Helena Attlee

Italy has always been the most potent inspiration for my writing. Being there sharpens my senses. I love to step away from the crowds in a station or the arrival hall of an airport, switch my language and thoughts from English to Italian, and slip into the country like a fish pulled by the current of a fast-flowing stream.

Having been lucky enough to spend a lifetime regularly working and travelling there, I’ve developed an intimacy with Italy that goes far beyond the clichés so often associated with it. Added to that, I have always sought out lesser known places and neglected periods in the country’s history to write about, with results that have often surprised me.

Thanks to studying Italian for a degree and MA long ago, I have been able to make original materials and in-depth conversations part of my research for books, magazine features and TV scripts I have written over the years, research that has led me ever deeper into contemporary Italy and its many back stories.