Marco Baldini (born September 1959, in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

) is an Italian television and radio personality. He is best known for his highly successful partnership with Fiorello on

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

Biography

After starting at age 21 to work for in Tuscan radio with Marco Vigiani, he began broadcasting nationally with

Radio Deejay Radio DeeJay is an Italian radio station. It was founded on 1 February 1982 by the Italian radio and television personality Claudio Cecchetto and was acquired by the Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso in 1989. In 2020 EXOR (of the Agnelli-family) became ...

, for which he has produced several programs (''Baldini Ama Laurenti, Tutti per l'una, Baldini's land, Marco Baldo Show''). In 1989 Marco first broadcast his show Viva Radio Deejay on the Milanese network with Rosario Fiorello, who provided impressions and characters. In 1987 he hosted the Videomusic program

On the air On the Air may refer to: *On the Air (album), ''On the Air'' (album), 1984, by Billy Preston *On the Air (TV series), ''On the Air'' (TV series), an American sitcom *On the Air (film), ''On the Air'' (film), a 1934 British musical comedy *On the A ...

. He has had several personal problems. This led him to be dropped from Radio DeeJay, after which he moved for a short time to Italy Radio Network (RIN), where he conducted along with Fave, Angelo and Max, a program called ''Le Fave del Mattino'' (''The Morning Beans''). His personal problems continued and he was also forced to leave his position at the RIN. Baldini produced the radio version of the television program "Tonight I'll pay ... Revolution", broadcast on

Rai Uno 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 ...

in 2004 and hosted by Fiorello. Baldini managed the radio transmission, and interacted with Fiorello in a series of sketches similar to those used in the program Viva Radio2. In 2007 he participated in the celebrity

poker tournament A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a "heads up poker, heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on th ...

organized by

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. In January 2008, he hosted, together with Fiorello, the ten-part minishow Viva Radio Two ... minutes, aired on

after the 8 o'clock news. On March 9, 2013, he returned to

on weekend mornings, with the program "The Marchino catches the worm", wave from 7.00 to 9.00. On June 21, 2013, the director of

, Linus, announced on his blog the conclusion of the employment relationship with Baldini, to take place at the beginning of the following month.

Political commitment

In April 2008, he joined the call for the unity by the

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

, along with other public figures. In July 2009 he was one of the promoters of the

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

" Left-Communist People".

Compulsive gambling

Baldini had serious problems related to gambling, being obsessed especially with horse races.
In several interviews, he described his compulsive gambling as a severe pathology which had led him to lose circa 6 million Euros and become victim of loan sharks (including

Casamonica clan The Casamonica clan is an Italian criminal organization present in Rome and operating in the area of the Castelli Romani and the Lazio coast. Origins The Casamonica clan originates from the Casamonica and Di Silvio families, families of seden ...

), with creditors phoning him up to 60 times a day. Apparently his disease was rooted in a deeper psychological distress.
Baldini stated that many friends of his had lent him some money: among them,

Linus Linus, a male given name, is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Linos''. It's a common given name in Sweden. The origin of the name is unknown although the name appears in antiquity both as a musician who taught Apollo and as a son of Apollo who di ...

(who had helped him with almost €50.000 that were never returned),

Fabrizio Frizzi Fabrizio Adriano Frizzi (5 February 1958 – 26 March 2018) was an Italian television presenter and voice actor. He often presented a mixture of variety shows, talent shows and game shows across Italy and he was also known as the Italian voice o ...

and

Giancarlo Magalli Giancarlo Magalli (born 5 July 1947) is an Italian television writer, presenter, actor and voice actor. Life and career Born in Rome, Magalli studied at the Istituto Massimiliano Massimo, having Mario Draghi and Luca Cordero di Montezemolo as ...

.
Baldini also confessed that he had even been on the verge of suicide due to his desperation.
Following his troubles, he hasn't bet on horse races since 2008. In spite of that, Baldini said that he was still playing

SuperEnalotto SuperEnalotto is a lottery that has been played in Italy since 3 December 1997. Draws take place on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM. The jackpots won are among the largest in the world, and the odds of winning are one of the lowest in ...

, as the main thing to avoid was the desire of winning something back. He also decided to visit schools to tell young people his experience and warn them about the risks gambling entails.
In September 2005 he published his autobiography ''Il giocatore (ogni scommessa è un debito)'', Italian for "The player (every bet is a debt)".

Private life

In September 2007, Marco married the radio host Stefania Lillo, with his friend Fiorello as best man. The couple divorced in 2013. He is a fan of the

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

soccer team.

Advertising

*(2008) – Fiat series of

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

shot in the

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

of Viva Radio 2 with his colleague Fiorello *(2011–2012) –

Wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

, advertising always Fiorello is where the new "Bello della telefonia"

Filmography

The 2008 comedy-drama movie''

The Early Bird Catches the Worm ''The Early Bird Catches the Worm'' ( it, Il mattino ha l'oro in bocca) is a 2008 Italian drama film directed by Francesco Patierno, based on autobiographical book ''Il giocatore (ogni scomessa e un debito)'' by Marco Baldini. Cast * Elio Ger ...

'', is an adaptation of his autobiography ''The Player (each bet is debt)'', with

Elio Germano Elio Germano (born 25 September 1980) is an Italian actor. He is the recipient of many accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and a Silver Bear for Best Actor. Life and career Born in Rome to a Molisan family from Duro ...

playing Baldini.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baldini, Marco 1959 births Living people Italian radio personalities