Fabio Fazio (; born 30 November 1964) is an Italian television presenter. After debuting in 1982, he presented many TV programs, including '' Quelli che... il Calcio'', '' Vieni via con me'' and ''Quello che (non) ho''. Since 2003, he presents the weekly talk show ''

Che tempo che fa ; ) is an Italian television late-night talk show hosted by Fabio Fazio.''Italy: Be Fluent in Italian Life and Culture'', Andrew Whittaker, page 219; Thorogood Publishing, year 2010, seGoogle books/ref> It has been broadcast live on Saturdays ...

'', which airs on Nove since October 2023 and was formerly broadcast by

Rai 3 Rai 3 (formerly Rai Tre) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural a ...

. He presented the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

in 1999, 2000, 2013 and 2014.

Biography

Early life

Fabio Fazio was born in

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

, Italy, on 30 November 1964 to Giuseppe from

Varazze Varazze (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Savona in the Italian region of Liguria, located about west of Genoa and about northeast of Savona in the Riviera di Ponente. Nearby in the Ligurian Apennines is the Monte Beigu ...

and Delia from

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

. After receiving the high school diploma at the

liceo classico The ''liceo classico'' or ''ginnasio'' () is the oldest public secondary education in Italy, secondary school type in Italy. Its educational curriculum spans over five years, when students are generally about 14 to 19 years of age. Until 196 ...

Gabriello Chiabrera in

, Fazio started studying

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, following his mother's suggestions. He later decided to leave his law studies, enrolling in the

University of Genoa The University of Genoa () is a public research university. It is one of the largest universities in Italy and it is located in the city of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of northwestern Italy. The original university was fou ...

, where he graduated with 110/110 in

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, discussing a thesis about literary elements in songs written by Italian '' cantautori''.

First radio and TV appearances

In 1980, Fazio debuted as a

radio personality A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

, appearing in local stations such as Radio Vecchia Savona and Radio Golfo Ligure. In 1982, he debuted as a celebrity impersonator at

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

's radio program ''Black Out''. After winning a contest organized by the Italian national broadcaster, Fazio made his first TV appearance in 1983, when he took part in

Raffaella Carrà Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni (18 June 1943 – 5 July 2021), known professionally as Raffaella Carrà () and sometimes mononymously as Raffaella, was an Italian singer, dancer, actress, television presenter and model. She is often widely cons ...

's show ''Pronto Raffaella?''. During the following years, he appeared in many other TV programs, including

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

''Loretta Goggi in quiz'',

Rete 4 Rete 4 (in English Network 4, also known as Retequattro) is an Italian free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope MediaForEurope, officially MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., formerly Mediaset Grou ...

's ''Sponsor City'' and

's ''L'orecchiocchio''. In 1987, Fazio regularly appeared on ''Forza Italia'', one of the first TV programs broadcast by

Odeon TV Odeon 24 was an Italian channel owned by Gold TV, a television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation prov ...

, mixing talks about

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

matches with entertainment sketches. Between 1989 and 1990, he also worked for RAI programs ''Fate il vostro gioco'' and ''Mai dire mai''. In 1990 and in 1991 he presented ''Banane'', a satirical program broadcast by

Telemontecarlo La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Cairo Communication acquired it from Telecom Italia Media, itself owned by Telecom Italia, in 2013. La7 features a generalist programming schedule, primarily ...

. For the same network, he worked as an author for the show ''T'amoTV''.

''Quelli che... il Calcio'' and TV success

In 1993, Fazio started presenting the show '' Quelli che... il Calcio'', broadcast by

and inspired by his previous show ''Forza Italia''. The program, based on live commentary of

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

soccer matches, strongly contributed making him popular in Italy. He presented the show until 2001, when he was replaced by

Simona Ventura Simona Ventura (born 1 April 1965) is an Italian television presenter and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Italia 1988 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1988. She is the third woman to have presented the Sanremo Music Festiv ...

, after leaving the Italian public broadcaster. In 1997, he received the Premio Regia Tv for his show ''Anima mia'', presented with Italian singer

Claudio Baglioni Claudio Baglioni (; born 16 May 1951) is an Italian Pop music, pop singer-songwriter and musician. His career has been going on for over 50 years. Considered one of the most successful pop rock singer-songwriters in the history of Italian mu ...

. During the award ceremony, he also received the prize for Male TV Personality of the Year. In 1999, he presented the

with virologist

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winner

Renato Dulbecco Renato Dulbecco ( , ; February 22, 1914 – February 19, 2012) was an Italian–American virologist who won the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncoviruses, which are viruses that can cause cancer when they infect anim ...

and French actress and model

Laetitia Casta Laetitia Marie Laure Casta (; born 11 May 1978)FMD profile
Retrieved 4 December 2009. is a ...

. The following year, he was confirmed as the presenter of the singing competition. Other presenters of the show in 2000 were operatic tenor

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

, Italian actor

Teo Teocoli Antonio "Teo" Teocoli (born 25 February 1945) is an Italian actor, comedian, cabaret performer, showman, TV conductor, singer and writer appearing in about 30 mostly Italian productions since 1975. Selected filmography * ''Paolo e Francesc ...

and Spanish model

Inés Sastre Inés Sastre Moratón (born 21 November 1973) is a Spanish model and actress. Early life Born in Valladolid, Sastre's career started at the age of 12, when she was selected for a fast-food commercial with McDonald's. Her first movie appearance ...

. In 2001, he left RAI and signed a contract with the newborn private channel

La7 La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Cairo Communication acquired it from Telecom Italia Media, itself owned by Telecom Italia, in 2013. La7 features a generalist programming schedule, primarily ...

. On 24 June 2001, he appeared on the inaugural show of the network, together with Gad Lerner,

Eros Ramazzotti Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti (; born 28 October 1963) is an Italian Pop music, pop singer and songwriter. He is popular in Italy and most European countries, and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, as he has released most of his albums in bo ...

and

Pino Daniele Giuseppe "Pino" Daniele (19 March 1955 – 4 January 2015) was an Italian singer-songwriter and musician. His influences covered a wide number of genres, including pop, blues, jazz, and Italian and Middle Eastern music. Biography Daniele wa ...

. However, his first

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

for La7 was canceled a few days before its planned debut.

''Che tempo che fa'' and the shows with Roberto Saviano

In 2003, Fazio started presenting the

'', in which he interviews entertainers, politicians, artists and scientists. In November 2010, he presented '' Vieni via con me'' with Italian writer

Roberto Saviano Roberto Saviano (; born 22 September 1979) is an Italian writer, journalist, and screenwriter. In his writings, including articles and his book ''Gomorrah (book), Gomorrah'', he uses literature and investigative reporting to tell of the economic ...

. The show was a big success, becoming the most watched show to be broadcast by

in ten years. Despite this, the show was not confirmed for the following year, therefore Fazio and Saviano decided to move the program to

, renaming it ''Quello che (non) ho''. The show, consisting in three episodes, achieved an average share of 12.67%, with 2.9 million average viewers.

Sanremo Music Festival

In June 2012,

announced Fabio Fazio as the presenter of the 63rd

Luciana Littizzetto Luciana Littizzetto (born 29 October 1964) is an Italian comedy actress, shock jock and humor writer. Littizzetto is known in her home country for her irreverent gags, lampooning government ministers and church prelates alike. Nicknamed "Luc ...

was later confirmed as the co-presenter of the show. They presented 2013 and 2014 editions.

Obama interview

On February 7, 2021, Fazio interviewed former President of the United States (POTUS)

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

on his talk show ''

''. It was the first time that Obama appeared on an Italian television programme.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fazio, Fabio 1964 births Living people Italian television presenters Italian television talk show hosts Italian impressionists (entertainers) People from Savona University of Genoa alumni