''Canzonissima'' was an Italian musical

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

broadcast by

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 television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

from 1958 to 1974, aired on Saturday evening except for the last two editions in which it was aired on Sunday afternoon. The program was referred to as "the synthesis and the model of comparison of the Italian television variety".Aldo Grasso – Massimo Scaglioni, ''Enciclopedia della Televisione'', Garzanti, Milano, 1996 – 2003.

History

It was born in radio as a song tournament in 1956, with the title ''Le canzoni della fortuna ''and gained great public success. The following year it was brought on television titled ''Voci e volti della fortuna'' and turned into a competition between amateurs from the various regions of Italy, with the participation of some professional singers, who competed in a separate group. In 1958, the variety took the name ''Canzonissima'' that remained until the end, with an exception from 1963 to 1967 when the transmission continued with new formats and new titles; ''Gran Premio'', ''Napoli contro tutti'', ''La prova del nove'', ''Scala reale'' e ''Partitissima''. The show consisted of a musical contest (with singers combined with some state lottery numbers) from the elaborate rules which were generally different from one edition to another; the competition was interspersed with dances and comedy sketches involving special guests. The 1959 edition contributed to the launch

Nino Manfredi Saturnino "Nino" Manfredi (22 March 1921 – 4 June 2004) was an Italian actor, voice actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, comedian, singer, author, radio personality and television presenter. He was one of the most prominent Italian a ...

's career, and the 1970 edition launched the career of

Raffaella Carrà Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni (18 June 1943 – 5 July 2021), better known as Raffaella Carrà (), was an Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, actress and model. She was well known in Europe and Latin America as a result of her many ...

. The 1962 edition, hosted by

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. I ...

and

Franca Rame Franca Rame (18 July 1929 – 29 May 2013) was an Italian theatre actress, playwright and political activist. She was married to Nobel laureate playwright Dario Fo and is the mother of writer Jacopo Fo. Fo dedicated his Nobel Prize to her ...

, generated large political controversities due to use of censorship to cut some satirical sketches of Fo; the couple Fo-Rame was eventually fired, and the scandal lead to a long interruption of five years.

Editions

References

External links

* 1958 Italian television series debuts 1974 Italian television series endings Italian music television series RAI original programming Black-and-white television shows 1950s Italian television series 1960s Italian television series 1970s Italian television series Variety television series Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest selection events {{Italy-tv-prog-stub