Ciao bella

This is Michela Chiappa, whose melodic Welsh Valleys accent belies the fact that she’s just become the new face of Italian cooking on TV. Both her parents are Italian, and Chiappa grew up speaking Italian at home. The first of her four-part series for Channel4, Simple Italian, was screened on Monday evening, and her print debut, Italian Family Cookbook, is to be published by Penguin next year.

In the meantime, recipes from the TV show, a stylish production shot in Wales and on location in Italy by Jamie Oliver's Fresh One Productions, are available at scrapbook.channel4.com/programmes/simply-italian.

Chiappa is joined on screen by her equally telegenic sisters, Emi and Romina, and at a later stage in the series viewers are taken behind the scenes at preparations for the double wedding ceremony and feast Michela and Emi hosted with their fiancees in Italy earlier this year. Definitely one to set the record button for. Channel4, Mondays, 8.30pm.