8–9 October– Vajont dam disaster. RAI suspends for a day the ordinary schedule and carries in the Italian houses the images of the tragedy. The 14, TV7 (see below) airs, without preventive control, a reportage of the free-lancer Antonello Branca where the survivors denounce openly the human responsibilities for the slaughter; later, both Branca and the TV7 chief editor Claudio Savonuzzi are removed from RAI.[1]
L’approdo (The landing) – literary magazine, hosted by Edmonda Aldini and Giancarlo Sbragia, with illustrious collaborators as Riccardo Bacchelli and Giuseppe Ungaretti already existing on radio (since 1944) and on paper (since 1952). Often accused to be boring and elitist, it’s however a precious witness about the Italian cultural life by then.[2]
TV7 – weekly magazine of journalistic analysis, hosted by Sergio Zavoli, with important collaborators as Piero Angela, Corrado Augias, Goffredo Parise, and even Pier Paolo Pasolini. In contrast with the conformism of the official news programs, the TV7’s reportages face thorny subject with a vivacious style; for this, they often cause controversies and suffer censures. The program, after having changed the heading many times, is again on air by now, with the original title.[3]
La sciarpa (The scarf) by Guglielmo Morandi and Paura per Janet (Fear for Janet) by Daniele D’Anza, both in six episodes and with Aroldo Tieri as protagonist; remakes of two BBC mysteries (The scarf and A time of day) written by Francis Durbridge. The two miniseries get an unexpected success that induces RAI to replicate the formula; for a decade, the adaptations from Durbrdige will be a fixture for the Italian viewers.[4]
Il mulino del Po (The mill on the Po) – by Sandro Bolchi, with Raf Vallone, Giulia Lazzarini and Tino Carraro, from the Riccardo Bacchelli's novel, adapted by the author; in the Po Valley of the Nineteenth Century, the adventures of a miller, veteran of the Napoleonic wars, and his fight with a gang of smugglers. Among the dramatized novels of the Sixties, it’s one of the most appreciated by public and critic and the first mostly shot in exteriors.[5]
Demetrio Pianelli – by Sandro Bolchi, with Paolo Stoppa, from the Emilio De Marchi’s novel; the family and economic troubles of a poor clerk in the Milan of the Nineteenth century,
Peppino Girella – written, directed and interpreted by Eduardo De Filippo, with the child Giuseppe Fusco; fresco of the Naples society through the story of a boy keeping the family with his work.[6]
Gran premio (Grand Prix) – 1963 edition of Canzonissima, hosted by Lina Volonghi; after the polemics for the 1962 edition with Dario Fo, the show comes back to disengagement, with a song tournament among the Italian regions.
