Giuseppe Vittorio Raimondo "Pippo" Baudo (born 7 June 1936) is one of the most famous Italian television presenters, with a career spanning six decades. He is often nicknamed "Superpippo" (referencing the Italian name of Super Goof). Baudo has also been the artistic director and president of the Teatro Stabile di Catania.

Career

Baudo was born in Militello in Val di Catania. While studying law at the

University of Catania The University of Catania () is a university located in Catania, Sicily. Founded in 1434, it is the oldest university in Sicily, the 13th oldest in Italy, and the 29th oldest in the world. With over 38,000 enrolled students, it is the largest uni ...

, he became involved in entertainment as an actor and host. He also learned to play the piano. He graduated with a degree in law, despite his interest in entertainment. At the end of the 1950s, he became a singer and pianist for Orchestra Moonlight. In 1959, for the first time, Pippo appeared on Italian TV during a "Caravella dei Successi" episode, broadcast from

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

. He gained success hosting several RAI programmes, as well as serving as the artistic director. Pippo signed with

Mediaset Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...

but has never been able to reclaim his past success. He experienced a resurgence in his career when he hosted "Novecento" on RAI, which led to re-hosting the popular Sunday-afternoon show named "Domenica In" and the "

Festival della canzone italiana 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 the 1970s, he helped establish and work for the

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

-based private channel " Antenna Sicilia". In 1987, he hosted "Festival" on Mediaset after a controversy with RAI president, Enrico Manca. However, years later he returned to

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 ...

with Gran Premio; his show "Serata d'Onore" having been broadcast on Rai Due. On the opening night of the Sanremo Music Festival 1995, shortly after the beginning of the show a man, Pino Pagano, sat on the edge of the gallery of the theatre showing his intention to commit suicide by jumping below: he was eventually stopped by Baudo himself amid the applause of the audience. In 1997, he signed again with Mediaset, but his shows "La canzone del secolo" and "Tiramisù" had very little success. In 1999, Baudo was asked by Rai Tre to host a new

prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

programme, "Giorno dopo Giorno", it is now called "Novecento". In 2002, he hosted the Festival di Sanremo, after the 2001 edition had been a fiasco. He chose co-hosts

Manuela Arcuri Manuela Arcuri (born 8 January 1977) is an Italian actress and model. She's best known for starring in Canale 5 period drama series ''Il peccato e la vergogna'' (2008–2014). Biography Arcuri was born in Anagni, near Frosinone, to a father f ...

and Vittoria Belvedere. He left RAI in 2004, but he came back in 2005, with the programme "Sabato Italiano", on Rai Uno. On 2 October 2005 he hosted for the eighth time the Sunday afternoon programme Domenica in (1979–1985, 1991–1992, 2005–2010). In 2008, he hosted, for his thirteenth time, 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 ...

, succeeding Mike Bongiorno, who hosted eleven times.

Personal life

In 2004, Baudo and his wife, Italian

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Katia Ricciarelli, divorced, who had been married since 1986. He has two children from his first wife: Alessandro, born in 1962, who lives in Australia, and Tiziana, born in 1970.

Acting credits

Honours

* : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (21 July 2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baudo, Pippo 1936 births Living people People from Militello in Val di Catania Italian television presenters Mass media people from Sicily Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic