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.
Liza Soberano as Serena Marchesa-Ibarra / Monica Urtola
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.[2][3] 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.
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.
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.
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 assassination attempt to kill Tenten leading to Binggoy's death. Soon after, she asked forgiveness to her husband, Serena, and the Ibarra family.[5]
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.[5]
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.[6]
Serena's adoptive Italian father who longed to have a child which was impossible for him and his barren wife. He raised her as his own and taught her about the Filipino culture, often speaking to her and telling her stories in Tagalog, since he himself was also raised by a Filipino nanny.[5]
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.[7] The show also marked the return of veteran actress Cherie Gil to ABS-CBN, playing the role of Luciana Marchesa.[8] 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.[9] Scenes were also shot in other Italian cities, including Bologna, Florence and Venice.[10][11] Filipino-Italian actor Ruben Maria Soriquez, who plays Roberto Marchesa, had to help the cast with language.[12]
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."[13]
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."[14]
Reruns
The series began airing reruns on Kapamilya Channel's Kapamilya Gold afternoon block and A2Z's Zuper Hapon on May 3, 2021, to November 12, 2021, replacing Bagong Umaga and was replaced by the reruns of Love Thy Woman. The series was also made available for streaming on Netflix in the Philippines starting December 7, 2021.[15]
^ABS-CBN (February 16, 2016) [2]. ABS-CBN Social medianewsroom. Retrieved February 16, 2016
^"Pelakon Yo Soy Betty La Fea gemparkan peminat, bogel untuk majalah" (in Malay). Astro Awani. October 4, 2017. Archived from the original on November 10, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2017. Meanwhile, Astro is currently publishing a popular telenovela from the Philippines, entitled Dolce Amore [which dubbed into Malay language]. Dolce Amore broadcasts on Astro Prima (channel 105) and Astro Maya HD (channel 135) every Monday to Friday, from 7pm - 8pm.
