Meet Roberta Barcella

Every family has stories that deserve to outlive the people who lived them. Roberta Barcella is making sure her family's does.

A journalist and TV producer

Roberta is an Italian journalist and a former national television producer. Her career has been built on finding stories and telling them well, and she has now moved from Italy to the UK, a journey she talked about on The Legacy Bench.

Mamma's Second World War diary

The project closest to her heart is a deeply personal one. Roberta is turning her mamma's memories of the Second World War, recorded in a diary, into a children's book and an animation. Her aim is to bring a real family war story back to life in a form that younger generations can connect with.

On the bench she explained how she is approaching the animation, and how she has been bringing old family photographs to life, using animation and AI as part of the creative process. It is a project that combines her professional skills as a storyteller and producer with something far more personal: preserving her mother's voice and experiences for the future.

Why it matters

Stories from the Second World War are increasingly told by the generations who came after. Roberta's project is a way of keeping one of those first-hand accounts alive, and of helping children understand history through the eyes of someone who lived it.

Roberta Barcella joined us on The Legacy Bench for "Fake It Till You Make It... Or Just Lying? 4 Guests Get Brutally Honest" — watch the full conversation.