Canzonissima

Canzonissima
Paolo Panelli, Delia Scala and Nino Manfredi hosting Canzonissima (1959)
Country of origin	Italy
Original language	Italian
Original release
Network	Rai 1
Release	1958 (1958) – 1974 (1974)

Canzonissima was an Italian musical variety show broadcast by Rai 1 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".

History

Dalida won the finals with "Dan dan dan", the song that reflects her recent child loss.

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's career, and the 1970 edition launched the career of Raffaella Carrà. The 1962 edition, hosted by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, 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

#	Year	Presenters	Winners
1	1956	Adriana Serra, Antonella Steni, Raffaele Pisu and Renato Turi	"Mamma" (Nunzio Gallo) e "Buon anno, buona fortuna" (Gino Latilla)
2	1957	Enzo Tortora, Silvio Noto, Antonella Steni and Renato Turi	"Scapricciatiello" (Aurelio Fierro)
3	1958	Renato Tagliani with Walter Chiari, Raimondo Vianello, Lauretta Masiero, Scilla Gabel and Corrado Pani	"L'edera" (Nilla Pizzi)
4	1959	Delia Scala, Paolo Panelli and Nino Manfredi	"Piove" (Joe Sentieri)
5	1960	Alberto Lionello, Lauretta Masiero, Aroldo Tieri and Lilli Lembo	"Romantica" (Tony Dallara)
6	1961	Sandra Mondaini, Enzo Garinei, Toni Ucci, Carletto Sposito and Annamaria Gambineri, with Paolo Poli, Alberto Bonucci and Tino Buazzelli	"Bambina bambina" (Tony Dallara)
7	1962	Dario Fo and Franca Rame, then Tino Buazzelli, Sandra Mondaini and Corrado	"Quando, quando, quando" (Tony Renis)
8	1963	Various (one for each region of Italy)	*(in this edition the Italian regions compete - Sicily wins)
9	1964	Nino Taranto and Nadia Gray	"'O sole mio" (Claudio Villa)
10	1965	Corrado with Walter Chiari and Kessler Twins	"Non son degno di te" (Gianni Morandi)
11	1966	Peppino De Filippo	"Granada" (Claudio Villa)
12	1967	Alberto Lupo, Franco and Ciccio	"Dan dan dan" (Dalida)
13	1968	Mina, Walter Chiari and Paolo Panelli	"Scende la pioggia" (Gianni Morandi)
14	1969	Johnny Dorelli, Raimondo Vianello and Kessler Twins, with Sandra Mondaini and Paolo Villaggio	"Ma chi se ne importa" (Gianni Morandi)
15	1970	Corrado and Raffaella Carrà	"Vent'anni" (Massimo Ranieri)
16	1971	Corrado and Raffaella Carrà, with Alighiero Noschese	"Chitarra suona più piano" (Nicola Di Bari)
17	1972	Pippo Baudo and Loretta Goggi	"Erba di casa mia" (Massimo Ranieri)
18	1973	Pippo Baudo and Mita Medici	"Alle porte del sole" (Gigliola Cinquetti)
19	1974	Raffaella Carrà, Cochi e Renato and Mike Bongiorno	"Un corpo e un'anima" (Wess & Dori Ghezzi)

External links

Media related to Canzonissima at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website