Dianne Hales

Dianne Hales, a prize-winning, widely published journalist and author, was awarded an honorary knighthood by the President of Italy in recognition of her best-selling book, LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World’s Most Enchanting Language.

Her newest book, LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World, is a jubilant exploration of how Italy transformed the Western world’s most vibrant passions—from literature to art, music to movies. Dianne attributes these landmark achievements to la passione italiana, a primal force that stems from an insatiable hunger to discover and create; to love and live with every fiber of one’s being. This fierce drive blazes to life in the Sistine Chapel, surges through a Puccini aria, and rumbles in a gleaming Ferrari engine.

Dianne has served as a contributing editor for Parade, Ladies Home Journal, Working Mother and American Health and has written for many national publications, including Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, New York Times, Readers' Digest, Washington Post, Woman's Day, and World Book. In addition to more than a dozen trade books, she is the author of 30 editions of the leading college health textbook, An Invitation to Health.