1 February - Totò makes his TV debut, as a guest to Il Musichiere. He appears together with Vittorio Gassman and Mario Soldati. During the show, he cries on air: “Cheers for Lauro”. This was in reference to Achille Lauro, leader of the Monarchist National Party, who at the time of the airing, was accused of serious administrative irregularities as a Naples major.[1] Because of this controversial reference, this very popular comedian would rarely be invited for RAI appearances in the following years.[2]
20 February - the journalist Ugo Zatterin [it] announces the closing of the state-controlled brothels. He uses cryptic language and never utters the term ”prostitution”. The episode has become emblematic of RAI’s prudish tendencies in this period.[3]
April 13: in Milan, the experimental transmissions of the Second Channel begin.[4]
May 25: first political election in Italy after the birth of the TV. In the previous months, RAI is fiercely attacked (mainly by the communists, but also by the right-wing press and by the Republican Party) for its political line pro-government and pro-DC.[4]
October 24: in Milan, the judicial police seizures the studios of TVL-Televisione libera, two weeks before the announced start of transmission with a show by Frank Sinatra. The estate, property of Italcementi, RCA and other Italian and American partners, had already made, without license, some experimental broadcasts (the first ones on Italy realized by a private TV).[5]
November 4: RAI broadcasts Pope John XXIII’s coronation; for the first time in history, such a ceremony is seen on TV.[6]
Debuts
Educational
Telescuola (TV School) – care of the Professor Maria Grazia Puglisi [it], supported by the Ministry of Education. It’s one of the first distance education experiments in the world, aimed to the young ones living in place without educational institutions, but also to the adults without instruction (like the inmates). The show consists of secondary schools lessons, given in studio to a true public of children, and lasts six years.[7][8]
Uomini e libri (Men and books) – first Italian TV literary column, hosted by Luigi Silori, in collaboration with Giulio Cattaneo [it] and Elio Vittorini; thanks to it, many great Italian writers appear for the first time on the little screen.[9]
Arti e scienze (Arts and sciences) – cultural magazine, care of Leone Piccioni [it] ; 5 seasons.[10][11]
Television shows
Comedy and drama
Colpi di timone (Rudder strokes) – by Enzo La Rosa, with Gilberto Govi.[12]
Scaramacai, la storia di un pagliaccio (History of a clown) - by Alda Grimaldi, with Pinuccia Nava [it]; for children, in 2 episodes.[13]
Canzonissima 1958 – second edition of the musical tournament bound to the New Year lottery, the first called Canzonissima; this year, Renato Tagliani [it], Ugo Tognazzi and Walter Chiari host the show and the winner is Nilla Pizzi, with L’edera. In the Sixties and the Seventies, Canzonissima will become the peak show of Italian television.
La via del successo (The road for success) – directed by Vito Molinari, hosted by Walter Chiari. For the show, the comedian creates his most famous sketch, where two passengers on a train have a long debate around the “sarchiapone”, an inexistent animal.[24]
Il pranzo di Natale (Christmas dinner) by Mario Soldati – the writer, after the success of Viaggio nella valle del Po, realizes another gastronomical reportage.[26]
Viaggio nel Sud (Travel on Southern Italy) – by Virgilio Sabel [it], on ten episodes.[27]
Vite celebri (Famous lives), care of Marisa Mantovani [it].[28]
Ending this year
Telematch
Births
Paolo Del Debbio (born 13 February 1958) - Italian television presenter and politician.
Fabrizio Frizzi (5 February 1958 – 26 March 2018) - Italian television presenter and voice actor.