In praise of Pippo Baudo: he invented us
The presenter for more than half a century icon of RAI was not simply Italian television. He has been Italy
2' min read
2' min read
If you are surprised by the cordial on unified networks dedicated in these hours to Pippo Baudo, died in Rome at the age of 89, you are probably missing a concept. In over half a century of his career, Baudo was not simply the Italian television: he was Italy. He has been the boy from the South who graduates in law, but will never use that degree. He was, in his own way, the emigrant who leaves Militello in Val di Catania for Rome in search of fortune.
He departed as a child of fortuitous circumstances: if that famous reel with the episode of Rin Tin Tin had arrived on time in Rai, on 6 February 1966, the pilot of Settevoci would never have been aired and perhaps we would never have had a Pippo Baudo either. He went on to host 13 editions of Sanremo, a record destined to remain unmatched in today's liquid TV. He was the young man who, in the 1960s, was pushing his way through the Rai of the Enzo Tortora, the Mike Bongiorno and the Corrado, and the old man who never wanted to leave when it was his turn to leave.
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He has been the civil servant who, in the 1980s, had a crush on the private sector (at Canale 5) only to realise, as a good southerner, that there is nothing better than the state job. He was the Pygmalion of legions of showgirls, battalions of singers, phalanxes of comedians, some of whom were destined for a discrete political future. He discovered them. In fact, he himself would say: 'I invented them'. He even tried to invent a political party, in the great chaos of the Second Republic, and perhaps it was the only thing he failed to do in life.
As if we were wannabe Crazy Horses clinging to the balustrade of the Ariston, Pippo talked some sense into us, convinced us to come down, saved us all. And, unlike Mike, he didn't even get half a Phenomenology from Umberto Eco. Yes, whatever, he was a Christian Democrat. As was and, in the end, remains a good 40% of Italians, people of spectators before citizens. Resign yourselves: we are all Pippo's sons. Whether you like it or not, he invented us.
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