1982 in Italian television

This is a list of Italian television related events from 1982.

Events

RAI

• 30 January: Riccardo Fogli wins the Sanremo Music Festival, hosted by Claudio Cecchetto, with Storie di tutti i giorni.
• 2 June: centenary of Giuseppe Garibaldi’s death. In the year, Rai celebrates the anniversary with several documentaries and shows, a series of films and even an interview where Arnoldo Foà plays the “two worlds hero”. ^[1]
• 11 July - Italy beats West Germany 3-1 to win the 1982 World Cup at Madrid, Spain. ^[2] The match is absolutely the most seen event in the history of Italian television, with a record audience of 36,7 million viewers. ^[3]
• 21 luglio: Biagio Agnes becomes RAI general director, in place of Willy de Luca, died suddenly for a stroke.
• 18 September - RAI 1 broadcasts the funeral of Princess Grace.
• 6 October : at La Scala, the first two episodes of The life of Verdi, are screened in preview, in presence of the Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini; three other episodes are screened, the following day, at the Teatro Regio in Parma. ^[4]
• 11 October: the daily editions of the Rai news rise up to five, with the introduction of a mid-evening news program. ^[5]
• 5 December : RAI airs the first episode of Marco Polo . ^[4] The serial had already premiered at the Venice Film Festival and successfully broadcast in the United States.

Private channels

In 1982, the three national networks Canale 5 (Berlusconi), Italia 1 (Rusconi) and Rete 4 (Mondadori) were consolidated. They broadcast mainly films and imported fictions, but they also begins to compete with RAI in fields such as entertainment and sport. Many RAI stars migrate to the new competitors or divide their work between public and private channels.

• 3 January: Italia 1 was born from the merger of the Telenord circuit (owned by the Catholic publisher Edilio Rusconi) and other local television stations. ^[5]
• 4 January: Rete 4 is born ; it is owned by the Mondadori group and Enzo Tortora is its artistic director. It's the only national network to give some space to culture and information, entrusted to Girgio Bocca and Enzo Biagi. ^[5]
• 4 March: closure of Primarete Indipendente, overwhelmed by the crisis of the Rizzoli group.
• 10 March: Callisto Tanzi created Euro TV, a syndacation of 18 local TV stations associated to resist competition from the national  networks. ^[6]
• 18 March: RAI buys 10% of Telemontecarlo's shares. ^[5]
• 4 May: the magistrate of Rome rejects the appeal of RAI, which had requested the shutdown of the three national networks. ^[5]
• 6 September: in Brescia Telemarket, specialized in home shopping of art objects, is born; the channel is owned by the businessman Giorgio Corbelli and is visible only in Northern Italy. ^[7]
• 30 November: Edilio Rusconi sells Italia 1 to Silvio Berlusconi for 29 billion liras.

Debuts

Rai

• Che fai, ridi? (What are you doing? Are you laughing?) – cycle of mockumentaries or documentaries in a humorous key about the Italian comic actors, from Monica Vitti to Diego Abatantuono, sometimes works by famous directors as Carlo Vanzina or Pupi Avati. ^[8]
• Micromega - cultural magazine, ideated by Ruggero Guarini, 2 seasons.
• Film dossier hosted by Enzo Biagi and others; the airing of a movie gives the cue for a talk-show about actuality or history.
• Tandem – show for children and teen-agers, hosted by Enza Sampò and others ; 5 seasons. An introducing Fabrizio Frizzi cares the games segment.

Serials

• Casa Cecilia – by Vittorio De Sisti, with Giancarlo Dettori and Delia Scala, written by Lidia Ravera; 3 seasons. The daily life of a middle-class family (the husband writer, the wife dentist and their three sons). ^[9]

• La pietra di Marco Polo (Marco Polo’s stone) – by Aldo Lado; for children. Five Venetian kids make up a gang, searing allegiance upon the stone of the title. ^[10]
• Pimpa – cartoon, by Francesco Tullio Altan. ^[11]

Private channels

• Maurizio Costanzo show (Rete 4, later Canale 5) – talks show hosted by Maurzio Costanzo, lasted till his death in 2022 (with a break-up from 2009 to 2015). The most long-living, popular and controversial Italian talk show, during the years sometimes has faced social questions with commendable commitment, more often has given in to sensationalism and trash. ^[12]
• Il pranzo è servito (The lunch is on the table, Canale 5) – game show hosted by Corrado Mnltoni, later by Claudio Lippi and Davide Mengacci  ; 11 seasons . The program, relaxing and unpretentious, is one of the first great successes of the network, also because it is broadcast in the noon time slot, neglected by RAI.
• Superflash (Canale 5) - quiz hosted by Mike Bongiorno, who definitively leaves RAI for Finivest; 5 seasons.

International

• - Hill street blues (RAI 2)
• - Magnum P. I. ( Canale 5)
• - The Love Boat (Canale 5)

• - Guiding light (Canale 5)
• 22 September - Voltron (Canale 5) (1984-1985)
• Marine Boy (1969-1971)

Private networks try to repeat the Dallas ’ success, importing other American serials based on wealth and intrigues.

• - Flamingo Road ( Canale 5)
• - Falcon Crest (Italia 1)
• - Dynasty (Rete 4)

South American telenovelas arrive in Italy. Despite their low level (worsened by the hasty dubbing), they achieve great success with the public and become a phenomenon of custom.

• - Dancin' days ( Rete 4)
• - Los ricos también lloran (local channels)

Television shows

Rai

TV-movie

• La veritaaaà (The truth) – the renowned screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, 80 years old, debuts as director and actor in a medium length film about the dreamlike adventures of a madman escaped from the asylum. ^[13]

Miniseries

• Viaggio a Goldonia (Trip to Goldoniland) – by Ugo Gregoretti, anthology of scenes from the Carlo Goldoni’s theatre, revisited and updated, with the same director in the role of a modern reporter in the old time Venice.
• Dancing paradise – by Pupi Avati, with Gianni Cavina and Carlo delle Piane  ; 3 episodes. The surreal journey of a young man, accompanied by an angel, searching his musician father.
• Panagulis vive (1981) (Panagoullis lives) – biopic by Giuseppe Ferrara, with Stathis Giallelis; 4 episodes.
• Storia d’amore e d’amicizia (Love and friendship story) – by Franco Rossi, with Claudio Amendola (introducing), Massimo Bonetti and Barbara De Rossi; 6 episodes. In the Thirties, two young boxers, a Jew and an antifascist, are friend and love rivals; both will be victims of the fascism and of the war. ^[14]
• Berlin Alexanderplatz by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; coproduced by RAI.
• L’isola del gabbiano (Seagull island) – by Nestore Ungaro, with Priscilla Ransom and Jeremy Brett; 5 episodes. Thriller set on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea and coproduced with ITV.

Period dramas

RAI answers to the spread of American fictions on the private networks with miniseries of prestige, realized in international coproduction and trusted to renowned movie directors.

• Ludwig. by Luchino Visconti', with Helmut Berger in the title role; 3 episodes. For the first time, the Visconti's masterpiece is shown in an integral version, true to the director’s intentions , care of Suso Cecchi D’Amico and Enrico Medioli. ^[15]
• La certosa di Parma (The charterhouse of Parma) – by Mauro Bolognini, from the Stendahl’s novel, with Andrea Occhipinti, Marthe Keller and Gian Maria Volontè; in 6 episodes. ^[16]
• Marco Polo – by Giuliano Montaldo, with Ken Marshall in the title role, Denhom Elliott and Burt Lancaster as Pope Gregory X; 8 episodes. It's one of the most sumptuous RAI serials, realized in collaboration with NBC and the Chinese TV, that, for the first time, takes part to a Western production; the productive effort is repaid by an extraordinary public success in Italy and abroad. The serial is broadcast in 47 countries and wins three Emmy Awards. ^[17]
• The life of Verdi – by Renato Castellani; with Ronald Pickup in the title role and Carla Fracci as Giuseppina Strepponi; 9 episodes. The serial is appreciated for the accurate historical reconstruction but criticized for the miscasting of the protagonist. ^[18]
• Delitto di stato (State crime) – by Gianfranco De Bosio, from the Maria Bellonci’s short novel, with Sergio Fantoni and Eleonora Brigliadori  ; 5 episodes. The miniseries is a story of intrigues and crimes, with the decadence of the House Gonzaga as backdrop; it is remembered for Fantoni's full frontal, the first male one on Italian television. ^[19]

Serials

• L’indizio- 5 inchieste per un commissario (The clue – Five enquiries for a superintendent) – by Andrea Camilleri, with Lino Troisi, as a Neapolitan police superintendent in service in Turin, and Ida Di Benedetto. ^[20]

Variety

• Attore, amore mio (Actor, my love) – Gigi Proietti’s one-man show, directed by Antonello Falqui. ^[21]
• Due di tutto (Two of everything) - directed by Enzo Trapani.

Private channels

Variety

• Cipria (Powder) – variety aimed to the female public, hosted by Enzo Tortora, with Franca Valeri as constant guest (Rete 4).
• Non lo spaessi ma lo so (If I don’t know it, but I know it) – willingly coarse variety with Massimo Boldi and Teo Teocoli; aired on a minor channel (Antenna 3 Lombardia) it is become later a cult object. ^[22]

Networks and services

Launches

Network	Type	Launch date	Notes	Source
Retecapri	Cable television	Unknown

Conversions and rebrandings

Old network name	New network name	Type	Conversion Date	Notes	Source

Closures

Network	Type	Closure date	Notes	Source

See also

• List of Italian films of 1982

References

1. Grasso, Aldo (2004). Storia della televisione italiana[History of Italian television] (in Italian). Milano: Garzanti. pp. 376–77. ISBN   9788811740315.
2. "Stones Mundial '82". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-07-26.
3. Hit (2015-10-26). "Ascolti Story, dalle origini ai giorni nostri: 1982-1984 e l'avvento del "Meter"". TvBlog (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-02.
4. Almanacco di Storia Illustrata 1982. Milan: Mondadori. 1983.
5. Bruno, Somalvico (25 October 2012). "cronologia radiotelevisiva III: 1976-1992: 1980-1985". cronologia radiotelevisiva III. Retrieved 2025-09-16.
6. Emanuelli, Massimo (2017-09-29). "Euro Tv". MASSIMO EMANUELLI (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-17.
7. Ujetto, Dario. "Telemarket, Boni e gli altri: la vendita d'arte fuori dai luoghi comuni". www.theparadoxof.art (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-17.
8. "Che fai... ridi?". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-10-22.
9. "Casa Cecilia". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-07-19.
10. "La Pietra di Marco Polo". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-12-18.
11. "Pimpa". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-12-03.
12. "Maurizio Costanzo Show 2019/2020". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
13. "La veritaaaà". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-07-18.
14. "Storia d'amore e d'amicizia". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-01-28.
15. Bruno, Somalvico (25 October 2012). "cronologia radiotelevisiva III: 1976-1992: 1980-1985". cronologia radiotelevisiva III. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
16. "La Certosa di Parma - Lo sceneggiato". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-12-03.
17. "Marco Polo". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-12-03.
18. "Verdi - Lo sceneggiato". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-12-03.
19. Marino, Patrizio. "Sergio Fantoni: quando il suo nudo frontale in TV fece scandalo". Movieplayer.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-01.
20. "L'indizio - 5 inchieste per un commissario". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-12-19.
21. "Attore amore mio". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-13.
22. "Non lo sapessi ma lo so". www.ginoemichele.it. Retrieved 2025-09-02.