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Pippo Baudo

Pippo Baudo
Baudo in early 1987
Born
Giuseppe Raimondo Vittorio Baudo

(1936-06-07)7 June 1936
Militello in Val di Catania, Italy
Died16 August 2025(2025-08-16) (aged 89)
Rome, Italy
Occupations
  • Television presenter
  • television producer
  • screenwriter
Years active1959–2022
Spouse(s)
Angela Lippi
​
​
(m. 1970; div. 1975)​

​
​
(m. 1986; div. 2007)​

Giuseppe Raimondo Vittorio "Pippo" Baudo (7 June 1936 – 16 August 2025) was an Italian television presenter. One of the most notable in his native country, he had a career spanning six decades, which included 13 editions of the Sanremo Music Festival – the highest number for a single presenter.

Baudo was often nicknamed "Superpippo" (referencing the Italian name of Super Goof). Baudo was also the artistic director and president of the Teatro Stabile di Catania from 2000 to 2007.

Career

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Baudo in 1975
Baudo with Giorgio Faletti at Sanremo 1987

Baudo was born in Militello in Val di Catania, Sicily, the son of a lawyer and a housewife.[1] While studying law at the University of Catania, he started performing as an actor and presenter, becoming the sidekick of comedian Tuccio Musumeci.[1] He graduated with a degree in law, despite his interest in entertainment, and never practiced as a lawyer.[2] At the end of the 1950s, he became a singer and pianist for Orchestra Moonlight.[2] In 1959, for the first time, Pippo appeared on Italian TV during an episode of the Enzo Tortora's show La conchiglia d'oro.[2] He had his breakout in 1966, as the presenter of the musical show Settevoci.[2][3]

In 1968, Baudo hosted the Sanremo Music Festival for the first time; he eventually hosted the festival 13 times, the last one in 2008, also serving as artistic director in numerous editions.[2][4][5] On the opening night of the Sanremo Music Festival 1995, shortly after the beginning of the show a man, Pino Pagano, climbed onto of the gallery of the Teatro Ariston threatening to commit suicide by jumping; he was persuaded to step back by Baudo himself amid the applause of the audience.[4][6] He also hosted two editions of Canzonissima, six editions of Un disco per l'estate, as well as numerous editions of Domenica in and Fantastico.[2]

Beyond his main activity as a television presenter, Baudo served as artistic director of the Teatro Stabile di Catania from 1989 al 1997, and as its president from 2000 to 2007.[7][8] He was also a songwriter; among his best known compositions were Nino Ferrer's "Donna Rosa", Gianni Morandi's "Una domenica così", Nino Manfredi's "W le donne", and Sacha Distel's "La quadriglia".[3][9]

Personal life and death

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Baudo in 2016

Baudo had two children: Alessandro, born in 1962, from Mirella Adinolfi, and Tiziana, born in 1970, from his first wife Angela Lippi. After relationships with the actresses Alida Chelli and Adriana Russo, between 1986 and 2007 Baudo was married to Italian soprano Katia Ricciarelli (from whom he separated in 2004 before their divorce was finalized).[7][10] In the 1990s, because of his anti-mafia activism, he suffered three bombings by the Sicilian mafia, one of which destroyed his villa in Santa Tecla.[11][12]

Baudo died at the Campus Bio-Medico in Rome on 16 August 2025, at the age of 89.[13][14] His funeral was held in his Sicilian hometown of Militello on 20 August, overseen by the Bishop of Caltagirone.[14]

Acting credits

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Year Title Role(s) Notes
1968 Zum zum zum - La canzone che mi passa per la testa Himself Cameo appearance
1969 Zum zum zum n° 2
Il suo nome è Donna Rosa Duke Pippo
1970 W le donne Colonel Bertoluzzi
1980 Delitto in via Telauda Himself Television film
1981 L'esercito più pazzo del mondo Cameo appearance
1982 Casa Cecilia The presenter Episode: "Un genio in famiglia"
1983 "FF.SS." – Cioè: "...che mi hai portato a fare sopra a Posillipo se non mi vuoi più bene?" Himself Cameo appearance
1985 I Am an ESP
1990 I promessi sposi Pennellone TV series; main role
1993 Anni 90: Parte II Himself Cameo appearance
2004 Come inguaiammo il cinema italiano - La vera storia di Franco e Ciccio Documentary film
2010 L'ultimo gattopardo: Ritratto di Goffredo Lombardo
2011 All at Sea Cameo appearance

Honours

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  •  Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (21 July 2021)[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b "È morto Pippo Baudo, il signore della tv italiana". Il Roma (in Italian). 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Pippo Baudo è morto, addio al conduttore che ha fatto la storia della tv". la Repubblica (in Italian). 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  3. ^ a b Mollica, Vincenzo (1990). "Baudo, Pippo". Castaldo, Gino (edited by). Dizionario della canzone italiana. Curcio Editore. p. 132.
  4. ^ a b Eddy Anselmi (2009). Festival di Sanremo: almanacco illustrato della canzone italiana. Panini. ISBN 978-8863462296.
  5. ^ "Pippo Baudo e Sanremo, una storia d'amore lunga tredici festival". TgCom24 (in Italian). 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  6. ^ "Quando Pippo Baudo sventò un tentativo di suicidio a Sanremo". Corriere.it (in Italian). 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  7. ^ a b "Addio a Pippo Baudo, la vita e la carriera della leggenda della tv". Sky TG24 (in Italian). 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  8. ^ Ferrazza, Riccardo (26 October 2023). "Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, giornalista e scrittore, nuovo presidente della Biennale di Venezia - Video". Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  9. ^ "L'anima musicale di Pippo Baudo: da Donna Rosa a Una domenica così". TgCom24 (in Italian). 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  10. ^ "Tutti gli amori di Pippo Baudo: Mirella Adinolfi, Angela Lippi, Alida Chelli, Adriana Russo e Katia Ricciarelli". Metropolitan Magazine (in Italian). 7 June 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  11. ^ Amato, Gioacchino (17 August 2025). ""Fate saltare la villa di Pippo Baudo": l'ordine dato nel 1991 dal clan Santapaola". la Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  12. ^ Pipitone, Giuseppe (17 August 2025). "Quando la mafia fece saltare in aria la villa di Pippo Baudo. E l'attentato venne rivendicato dalla Falange Armata". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  13. ^ "È morto Pippo Baudo". ANSA (in Italian). 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  14. ^ a b "I funerali di Pippo Baudo a Militello, la camera ardente al Teatro delle Vittorie: oggi l'omaggio privato della famiglia e degli amici più stretti". FQ Magazine (in Italian). 17 August 2025. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  15. ^ "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana". www.quirinale.it. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
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