Silvia Colloca reveals how husband Richard Roxburgh won her over 12 years ago

SILVIA’S Table host Silvia Colloca reveals how her husband Richard Roxburgh won her heart, and what she said when her five-year-old son told her he was in love.

Silvia's Colloca in the kitchen. Picture: Supplied/ABC

SILVIA Colloca is talking romance.

“Nothing short of love, Holly, pure love,” the Italian-born actor, opera singer and TV cook enthuses.

At the heart of our conversation is Colloca’s youngest son with husband, Richard Roxburgh, who only recently revealed his first crush to his parents around the family dinner table.

“Miro is not even six and he’s already in love. And it is love,” his passionate mother confirms.

“He confessed to this girl at school that he wanted her to be his girlfriend and we said, ‘Oh Miro, what did you say?’ and he said, ‘She said nothing, but she smiled and her face went all red.’ I said to him, ‘Well, darling, that is love.’ When you’re grown up, you really try to say something spectacular and cool and amazing; but when you’re a child, you don’t have to because you’re already spectacular and cool and amazing.”

It’s Miro’s mother’s “cool and amazing” way of coaxing these conversations out of others, over her “spectacular” home cooking which forms the recipe for her new ABC series, Silvia’s Italian Table.

Silvia Colloca with son Miro, then five. Picture: Troy Snook

While the eight-part program provides a relaxed showcase for Colloca to recreate and teach the rustic food of her birthplace, it’s her natural warmth and curiosity as a host to three celebrity guests each week which teases out unexpected stories like this one over a three-course meal they help make.

The episodes are themed around conversation starting points like ‘courage,’ ‘family’ and ‘defiance,’ with everyone around the table, just like her children, “expected to chip in”.

“The idea behind the show was to make sure it was going to be as authentic as it could possibly be … like a dinner party, where friends actually come to my house.”

She’s quick to explain the stunning luxury home, overlooking Sydney’s Balmoral Beach, used in the show is not her real residence, “I wish … but even in my pretend house, we wanted our guest to have a real experience.”

In between enviable travel clips of Colloca visiting the Italian source for the recipes she introduces each episode, the meals were cooked and shared in real time, with producers and the camera crew filming around them.

Silvia Colloca and Richard Roxburgh make for a glamorous power couple. Picture: Christian Gilles

More importantly, Colloca clarifies, “the wine was real, not a prop. We didn’t use real wine glasses for editing purposes but everyone was drinking it, I can assure you. It’s amazing how eloquent you become, even with English as a second language once you’ve had a few,” she laughs.

That could explain the first aid the host needed during the filming of this week’s debut episode, featuring author Kathy Lette, actor Lisa McCune and comic, Tom Gleeson.

“I cut my finger open and they had to give me three stitches. It was an epic fail, but I’m Italian, I always need a bit of drama. Kathy took me under her wing and was like a big sister, so sweet. We’ve been in touch since. She’s back in London, but when she returns she’s going to come and hang out.”

While her famous husband doesn’t appear in the series, the Rake star’s kitchen skills — which now extends to a mean meatball Miro says is “almost better than mummy’s” — played a part in the couple’s courtship 12 years ago.

“The first time he cooked for me, I think it was our second date … he cooked Thai food for me and he blew me away. He did a great job, that’s why I kept dating him.”

Silvia’s Italian Table premieres 8pm, Thursday on ABC.

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Originally published as Silvia Colloca reveals how husband Richard Roxburgh won her over 12 years ago