Fans, dignitaries and celebrities packed a church in the Sicilian town of Militello in Val di Catania on Wednesday for the funeral of Pippo Baudo, a television host who commanded the small screen in Italy for half a century.
Countless more watched the ceremony for Mr. Baudo, who died on Saturday at 89, live on the flagship channel of RAI, the national broadcaster, an honor usually reserved for popes and presidents.
The Rev. Giulio Albanese, a priest close to the emcee, described Mr. Baudo in his homily as “the most famous man in Italy,” if “only because he was always a welcome guest in Italian homes.” What remains beyond the applause, he added, was “his ability to communicate closeness, to give room to many artists, and to have sincere relationships.”
Mr. Baudo was born in Militello in Val di Catania and spent much of his career at the RAI studios in Rome, helming some of the country’s most popular prime-time variety shows.
Most of those shows involved song and dance numbers, comic skits and interactions with famous people. Some shows centered around singing competitions.
Since Mr. Baudo’s death, RAI has aired dozens of hours of tributes and vintage TV clips on its various channels, a testament to his decades at the broadcaster. Accolades poured in for “the last king of television,” the “founding father of RAI,” “TV’s giant,” a nod to his fame and his stature (he was over 6 feet tall) and SuperPippo, a nickname that stuck.
In honor of his years with RAI, he lay in state this week at the broadcaster’s Teatro delle Vittorie, the television studio where he worked for years.
“He was and always will be the RAI — they were one, and he represented a new way of doing television,” said Luigi Marzullo, a late night host on RAI, who was among many celebrities who came to pay their respects.
Mr. Baudo’s coffin was covered with red roses, while 50 years of photos were projected against the backdrop of a red velvet curtain.
During his decades on air, Mr. Baudo hosted, and refined, RAI’s most popular programs, like Saturday night variety shows, but also a Sunday afternoon talk show that is still running, working with countless Italian personalities.
Mr. Baudo had an eye for talent, and he is credited with having given a number of aspiring artists their first big breaks. That included the comedian Beppe Grillo, who went on to found the Five Star Movement political party, as well as the singer Laura Pausini, whose career he helped launch at the Sanremo Festival of Italian Song.
Mr. Baudo hosted that festival a record 13 times. Ms. Pausini won Sanremo in 1993, and this week she told Italian media that the host was “the most important encounter in my life.”
Some 6,000 people came to the viewing at the Teatro delle Vittorie, according to RAI, some clustered outside to catch a glimpse of a star or two.
“I’m 68, and for 60 years if I turned on the TV he was there,” said Barbara Turco, a retired bank worker, explaining why she had come to say goodbye. “He was a normal person with an infinite culture and an infinite sensibility.”
Thousands scribbled their thoughts and expressions of gratitude in memorial books outside the theater.
Salvatore Catania, a retired farmer and poet, described Mr. Baudo as being like a relative “who kept us company” on Sunday afternoons. “He was everyone’s uncle, for all of Italy,” he said. Anna Maria Troiani, his wife, also retired, described the presenter as intelligent and charismatic. “He always had a smile on his face, and just that cheered us up.”
The chief executive of RAI, Giampaolo Rossi, said that one of the broadcaster’s theaters would be named after Mr. Baudo.
On television, Mr. Baudo’s easy affability guided Italians through turbulent years. He was easy to relate to, wrote Mario Ajello in the Rome daily Il Messaggero. He sought “to connect the elites with the masses, with grace and professionalism, removing snobbery from the former and giving substance to the latter.”
Timothy Martin, an American, worked as a singer and dancer on one of Mr. Baudo’s variety shows shortly after coming to Italy in the mid-1990s.
“The most interesting part of the entire experience was watching him,” he said, at the viewing. “He knew what he was doing and he knew that he wanted and he know better than anyone else,” on a set involving some 200 people doing live TV said Mr. Martin.
Mr. Baudo was born Giuseppe Raimondo Vittorio Baudo in Militello in Val di Catania and remained tied to his ancestral home. In an interview with an Italian newspaper, his daughter Tiziana said her father had always asked to be buried in the family’s plot at the cemetery there, next to his parents.
After the religious service, Giovanni Burtone, the mayor of the town, praised his compatriot to the applause of those in the church. “Pippo represents the country, he represents the best of Italy,” he said. “We will miss him.”
Elisabetta Povoledo is a Times reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years.
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