Melanie Sykes splits from gondolier lover Riccardo Simionato

Melanie Sykes has split from her gondolier toyboy Riccardo Simionato.

Pals have said the TV presenter, 52, and Riccardo, 25, split earlier in the year, because ‘travelling back and forth wasn’t sustainable’.

The couple first fell for one another in October 2020 after she paid £72 to go on his gondolier for half an hour. While they’ve parted ways, they remain amicable. 

A source told The Sun: ‘Riccardo is based in Venice, while Mel is in the UK.

‘It was really fun and romantic at first travelling back and forth but it wasn’t very sustainable in the long run.

‘The pair have nothing but kind things to say about each other and Venice will forever hold a very special place in Mel’s heart.’

MailOnline has contacted Melanie’s representatives for comment.  

Romance: The couple first fell for one another in October 2020 after she paid £72 to go on his gondolier for half an hour. While they’ve parted ways, they remain amicable

The last time Melanie referenced Riccardo on her social media was in August 2021 after she jetted to Venice to see him. 

She wrote: ‘Ciao for now beautiful Venice you & your people have my heart,’ while he wrote in turn: ‘Thank you very much for the good times spent together.’

They were pictured in London last October, but that was the final sighting.

Mel and Riccardo fell in love while she was on holiday in Venice in October 2020 after she paid £72 for half hour’s ride on his gondola.

The pair were pictured kissing on the trip, with Melanie later revealing she ‘was experiencing so much joy, it was difficult to actually care’ who saw them. 

It’s over: The last time Melanie referenced Riccardo on her social media was in August 2021 after she jetted to Venice to see him 

Melanie penned in an Instagram post: ‘Morning strumpets. I knew I was being stalked on my holiday but I managed to ignore it, partly because It’s just what happens but mostly because I was experiencing so much joy, it was difficult to actually care. 

‘May you also recognise, appreciate and take those happy moments in this crazy world. love Melanie x #livethatlife’.

The Manchester-born star had been in Venice on a mini-break with a female friend and first posted a picture of herself being punted along a canal by obliging Riccardo the week before the romance was revealed.

The pictured embrace came less than 48 hours later, on Monday, and the next day she was seen enjoying an alfresco breakfast in the gondolier’s company in the intimate Campo San Toma square.

Asked if he prefers English women, Riccardo told the Mail On Sunday at the time: ‘Every person is different, nationality doesn’t matter. True, no?’ 

After the collapse of her first marriage to actor Daniel Caltagirone, Melanie embarked on a romance with Jack Cockings, a roofer, who she met on Twitter. Aged 28 at the time, he was 16 years her junior.

They wed in 2013, but she filed for divorce after just seven months of marriage, later admitting she married ‘the wrong person’.

She was briefly then linked to singer Olly Murs, 14 years her junior, and German golfer Martin Kaymer, who is 15 years younger, before dating comedian Steve Coogan, 55, for six months last year.

Having fun: Mel and Riccardo fell in love while she was on holiday in Venice in October 2020 after she paid £72 for half hour’s ride on his gondola

Melanie is mother to sons Roman, 20, and Valentino, 18, and revealed that she recently gave them tips on their own love lives as she discussed the dangers of watching porn. 

Speaking on John Bishop’s podcast Three Little Words, she talked about how some young men struggle to maintain an erection because porn has distorted the way they view sex.

John started the discussion, saying: ‘There’s this phenomenon now where young men are struggling to maintain erections, because they’ve become so overexposed to pornography. They don’t understand sex as an intimate thing.’

Melanie replied: ‘Oh my god, I know. I remember having this conversation with my eldest.

‘I just said to him: “If you are watching porn, just know that not all women look like that and not everybody wants to do those things.”‘

She added that while she loved talking about sex she said it’s still off limits for many women to be open about.

‘We never speak of it. We titter about it but it’s still a taboo subject for women to discuss’.

Parenting: Melanie is mother to sons Roman, 20, and Valentino, 18, and revealed that she recently gave them tips on their own love lives as she discussed the dangers of watching porn (pictured in 2014)