Farewell to Pippo Baudo

A great love for music that of Baudo (even for classical opera he dreamed of being a conductor: 'A dream that I never managed to realise: I envied the prowess of Pippo Caruso, with whom I struck up a strong friendship. Conducting so many musicians is really an indescribable emotion: I only know how to play the piano'), a proverbial flair for scouting talent from Laura Pausini to Lorella Cuccarini, and a passion for show business are some of the traits that have made Baudo a legend, or rather Superpippo as he was affectionately called.

He had one great regret, "not having worked with Raffaella Carrà" as he admitted, moved, when the showgirl queen of TV died.

More than 150 programmes, including Settevoci, Canzonissima, Domenica in, Fantastico, Serata d'onore, Novecento, several films and even musical pieces written for other artists: 'Pippo nazionale' has exceeded 60 years of career and has involved several generations in his shows. He was also director of the Stabile di Catania.

A graduate in law, in love with the world of show business, he moved to Rome to pursue his dream of the small screen. His debut, legend has it, was on Sunday afternoons in 1966 with Settevoci. It was a springboard. In 1967 he was with Corrado, Enzo Tortora and Mike Bongiorno on Sabato Sera and in 1968 already the first of many encounters with Sanremo: he presented Luisa Rivelli and in the same year he was also the host of Un disco per l'estate, another successful title.

Baudo became, show after show, the cultured and polite presenter par excellence. Canzonissima, Luna park, countless editions of Domenica in, the beloved festival that he dominated for a lifetime between '68 and 2008, and then Fantastico with debutantes Parisi and Cuccarini in the 1980s, which were the golden years of his golden career, and then again Serata d'onore and Novecento, often formats that he devised.

Exceptional talent scouts have brought Al Bano, Gigi D'Alessio, Alessandra Martinez, Tosca D'Aquino, Beppe Grillo, the Solenghi-Lopez-Marchesini Trio, among many others, to the limelight, Eros Ramazzotti, Barbara D'Urso, Andrea Bocelli, Giorgia, Irene Grandi, Gianluca Grignani, Anna Tatangelo but not Fiorello, who he rejected at an audition, regretting it forever.

In '91, there was a bomb attack on his house in Santa Tecla, Sicily, for hurling himself at the Mafia during a commemoration of Judge Chinnici (fortunately, the villa was empty that night).

In 1986 he also risked an international crisis with Iran during 'Fantastico 7' that he hosted because of a sketch by the trio Lopez, Solenghi, Marchesini on Ayatollah Khomeini, and in the same edition there was the monologue by the then comedian Beppe Grillo against Craxi that cost the Ligurian the exile from RAI.

Fantastico 7 was also a case for him: criticised by the then RAI president Enrico Manca, who called Baudo national-popular, Pippo resentfully switched to the emerging Fininvest, only to rescind the contract the following year, handing over the building in the centre of Rome to Silvio Berlusconi for a penalty.

In his programmes, Baudo traversed the difficult themes of contemporary history and culture, giving space to books, plays, art films, and conducting interviews with writers, directors, actors (such as Moravia, Fallaci, Arbasino, Montanelli).

Among the anecdotes recalled by Pippo over the years, 'when Benigni touched me' in his monologue on his private parts at Sanremo. A Member of Parliament asked a question saying that that had been sexual violence and that I should have reported it'. Baudo has had five relationships - Mirella Adinolfi (by whom he had Alessandro, whom he recognised years later), Angela Lippi (by whom he had his daughter Tiziana), Alida Chelli, Adriana Russo and Katia Ricciarelli, whom he married with pomp in Catania in 1986 (and from whom he divorced in 2007). Rai celebrated his 60-year career with Happy Birthday...Pippo in prime time on Rai1 in 2019 with all his colleagues affectionately celebrating him.

The funeral chamber for Pippo Baudo will be set up tomorrow at the Biomedical Campus in Rome.

The funeral - Viale Mazzini always announces - will be held in his beloved Militello Val di Catania, on 20 August at 4pm in the Church of Santa Maria della Stella.