Francesca Valentino, an Italian tourist and former reality TV show personality, has been identified as the victim who died in a hotel fire in the Dominican Republic.
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Nearly 1,700 tourists were evacuated after a large fire broke out at a hotel in the Dominican beach resort of Bayahibe, local authorities said on June 19. Valentino, a 46-year-old mother of two, was killed in the fire at Wyndham’s Viva Dominicus Beach hotel, according to a statement from the DAEH emergency service reported by NBC News.
Valentino was evacuated to the beach with other tourists after the fire broke out and reportedly lost consciousness after inhaling carbon monoxide from the smoke. DAEH personnel assisted her and transported her to a medical facility in the La Romana province. However, she died while receiving treatment, Dominican Today reported.
Three other people were taken to the hospital, and six were treated on-site for injuries, according to NBC News. The injured individuals were a mix of guests, visitors, and emergency responders.
Francesca Valentino Was on Vacation With Her Husband When Hotel Fire Broke Out
According to The Sun, Valentino and her husband were on what was described as “the trip of a lifetime” when the fire started. The couple was in the fishing village of Bayahibe, where they had first met, to visit his family. Valentino, originally from Italy, moved to the Dominican Republic, where she met and married her husband in 2017. They had two daughters together before relocating to Valentino’s hometown of Caserta, Italy, where she managed a small bed and breakfast.
Una mujer de 45 años oriunda de Italia hasta el momento es la única víctima fatal de un incendio de grandes proporciones que dejó en ruinas el Hotel Viva Wyndham en el pueblo de pescadores Bayahibe, en la costa sur-este de la República Dominicana.
— BonitaRadio (@Bonita_Radio) June 20, 2026
Francesca Valentino murió en… pic.twitter.com/23orrnGVve
Valentino gained reality TV fame in 2018 when she appeared on the show “Mollo tutto e cambio vita,” which translates to “I’m dropping everything and changing my life.” According to The Sun, the program chronicles the lives of people who leave Italy to start over elsewhere.
In 2014, Valentino left her job as a ballet instructor in Rome to move to the Dominican Republic. Her brother, David, later joined her, quitting his job as a fashion designer in Milan because he felt “unsatisfied” with his life in Europe. Both siblings eventually married and had children on the island.
“I left Italy with a two-month plane ticket, but I never went back,” she recalled in 2018, per The Sun. “I’ve now been living here for four years, found love, got married, and had a daughter, who’s already two years old.
“I’m happy with my choice; I’d never go back,” Valentino added.
Harrowing Footage Shows Blazing Hotel Fire
Meanwhile, local media footage showed dark clouds of smoke billowing over the Caribbean coastline as flames engulfed the resort’s thatched roof.
A massive fire ripped through a popular Dominican Republic resort, forcing nearly 1,700 guests to evacuate and leaving one person dead.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 20, 2026
Videos from the scene show towering flames engulfing sections of the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach Hotel as emergency crews battled the… pic.twitter.com/Tlg8jJPJqU
“Preliminary observations indicate that the fire spread rapidly due to the flammable nature of parts of the roof structures made of palm, as well as wind conditions,” the country’s Emergency Operations Center (COE) explained.
The fire was brought under control, and its cause is under investigation. Guests were moved to nearby hotels. Wyndham’s Viva Dominicus Palace, part of the same chain, was not damaged.