Sorrento is a town on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. It is 103 km (64 mi) south-west of Melbourne's central business district. Sorrento recorded a population of 2,013 at the 2021 census. Sorrento is known for its appealing weather, limestone buildings, and its world-class day-spas, which take advantage of the local water pressure to provide an unparalleled scrub.

It is thought that the name "Sorrento" (after the Italian seaside town) was conferred upon what was known as Sullivans Bay when the area was first opened for housing development in 1869.

The Boonwurrung people occupied the area now known as the Mornington Peninsula for tens of thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The area now known as Sorrento is traditionally known to the Boonwurrung as Bullanatoolong.

In February 1802, Lieutenant John Murray of HMS Lady Nelson led the first British force to enter Port Phillip Bay. Murray chose to anchor Lady Nelson off what is now known as Sorrento Beach. On 17 February the crew landed ashore and were greeted by about 18 local Boonwurrung. The crew, with their dinners in hand, showed how they ate bread. While one of the crew was handing out bread to everyone, they were ambushed. In response, several Boonwurrung were shot at by musket fire, with three receiving likely mortal wounds. Murray then ordered grapeshot and round shot to be fired from the carronades aboard the ship at the fleeing men. This occurred at a place Murray named Bowen's Point which is now referred to as the Western Sister headland on the Sorrento foreshore. After exploring the southern part of the bay, Murray formally took possession of the area on 8 March 1802 for King George III of Great Britain in a small ceremony at a place now known as the Point King Foreshore Reserve in Sorrento. A few days later Murray sailed out of the heads and returned to Sydney.

In 1803, the British returned and established a convict settlement under the command of Lieutenant Governor David Collins at the Eastern Sister headland of Sullivan Bay in Sorrento. The site became the first British settlement on mainland Australia outside of the Sydney region. Within a few months, the settlement of around 500 people was abandoned and subsequently moved to Hobart in Tasmania. The famous convict, William Buckley, escaped from the Collins Settlement and went on to live with Aboriginal people in the Geelong area for over thirty years.

The Collins Settlement in Sorrento saw the first magistrates' court, public hospital, postal service and government printing office to be established in the region later known as Victoria. The first Victorian wedding, christening and funeral services were also held at the Sullivan Bay site.

Sorrento Post Office opened on 10 January 1871; the heritage-listed Sorrento Post Office building (now used for retail and a cafe) dates from 1904 to 1905.

From the 1870s actor and entrepreneur George Coppin who had a holiday home there invested heavily in making Sorrento a popular destination, through both transportation and accommodation. In 1874 he founded the Sorrento-Queenscliff Steam Navigation Company, which operated the paddle steamer Golden Crown between Port Melbourne, Sorrento and Queenscliff, making the town much more accessible, and built the Continental Hotel in 1875 on what was then called Ocean Amphitheatre Road (now Ocean Beach Road). Then in 1889 he founded a company that built a steam powered tram which ran between the ferry terminal and the back beach, where he built a large hotel, the Back Beach Palace, in 1890 (demolished 1965). The tram operated in the summer months, and out of peak periods became a horse tram, the line eventually closing in 1921. Through his efforts the town became a popular destination, with more hotels and holiday homes, sometimes quite grand, built into the early 20th century, as well as shops lining Ocean Beach Road.