Colleen opened up on what it was like heading back to Italy, her years spent in the country with footballer husband Aaron and her new show with Owain Wyn Evans
Colleen Ramsey has shared what it was like to return to Italy with her friend and co-star Owain Wyn Evans(Image: John Myers)
Presenter and chef Colleen Ramsey has taken on a new challenge, as she embarks on an Italian adventure with her friend Owain Wyn Evans. The pair are fronting a new S4C series called Ciao! Colleen ag Owain, where they embrace the food and architecture of Italy whilst sharing some insights into their lives off screen.
The mother-of-three previously lived in Turin, Italy, after her husband Aaron Ramsey signed for Juventus in 2019. Whilst there she learnt how to speak Italian and dived into the traditions of the country, which she has demonstrated in the new Welsh language TV series.
We sat down with Colleen to discuss her new series, what it was like heading back to Italy and what it was like travelling with her footballer husband, her children and their dog. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter
The presenter described her new TV series with her friend, saying: “So the show is called Ciao, and me and Owain are just going around Italy having a whale of a time. We do a bit of history, and we look at some of the architecture because that’s kind of Owain’s sort of bag and then we go to markets and try some of the food which is like my kind of thing. So I show him some stuff, he shows me some stuff, and we just enjoy it really.
“It’s an easy job to say yes to, to be honest. I definitely just said yeah straight away, we knew each other before but then we got to know each other really well. So it’s kind of like a journey around Italy, but also like for our friendship too.”
Whilst showing her friend around her former home, Colleen demonstrated her Italian skills which were a little rusty, but quickly came back after some practice. She shared: “I think it all comes down to confidence, so if you’re not using it all the time…I mean we lived in Italy about four or five years ago, so there’s not many people that I know who can speak Italian to converse with.”
She joked: “It was really nice to just have a go, and because Owain can’t speak any Italian he was just sort of impressed with anything I said, so that helps. I could have said anything and then people would have been looking at me like ‘I don’t know’, but Owain was like ‘yay well done you did really good’.
“It was lovely to speak it again. I’m super glad that I picked some of the language up, but yeah it made me want to learn more, and it was so nice to speak Welsh too.
“If you’ve learnt Welsh it’s easy to pick up Italian. There’s a couple of things that are similar and words that I’ve come across. So I think we picked up Italian quicker, me and Aaron, because we speak Welsh.”
Despite living in Turin, Colleen had never been to Lucca or Bologna, which the duo visited in their new S4C series. She explained that she enjoyed taking her friend around Italy and showing him the culture, saying: “It was really nice to speak some of the language and show him like the culture, things I picked up that I wouldn’t necessarily have known if I hadn’t lived there like some of the customs and traditions that they have.”
The presenter and chef has fond memories of living in Italy with her husband Aaron and their three children(Image: John Myers)
Colleen became emotional when visiting Turin during the series and described it as a “trip down memory lane.”
At times she found it overwhelming to remember her time living there, saying: “It was really emotional. I think at the time when I was living there my kids were really little, so we had six-month-old twins and a three-year-old.
“It was actually really difficult when I lived there and I’d try to balance everything, and Aaron my husband, was playing football all the time so it’s like I was in this new place.
“But when I went back there, all you remember is like the sunsets and the park and all the good things came back. So it’s really emotional I think, and I think that comes across in the particular series we’re doing.”
She also described the people that she met when she lived in Italy as lovely, saying they were “friendly, chatty, quite like Welsh people”.
Thankfully, whilst living in Italy they had a lot of support from both Colleen and Aaron’s parents. The mother-of-three explained: “My parents came over and Aaron’s parents came over so that really helped us just enjoy the experience and also we didn’t miss home so much.
“I was definitely a little bit apprehensive moving so far away from home, because I’m a bit of a homebody but the people that we met there have become great friends straight away.
“I don’t really know how I did it when I look back, but you just do. It was crazy, like just lugging three kids around and a dog everywhere we went.
“What we said, we knew it wasn’t going to be forever, we just sort of thought we’d just absorb it and make the most of it.”
She shared that her new S4C series was like a ‘trip down memory lane'(Image: John Myers)
Colleen usually hosts her own cooking show on S4C called Colleen Ramsey: Bywyd a Bwyd and has taken tips from all of the different countries where she has lived. Whether that’s carbs from Italy or a touch of spice from Mexico.
Thankfully her children follow in her footsteps and enjoy all types of food as they were immersed in different cultures from a young age. Colleen said: “They’re not fussy eaters. I mean, there’s some days they are, and you can get chicken nuggets and chips everywhere. So, on those days, there is always chicken nuggets and chips in every single place we’ve been.
“They are quite good with their food. I mean they were brought up in Italy, so they still love all their carbs. They love their risottos, their pastas. It’s definitely rubbed off on them.”
Although, due to the nature of living with an athlete everything in their house at home in South Wales is extremely healthy. Colleen revealed: “Everything in the house is healthy, I mean, there is a draw which is for the kids, which my husband hates and just is too tempted. But you know, we are really, really healthy, unless it’s Christmas time.
“I like all types of food. I like all the bad food, I like all the good food. But especially with Aaron and his job and everything, it’s pretty healthy.
“I don’t like to weigh out all of the plates to make sure it’s all balanced, but in general I think after doing it for so long we are just very aware to make it a load of protein, make sure that it’s not as fat and things like that.”
However, for her cooking show Colleen doesn’t hold back when it comes to being creative with all sorts of food. She shared: “For my show I get to be a little bit more fun. Maybe there’ll be a show one day which is like protein meals, but you know it’s kind of nice to be creative and let yourself loose with things.
“Like I love butter, I love cream, I like oil, I like all the naughty stuff so it’s more fun on the show to just be able to like not be so clean with it.”
When her husband appeared on the series, he too dug into some unhealthy options. Colleen explained: “I have had him on the show. I think he was eating pork belly in one episode and he ate half a plate of it.
“So I don’t know how that went down with any of the clubs he was in at the time. But he can eat whatever he likes. I mean, when you’re running around the pitch all day, you can eat what you like really.”
You can watch Ciao! Colleen ag Owain on S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer.