In this book Helena Frith Powell rediscovers the magical Italy she saw the first time round through the eyes of her Lothario father. While reciting opera and Dante, dropping in on princesses, trying food and Italian fashion, she meets numerous outrageous characters many of them her own relatives. Helena had no idea she was half-Italian until the age of fourteen, when she went to visit her real father and his family. As she ran along Rimini beach to meet him, his first words to her were, Ciao bella, I recognised you by your legs.

Praise for Ciao Bella:

‘Magical’ – Daily Mail

‘Richly comic’ – The Sunday Times

‘Brilliant’ – Shabina Akhtar, BBC Radio Oxford

`A travel book with a difference’ – Coventry Evening Telegraph

‘An ideal stocking filler’ – Evening Standard (Glasgow)

‘Ciao Bella is as rich and satisfying as a mid-morning cappuccino’ – Daily Telegraph

‘Ciao Bella is a sharp, honest and richly comic account of a woman belatedly coming to terms with her own lost self’ – timesonline – Kate Saunders