You can’t go wrong with marble.

Particularly when you’re talking Italian restaurants, too much marble is simply never enough.

Pair two kinds of marble with huge hand-blown glass chandeliers, plush oversized velvet chairs and Pucci-print outdoor cushions and you’ve got yourself an Italian masterpiece.

This is Rosetta: the latest in a long line of establishments from all-rounder Neil Perry, bringing classic Italian to Melbourne.

You love Italian food. But only the way Nonna used to make it.

Good news. Perry is auditioning to be your new Nonna. Rather than being inspired by contemporary Italian cooking, Perry hopes to create dishes made the way you would want to eat them at the family table.

“People might say my weakness is not being Italian but it’s actually quite a strength in a way,” Perry tells us. “Because you know what the Italians are like – they honestly don’t even believe that anyone out of their particular region can cook good food. So we got to be inspired by all the regions, by the whole wonderful country of Italy.”

On your own little trip to Italy, peruse a selection of 700 Italian varietal wines, or perhaps choose a decadent martini to begin your night.

Then you’ll start with Carpaccio or some antipasti, eat wood-fired suckling lamb as Sophia Loren and Sly Stallone gaze at you from mahogany parquetry walls, or snaffle Spaghetti alle Vongole (14 different pastas are handmade and hand cut daily) as you soak up the action at the bar.

Naturally, you can’t pass this one up. Make a reservation; that’s a novelty around Melbourne after all.

Where: Crown Entertainment Complex, Southbank Victoria, 3006
Phone: 03 8648 1999
Open: Dinner 7 days, Lunch Tuesday-Sunday (lunch available from Friday 26^th)
Details: Rosettaristorante.com