his older brother's death. Their lives with Serena turned tables, as he got rich from the help of Vivian, a wealthy woman who only poses as his real mother. But when a secret has revealed by Favio to the Ibarra, Marchesa, and Urtola families, he got furious to Luciana due to her secrets about Binggoy's death. He later gets married with Serena after their struggles within their families.

Supporting cast

Matteo Guidicelli as Giancarlo de Luca

He is Serena's childhood best friend from Italy. He seemed to be madly in love with Serena that he will go to any lengths to make her marry him. Tenten's rival for loving Serena. He is the alleged mastermind for killing Binggoy, together with his uncle. He was later killed by Tenten's henchmen at the wedding day with Serena. But at the party for the wedding anniversary of Tenten's adoptive parents, it was revealed that Luciana was responsible for the deaths of Binggoy and Giancarlo from Favio's video.

Cherie Gil as Luciana Marchesa

Serena's Italian adoptive mother and Tenten's biological mother. She was initially against the adoption of Serena, which her husband decided on without her consent. She also doesn't approve of Serena's wishes to live a simple life because she believes "the worst thing in life is to be ordinary". She is the one being revealed by Favio about her attempt to kill Tenten leading to Binggoy's death. Soon after, she asked forgiveness to her husband, Serena, and the Ibarra family.

Sunshine Cruz as Alice Urtola

Uge's wife and the biological mother of Serena, also a nurse and refugee in the fictional country of Askovia. She was separated from her husband and two daughters after an explosion during a war in the 1990s.

Edgar Mortiz as Ruben "Dodoy" Ibarra

Tenten's adoptive father and Taps' husband.

Rio Locsin as Pilita "Taps" Ibarra

Dodoy's wife and a cook in the orphanage, where Tenten was in and eventually became Tenten's adoptive mother.

Kean Cipriano as Alvin "Binggoy" Ibarra

Dodoy and Taps' eldest son and Tenten's adoptive older brother. He got into an accident and suddenly died after he fell down with his jeepney to save Tenten and Serena.

Extended cast

Frenchie Dy as Imelda "Yaya Melds" Dalisay

Serena's nanny at the Marchesa's mansion.

Jeffrey Tam as Jeijei

Tenten's best friend.

Matteo Tosi as Silvio De Luca

Giancarlo's father.

Rommel Padilla as Ricardo "Carding" Dalisay

Melds' loving husband.

Buboy Villar as Franco

Giancarlo's tour guide, also a friend of him and Serena.

Hannah Ledesma as Sarah

Tenten's ex-lover whom Serena got jealous of.

Francine Prieto as Claudia Buenaventura

Laurence Mossman as Señor Mossman

Eslove Briones as Marky

James Lobo as Mark

Ana Feleo as Adelina

Boom Labrusca as Roger

Earl Ignacio as Leo

Vangie Labalan as Lola B

Miguel Faustman as Lolo Fio

Eric Nicolas as Lapid

Bituin Escalante as Lota

Guest cast

Calvin Abueva as The Beast Basketball Player

Beau Belga as Extra Rice Basketball Player

Paulo Hubalde as Basketball Player

Callalily as Binggoy's band

Maxine Eigenmann as young Luciana

AJ Dee as young Roberto

CX Navarro as Motmot

Bobby Ray Parks Jr. as Basketball Player

Ian Veneracion as priest

Production

After the success of Forevermore, Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil were once again paired up, a year later. They are joined by rapper Andrew E., who made his teleserye debut in ABS-CBN through the show. The show also marked the return of veteran actress Cherie Gil to ABS-CBN, playing the role of Luciana Marchesa. Aside from Gil, Edgar Mortiz also returned to acting, almost 10 years after his last show. The show was shot in the Philippines and in Italy. Filming in Italy began in early December 2015, when the cast headed to Rome to shoot some scenes. Scenes were also shot in other Italian cities, including Bologna, Florence and Venice. Filipino-Italian actor Ruben Maria Soriquez, who plays Roberto Marchesa, had to help the cast with language.

Reception

Critical response

Just the start of the pilot week, people were fascinated about the plot of its first episode titled, "Sweet Beginning". According to spot.ph, "LizQuen's new telenovela doesn't seem like your typical telenovela, which is kind of a good thing." Also they added, "We watched the first episode to see if the show can fill the Forevermore-shaped role in our hearts, and we weren't disappointed."

When the story is about to fold its storytelling. Nestor U. Torre of the Philippine Daily Inquirer evaluated the plus and minus effects it's had on its key players. On Cherie Gil "All too often, other tisoy stars stumble and fumble when they portray non-Filipinos, but Cherie's approximation of Liza Soberano's Italian foster mother inDolce Amore is more convincing." While on Ruben Maria Soriquez

as Liza's dad "has also more than passed muster, so we hope to see him on local screens again after the show's conclusion. As for second-lead player "Matteo Guidicelli's own portrayal of Liza's Italian best friend and most ardent suitor, the young actor similarly did well. Matteo's character took a disturbing and even shockingly "darker" tone." This gave him an opportunity to play his "villain" card for attention-calling contrast, and he ended up as more than just a "third leg" in the series' stellar support structure."

As for the show’s leads, "Liza Soberano is clearly the biggest beneficiary of its success. Her combination of telegenic beauty, youth, charisma and increasing stellar “confidence” has made her the young-adult female star du jour and on the local TV screen. To underscore and challenge her stellar promise, “Dolce Amore” gave her many different moods and styles to vivify—making her thespic task more difficult, but also enhancing its impact and success."

In instructive contrast, "Enrique Gil hasn't done as swimmingly, shiningly well because he's generally opted to play it appealingly cute and boy-next-door for too much, too long in the show's run. Much later in the series, Enrique did get a chance to show what else he could do, when his character was made to turn hard and rich and cold-hearted."

Reruns

It first aired reruns on Jeepney TV from September 4 to November 24, 2017, replacing the rerun of On the Wings of Love; September 23, 2018 to May 12, 2019, replacing the rerun of Forevermore; August 7 to November 10, 2023, replacing the rerun of La Luna Sangre; and February 3 to August 8, 2025 (also airs on ALLTV), replacing the rerun of Pangako sa 'Yo 2015 and was replaced by the rerun of The Legal Wife.

It also aired reruns on Kapamilya Channel's Kapamilya Gold afternoon block, Kapamilya Online Live, and A2Z's Zuper Hapon from May 3 to November 12, 2021, replacing Bagong Umaga and was replaced by the rerun of Love Thy Woman. The series was also made available for streaming on Netflix in the Philippines starting December 7, 2021.

International broadcast

The series was aired in Malaysia (dubbed into Malay language) on Astro Prima and Astro Maya HD, started from September until December 2017.