The Ladies' Paradise

The series is loosely inspired by Émile Zola's 1883 novel Au bonheur des dames, but the setting was changed from 19th-century Paris to Milan in the second half of the 20th century, where a store actually named 'Paradiso delle signore' once existed.

Filming takes place at the Videa film studios in Rome, even though the story is set in Milan.

The first two seasons were produced as a classic weekly prime-time drama directed by Monica Vullo, but starting from the third season the format changed into a daily afternoon soap opera airing Monday to Friday at 4pm, with a mostly renewed cast.

When the format switched to a daily soap in season three, only two actors from the prime-time version remained in the cast: Alessandro Tersigni as Vittorio Conti and, from season three, Alice Torriani as Andreina Mandelli.

After being cancelled due to high production costs, the soap was reinstated by RAI executives following protests from fans and the show's own actors and crew, combined with a rise in ratings.

Production of the fourth season was halted on 9 March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed on 30 June of the same year to complete the remaining 25 episodes.

The soundtrack, composed by Francesco De Luca and Alessandro Forti, is performed by the Rai National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Emanuele Boss, with contributions from several jazz musicians including the swing trio Ladyvette, who also appear within the story under the stage names Sugar, Pepper and Cherry.

The series was distributed internationally in Spain, first dubbed into Catalan and aired from 2019 on regional channels such as À Punt, TV3 and IB3, and later briefly broadcast in Spanish on RTVE Play and La 1.

Two tie-in novels, L'estate delle Veneri and L'estate dei sospetti, both written by Monica Mariani and Anna Cherubini and published by Rai Libri, were set respectively between seasons five and six, and between seasons six and seven.