The foremost television presenter in Italy, Pippo Baudo, died Saturday evening at the age of 89.
Rai News said Baudo was the “lord of Italian television presenters” with a career spanning 60 years creating shows, discovering talents, and anchoring some of the country’s most watched and memorable programmes.
The “face” of the Italian public broadcaster, Pippo, as he was affectionately known, was considered “the first, the greatest”.
Born in Catania, he is best remembered at the helm of TV shows such as Canzonissima, Domenica In, Fantastico, Varietà, Luna Park, and Novecento.
He presented a record 13 editions of the Sanremo music festival.
With only a brief one year switch to Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset between 1987 and 1988, Baudo spent the entirety of his career at Rai.
He was last seen “on screen” in September 2023 in a video link-up to Domenica In presented by Mara Venier.
MEP David Casa paid tribute to Baudo as a “symbol of elegance, seriousness and passion for the arts”.
“Many of us grew up with him on our screens and thanks to him we met generations of singers, actors and artists who took centre stage at Sanremo. For our neighbours and for us Maltese too who used to follow it every year, Baudo was part of our cultural life,” Casa said.