January 1: the first episode of Sandro Bolchi’s I promessi sposi (see below) is aired.
January 6: Claudio Villa wins Scala reale (the 1966 edition of Canzonissima) with Granada; Gianni Morandi is runner-up with La fisarmonica. During the final evening of the show, Morandi learns of the death of his newborn daughter Serena.[1]
January 15: cable TV Tele Torino 1 begins broadcasting; it transmits advertisements and sports and music programs on 50 televisions located in the Turin Porta Nuova railway station. The new television works only one day, before being blocked by bureaucratic problems.[2]
27 January The young singer-songwriter Luigi Tenco, upset for the failure of his song Ciao, amore, ciao at the Sanremo festival, shoots himself in his hotel room. He leaves behind an accusatory message against the record industry and the mechanism of the contest. RAI tries to minimize the tragedy.; the final evening of the show goes on air on schedule, getting 21, million viewers (record of the year).[3] The host Mike Bongiorno only briefly mentions the suicide, not even telling Tenco's name. The festival is won by Claudio Villa, exponent of the most traditional melodic song, and Iva Zanicchi, with Non pensare a me.[4]
2 February: on the proposal of socialist Luigi Anderlini and republican Ugo La Malfa, the parliament postpones at least until 1971 the adoption of color TV, considered "an opulent and unnecessary consumption". Despite this stance, shared by much of the Italian political world, RAI continues experiments with color.[5]
June 6: Arrigo Levi is the first journalist to host the news program (previously, the news were read by a speaker).[6]
Ieri e oggi – variety hosted by Lelio Luttazzi and others; 9 seasons, more three spin-off and a reprisal of 2 seasons, hosted by Carlo Conti, in 2018-2019. The guests in studio (singers or actors) reviews and comments their old performances from the RAI archives.[9]
News and educational
Sapere (To know) - popular science program, ideated by Giovan Battista Zorzoli; 9 seasons.
Shows of the year
Drama and comedy
Tutto Totò – by Daniele D’Anza with Totò; cycle of 9 comic TV-movie, unfinished because the death of the actor. The series, realized hastily, gets a good public success but deludes the critics and the fans of Totò, who here appears underused and far from his best shape.[10]
La cotta (The crush) – by Ermanno Olmi, with no-professional actors; love story between two teen-agers.
Breve gloria di mister Miffin (The short Mr. Miffin’s glory) – by Anton Giulio Majano, from The one-eyed monster by Allan Prior, with Cesco Baseggio and Alberto Lupo ; 4 episodes. One of the first Italian fictions about sociological questions, it tells the story of an old wise man, whose life is destroyed when he becomes a TV star.
Il tappabuchi (The stopgaps) – by Vito Molinari, with Corrado Mantoni and Raimondo Vianello, in 8 episodes; mix of comic sketches, dance, quiz and candid cameras realized by Nanny Loy.[17]
Chi ti ha dato la patente? (Who gave you the driving license?) – quiz aimed to make know the rules of the road, hosted by Mascia Cantoni, with Ric e Gian as regular guests. It’s the first Italian TV show with a female presenter.
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