The successful candidates will work respectively at the British Embassy Private Office and at Villa Wolkonsky, the Ambassador’s Residence.
The internships will be for a period of six months starting from mid-September 2026 (the date is subject to successful completion of security checks). This is a curricular internship/tirocinio curriculare.
The Private Office is a small and busy team dedicated to ensuring that the Ambassador’s and Deputy Head of Mission’s working days run smoothly. Their Executive Assistants manage the diaries and correspondence, and their Visits Coordinator puts together visit programmes outside Rome. The interns will have the opportunity to learn new skills working alongside all the members of the team, including organisation of meetings, lunches, dinners and other events, compiling guest lists and overseeing other event related tasks. tasks.
Main duties/responsibilities
- Accept/decline invitations and send simple thank-you messages;
- issue invitations to social events, log and chase replies and produce final guest lists;
- learn diary management;
- assist the Ambassador’s and Deputy Head of Mission’s Executive Assistants in their daily work including escorting guests;
- arrange appointments on the Ambassador’s behalf;
- book hotels, rail tickets and flights for the Ambassador, under the supervision of the Visits Coordinator;
- assist the wider Chancery in the organisation of major events;
- translate messages addressed to staff from English into Italian;
- liaise with the Executive Assistants and Residence Manager to organise official dinners and events;
- update the Ambassador’s contact lists;
- register incoming gifts and assist with organisation of the annual raffle.
Villa Wolkonsky, the British Ambassador’s Residence, is both the Ambassador’s home and a venue for official guests, conferences and events. Our primary objective is to ensure that houseguests are comfortable and that events are delivered smoothly and to an excellent standard.
The Residence has a team of 13 staff. The Residence Manager oversees the day-to-day running of the Residence and the wide range of events it hosts, while the Events Manager leads on income-generating events and a variety of cross-cutting initiatives.
Both the Residence Manager and the Events Manager are also members of the Ambassador’s Private Office team at Porta Pia, working in close collaboration to ensure effective coordination between the two offices.
The intern will have the opportunity to learn a host of new skills working alongside all the members of the team.
Main duties/responsibilities
- Learn how to organize events, plus drafting menus, seating plans, name cards;
- assist on the organisation of our Christmas Carols and Burns Night Supper, as well as a variety of events organised with external partners;
- issue invitations to social events, log and chase replies and produce final guest lists;
- learn how to run an Ambassador’s Residence;
- update and analyse statistics on event and houseguest numbers;
- purchase small items online;
- learn diary management;
- assist with accounting/budget management;
- liaise with the Executive Assistants and Residence Manager to organise official dinners and events;
- liaise with embassy teams on houseguests and update the database..
Required experience and skills
- Fluent spoken and written English and Italian (C1 level of the European Framework or equivalent);
- good IT skills – MS Outlook and the full MS Office package (Excel, especially);
- organisational and interpersonal skills;
- ability to work under pressure and prioritise work;
- ability to work independently but also as part of a highly dynamic team;
- ability to draft simple letters; Good telephone skills;
- handling official telephone calls;
- specialist skills/interests (music, film, fashion, virtual events etc) would be desirable.
Terms and conditions
The British Embassy only offers curricular internships, “tirocinio curriculare”. The ‘tirocinio curriculare’ is intended for students currently enrolled on a university course. The candidate will have to go through a selection process by way of an online interview, both written and oral. Due to local labour law, we can only accept candidates who can complete the full six month internship and are not graduating during the internship.
The intern will be granted a number of credits (crediti formativi) as indicated by the university. The internship is not a work contract and as such is not paid. However the Embassy will pay the intern a monthly allowance of €350 per month. This amount is not subject to tax under current local legislation. The intern would be expected to work an average of 20-30 hours per week (depending on venue of internship), Monday to Friday, in person, within the range of 0800 – 1800. Some degree of flexibility is expected, mostly in case of seminars and events.
Flexibility is ensured by the whole section to accommodate the intern’s need in case of university exams or for personal reasons.
Other administrative details are set out in the university ‘progetto formativo’ to be signed once appointed to the internship.
Applications (a motivational letter of a max of 600 words + CV in English) must be sent via the university or promoting body by 12 June 2026, at candidature@unint.eu with object “British Embassy PO and VW Residence”
Candidates will be interviewed on-line via Teams. Further explanations and joining instructions will be shared with pre-listed candidates only.
Please note that applications must be sent through the university or promoting body in accordance with the Italian law: DM 142/98. Individual applications will not be considered. Interested students can liaise with the “Ufficio Stages” of their Faculty or University which should send us the application(s). Individual applications not coming through an eligible institution will not be acknowledged or considered for an internship.
Confirmation of the internship is subject to security clearance and reference checks with the university.
HR Office
British Embassy, Rome
La competenza del riconoscimento di crediti formativi universitari (CFU) spetta a una apposita commissione istituita all’interno del corso di laurea e avviene a seguito della compilazione da parte dello studente di un questionario di valutazione del tirocinio svolto.
Contatti
Ufficio placement e tirocini
Daniela Cecchini
Tel: 06 510777407
