Barbara Serra

Barbara Serra (Italian pronunciation: [ˈbarbara ˈsɛrra]; born 19 August 1974) is an Italian-born British-based broadcast journalist and TV newsreader.

[4] Serra is the granddaughter of Vitale Piga, who served as the fascist mayor of Carbonia, Sardinia, from 28 September 1939 to 24 April 1942.

Her most challenging on-air moment was having to improvise a five-minute radio bulletin without any scripts due to a technical mishap.

Serra covered a wide range of stories, from the death of Pope John Paul II in Rome, to the Michael Jackson trial in California.

[9][10] As part of the Al Jazeera English team, she was a correspondent in a number of European countries and also the West Bank and Gaza between 2006 and 2009.

The TV programme broadcasts on RAI 3, with Serra regularly speaking out about the lack of female representation on Italian television.

Her work with Al Jazeera English included the breaking news report that Palestinian farmers were being attacked by Israelis in the West Bank in 2009.

[12] In 2013, Serra interviewed Anders Fogh Rasmussen where he discussed NATO's involvement in Afghanistan and also the success of its operations in the region.

[14] Having started as a London-based European reporter, she worked primarily as a London anchor on the flagship programme Newshour for Al Jazeera.

Serra reported and anchored on location for big stories for the news and was live on air in 2013 as the conclave in Rome elected Pope Francis.

In the documentary, Serra looks at the story of her grandfather who was mayor of Carbonia, a city built by the Benito Mussolini regime to service the local coal mines, to see what link there is between Italy's fascist past and its present.

[22] Serra also won the third edition of the Caccuri Literary Prize with the book, Gli Italiani Non Sono Pigri.