Stephanie Rafanelli

Stephanie Rafanelli is a former deputy editor and current contributing editor of Condé Nast Traveller Magazine, who writes main features across international editions. In her 25-year career as a journalist, she has been nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for her documentary directing and a British Press Award for Interviewer of the Year, worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Discovery and PBS, and written cover stories for British Harper’s Bazaar; Mr Porter; the Sunday and Saturday Times magazines; the weekend supplements of the Telegraph, Guardian and Observer; Times Luxx; ES magazine and The Australian’s Travel + Luxury. A lifelong passion for travel has been a throughline in her career, ranging from long-form interviews with Al Pacino, Jodie Foster and Björk to documentaries about Japan and the Sicilian Mafia. For Condé Nast Traveller, she has commissioned such stories as Kyrgyzstan, Eritrea and the Solomon Islands. In her features, she is known for her ideas, lyrical writing, and ability to bring fresh perspectives to subjects such as Naples, Sicily, Albania, Tangier, and Rwanda. Her specialisms include Italy, India, Morocco, Mexico and the Americas. Born to an Italian father and English mother who lived in the Caribbean, Stephanie grew up in the United Kingdom, Italy, and California. She speaks fluent Italian and Spanish and speaks a pidgin of everything, including Japanese.