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26th JANUARY 2026
“An uplifting, humorous memoir of a mother building a new life on a beautiful Sicilian island.
Reeling from a broken relationship, Ros Belford decides the best chance she has of healing, while giving her daughters a childhood to remember, is to move to Italy and live by the sea.
After a false start in a town where machismo is ingrained, they find the small, lush, delightful island of Salina. Izzy and Juno grow up playing on the beach, learning to swim over volcanic bubbles, hearing tales of Aeolian witches and watching Stromboli erupt on the horizon. It is not entirely paradise, however. The school is atrocious, there are power cuts and an earthquake, and property speculators threaten the island’s fragile beauty. But an eclectic community of islanders take them to their hearts, friendships are forged and Salina becomes home.
Full of humanity, vitality, honesty and optimism, Children of the Volcano is for anyone unwilling to give up dreams of adventure and excitement simply because of parenthood, lack of money and not getting things right the first time.
Ros Belford is also the author of numerous guidebooks and articles about Italy, Sicily and the Mediterranean. You can find her work in Rough Guides, Fodor’s, DK, Condé Nast Traveller, The Telegraph, The Independent and on Amazon.”
Where: The British Institute of Florence, Lungarno Guicciardini 9, Firenze
When: Monday, 26th January – 18:30/6:30 pm
If you are in Florence and would like to attend the lecture in person at the British Institute Library, please send an email to bif@britishinstitute.it – or follow the link: https://www.britishinstitute.it/en/events/meet-the-author-ros-belford.1182
1st DECEMBER 2025
“Amber Guinness will discuss her new cookery and lifestyle book Winter in Tuscany with Simon Gammell.
Celebrating the region’s rich culinary and cultural traditions, Winter in Tuscany uses the quanto basta approach – Italy’s intuitive cooking method of ‘just enough’ – and is packed full of cosy autumn and winter flavours to bring a warmth and simplicity to your kitchen table.
But quanto basta is more than just a philosophy for cooking; it’s a metaphor for life. This book celebrates life in the off-season; an ode to exploring Tuscany’s villages and countryside when the crowds have thinned, allowing for a deeper, more intimate connection with the culture, food and landscapes. In discovering treasures off the beaten path, Amber highlights the richness of exploring at a gentler pace, when Tuscany truly reveals itself.
Amber Guinness was born in London and raised at Arniano, the Tuscan farmhouse her parents restored outside Siena. She now lives in Florence.”
Where: The British Institute of Florence, Lungarno Guicciardini 9, Firenze
When: Monday, 1st December – 18:30/6:30 pm
If you are in Florence and would like to attend the lecture in person at the British Institute Library, please send an email to bif@britishinstitute.it – or follow the link: https://www.britishinstitute.it/en/events/meet-the-author-amber-guinness.1182
10th NOVEMBER 2025
“Italy, August 1944. A unit of German soldiers arrives at a villa near Florence. Villa Il Focardo is home to Robert Einstein, cousin to the most famous scientist in the world, Albert Einstein – a prominent enemy of the Nazi regime. Twelve hours after arriving, the soldiers have vanished – and a family is dead.
This crime – and what happened next – still haunts those who survived. In The Einstein Vendetta, Thomas Harding recounts the story of an untold true crime, one that unspools to reveal Italy’s brutal wartime history – its fall to fascism, antisemitism and bitter partisanship – and a family’s search for justice.
Thomas Harding is a bestselling author whose books include Hanns and Rudolf (winner JQ-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction), Blood on the Page (winner Crime Writers’ Association ‘Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction), and The Maverick, which was selected by the New York Times as a Critic’s Pick for 2023. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages.”
Where: The British Institute of Florence, Lungarno Guicciardini 9, Firenze
When: Monday, 10th November – 18:30/6:30 pm
If you are in Florence and would like to attend the lecture in person at the British Institute Library, please send an email to bif@britishinstitute.it – or follow the link: https://www.britishinstitute.it/en/events/meet-the-author-thomas-harding.1178
