Vanessa Hall-Smith

Vanessa Frances Hall-Smith MBE (born April 1951) is an English lawyer, musician and writer. She was the director of the British Institute of Florence from 2004 to 2011.

Biography Hall-Smith was born in April 1951 and came from a family of doctors. At Exeter, Hall-Smith played viola and violin and recorded an album with the progressive rock and folk rock band Fuchsia, providing violin and backing vocals.

Hall-Smith passed the English bar exam in 1976, She later requalified as a solicitor and was a partner with the London firms The Simkins Partnership and Harrison Curtis, specialising in advertising rights. and state regulation of the industry.

Hall-Smith was the director of the British Institute of Florence from 2004 to 2011. In 2008, Hall-Smith was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire "for services promoting UK culture in Italy."

Hall-Smith returned to England in 2011. She co-edited Rivista, the Magazine of the British-Italian Society, with Linda Northern from 2014 to 2019. In 2024-2025, she served as Treasurer of the Islington Choral Society in Islington, North London.

Personal life Hall-Smith married lawyer Alper Riza, a half-Turkish and half-Greek Cypriot in 1981. They had two children and separated in the 1990s.