He left at 89, at the Rome biomedical campus, the conductor symbol of Italian TV, on August 16, 2025
Had he was for him, he wouldn’t have celebrated anything. «I only like the celebrations of others. And then I would not like my 80 years old to feed those who maybe are thinking of giving me a new job. I feel in perfect efficiency ». But then Pippo Baudo It was overwhelmed by the affection of the people, “from housewife to intellectual”, points out, and so in the end some exceptions, like this with Christian familydid it.
The critic Aldo Grasso wrote on Corriere della Sera That his experience could still be very useful to Rai, even if only behind the scenes. Do you agree?
“Yes, and I thanked him for this. Experience is a warehouse of ideas that should not be dispersed. I repeat, if a nice proposal came, on the pitch or off the pitch, I am available ».
It allows us to doubt that a stage animal like her would be satisfied with returning only off the pitch …
“It’s true, maybe I would limit my interventions, but I would like to return on air.”
Do you think Rai was a little ungrateful towards her?
«More than ingratitude, I would speak of forgetfulness, which is also human that there is. But in the last few days I have received numerous certificates of esteem and affection from the managers. It seems to me that the interest in me has awakened ».
In this period in which he is far from the spotlight, how do you spend his days?
«I read a lot, I attend friends and watch a lot of television. I look at it and take notes. This is a profession in constant evolution and if you do not update you risk always staying on the sidelines. Instead I want to enter and score goals ».
Is there a common thread in his notes?
«Rai must recover its role as driving: with all due respect, he must not look like Mediaset, Sky and other commercial TVs. He must have his own trademark that translates into this: his programs must be national and popular, in the sense that they must be understood by everyone and have a cultural background ».
Even in entertainment?
«Especially in entertainment. Because a program dedicated to history or art, however well done, will never be able to reach such a vast audience as a variety ».
It is the old lesson of the Rai of Ettore Bernabei …
«I was born with Bernabei. It was he who made Settevociwhich was aired at 6 pm, at noon to launch the news of one and a half. One day he called me to tell me this decision. I introduced him that in this way he would have decreed the death of the program and he, in Tuscan, replied: “O Baudo, but if I don’t put one like you, the news, how do I throw it?”. He was right. “
Settevoci It was the program that made his career take off. But his debut took place with Guide of emigrants. Do you remember it?
“It was an essential program for me. Since I graduated in Labor Law, the director of the news asked me to create services abroad to tell our communities of emigrants. So I turned from Africa to Belgium. It was a very strong experience because I too was an emigrant. In Marcinelle, where there was the massacre of Italians in the mine, I met the father of the future singer Adam. He said to me, “My son will never have to do this job.” I fell into the well of the miners with the camera and I understood the life of hell they did ».
Continuing in the album of his career, there is the famous 1967 sketch with Mina sings with the “four carabiners” of Italian TV: she, Mike Bongiorno, Corrado and Enzo Tortora. Who was most tied to?
“I was more tied to Mike humanly. In reality, in that quartet there were three big ones and a pivellino who had just started. When I arrived in via Teulada at Studio 1 I was intimidated by their presence. Mike immediately came to meet me and made me feel comfortable. But Enzo was also very nice ».
Later, he launched many talents. Who should be more proud of?
«I don’t want to make a ranking because it is true that there are many, and all important. Let’s think of Heather Parisi, Lorella Cuccarini, Beppe Grillo ».
Speaking of Grillo. What effect does it have to see him at the head of a political movement?
«Beppe with me always behaves as a friend, not as a party. For my birthday he called me and we only talked about “our” things, without a middle policy. I recently went to see his show at the Brancaccio Theater in Rome. In the first part, he practically spoken only about the two of us. And people have had a lot of fun ».
The second part, the most political one, was less fun?
“Hand. I understand his ideas, the sincere commitment that puts us. But for me Beppe remains the first Beppe ».
Once he said that being a Christian Democrat does not mean belonging to a party, but it is a way of understanding life. What does it mean?
«It means being democratic, that is, always open to listen to the ideas of others, according to Voltaire’s Enlightenment principle. Christian democracy was a center of the center, composite, which enclosed a little inside all the needs of the country “.
A curiosity: the minimal Sicilian inflection is not seen in his speech. Do you know the dialect?
«I completely forgot it, even if I understand it very well. As a boy, since I wanted to do this job, I listened to the radio a lot, because the speakers of the time had a perfect diction. So I did not attend any diction course and when I introduced myself for the audition in Rai, the examiner, the great director Antonello Falqui, sniffed me immediately: “You Sicilians do not know how to speak Italian well”. I challenged him to test myself. And he: “Imagine that he is in Sanremo and having to present Mina”. I knew everything about Sanremo and all about Mina and I did a nice presentation, with a perfect diction. And in fact they took me ».
Don’t he speak in dialect even when he returns to his militello?
“No, because when I try my fellow villagers they get out of laughter.”
If he hadn’t done the presenter, what do you would like to go?
«The conductor. He has a score in his hand, in front of him 50-60 musicians and must make sure that the violins agree with the cello, the trumpets with the trombones to create a single harmonious whole set. Each time it is a magic that is realized ».
Didn’t he sublimate this dream in his work? She has never limited himself to presenting, but he always wanted total control over everything, from scenography, to music, to guests …
“It’s like that. I have always “directed” my programs, because I like to take responsibility: if the show is not beautiful, the fault is mine; If it is beautiful, the merit is mine too ».
What is Pippo Baudo’s greatest desire?
«It would be nice if the years that have remained had a slower cadence: three years for each year. And in the meantime, if the opportunity happens to me to return, I would really do it with great pleasure. I have many ideas in the drawer ».
(Published on 06/07/2016, amended on 07/06/2019)
