Alex Polizzi, Author at Catholic Herald

Alex Polizzi

After years as the ‘Hotel Inspector’, I’m going back into the business myself

October 31, 2019

For the first time in many years, I am working with my mother, Olga. We have just bought a 38-bedroom hotel in East Sussex, in the medieval village of Alfriston. It will close at the beginning of November while we completely transform it. We will open again in June for South Downs walkers, cyclists, Glyndebourne-goers,

Diary: by Alex Polizzi

June 21, 2018

Last Thursday I went to Amsterdam by Eurostar to the Van Gogh Museum. I shall draw a veil over my youthful trips to Amsterdam; suffice to say that art was not an integral part of any planned visit. This time my best girlfriend and I travelled business class, but still shared a room, as we

Face to face with ‘the smiling traditionalist’

June 21, 2018

This is an edited version of an article first published in the Catholic Herald on July 7, 1989 Having only got within ring-kissing distance of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre the day before, I was totally unaware, upon being ushered into a darkened audience chamber at his headquarters at Écône, Switzerland, of what my promised half-hour interview

Alex Polizzi: What charities really need

March 22, 2018

Recently, I was asked to be a trustee of Team Domenica, a charity that helps youngsters with learning disabilities find meaningful work. I have a family friendship with Rosa Monckton, the founder. I hesitated slightly because I worried that I would not be able to give the time and commitment needed. But I admire Rosa

The day kindness is commanded

December 21, 2017

When I was younger, we knew we could start to get excited about the coming Christmas on the evening the carol singers came to my grandparents’ house in the second week of December. Twenty people would arrive carrying lanterns, sing professional renditions of classic carols and then collect for charity. We would then join in

I could never be a tiger mother

November 02, 2017

I believe that parenting styles are innate. Of course, you are never quite sure how you are going to feel until you have a child. I thought momentarily that I would want to stay at home and enjoy a different style of life from the working one I had experienced before. In the event, I

Confrontation doesn’t have to be cruel

September 28, 2017

I am not pretending to be a state negotiator, but I think you could fairly say that my working life is based around conflict resolution. It is never easy to critique someone’s beloved business, however much they may think they want the help. As Channel 5’s Hotel Inspector and as The Fixer for BBC Two,

The hardest task of marriage

August 10, 2017

I have always been terrified of marriage. That may sound ridiculous: a good marriage is an enviable thing. And I have seen many successful marriages – those of my grandparents, aunts and uncle, an amazing second marriage for my mother after my father’s death. In my family there has never been a divorce; all the

Our ‘Nonno’ never forgot his roots

July 13, 2017

My grandfather, Charles Forte, came with his parents to Scotland from Italy as a child at a time when that was more unusual. He hailed from a tiny village in the rural vastness that surrounded Rome, and his family raised horses in the mountains. He was short – probably 5ft 4ins in his socks –

Mass helps me be a better mother

June 15, 2017

My daughter is nine years old and we are preparing for her First Holy Communion. As a result, we have become more regular churchgoers than I have been for many years. We leave my husband and four-year-old son at home and go together. What started as a duty and a chore has become a great

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