Paul Moss

But you probably haven't seen or heard her like this before, unless you live in Italy.

In that 2021 video, she appeared with an Italian comedian, encouraging people to get vaccinated against Covid.

It was filmed at her farmhouse in Salento, in the southernmost Italian region of Puglia.

She spent a good part of the last 18 years there, becoming part of the local community and campaigning to save the local olive groves, which are suffering from a rare virus.

She told my colleague Julian Warricker why she got involved in this work.

When we arrived in Salento, it was the most wonderful green environment filled with young and ancient olive groves.

And we first heard of this virus that was attacking Salento.

trees in olive groves down near Gallipoli.

And it was a perfect storm in a way.

They're not big olive growing families in southern Salento.

They're all small local farmers.

They didn't know what was happening.

There were many conspiracy theories flying around about what it was and why it was happening.

So my husband and I and a small group of people started a little organization called Save the

But what we do now is we raise funds to find new species of trees that are resistant to Xylella and produce great olive oil.

And parallel with that, we graft the ancient trees to try and save them for the future.

people will hear the passion that you have for the cause.

I wonder how much it feeds into the passion that you have now for that part of Italy.

I mean, as you say, you've had a home there now for many years.

How much do you feel this because of the fact that that part of Italy has become so important to you in recent times?