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Giuseppe Baudo (born on June 7, 1936 Militello in Val di Catania), also known as Pippo Baudo, is one of the best known hosts on Italian television. He is a historical figure for the Italian television, as well as Mike Bongiorno. Because of his fame and success, he is often referred at as "Superpippo". He has also been the artistic director and President of the Teatro Stabile di Catania. Baudo has been married with the Italian soprano Katia Ricciarelli, but they divorced in 2004. He also has one daughter, Tiziana, born in 1970, from a previous marriage. He studied Law at the University of Catania, but during his studies he started to get involved in entertainment, both as an actor and a host. He also learned playing the piano. He took his degree but he won't ever use it to work. At the end of the 1950s, he became a singer and a pianist for the Orchestra Moonlight, with which in 1959 he appeared for the first time on television during the show "Caravella dei Successi", that, that year, was broadcast from Palermo. He gained his success hosting several RAI programs; he also was the artistic director for some of them. After some controversies, he signed to Mediaset, but he seemed to have lost his past success. Then regained his fame hosting the show "Novecento" on the RAI, so that he could host the famous Sunday-afternoon show "Domenica In" and the "Festival della canzone italiana". In the 1970s, he helped to set up and worked for the Catania-based private channel "Antenna Sicilia". In 1987, he hosted the show "Festival" in Mediaset after some controversies with the RAI President of the time, Enrico Manca. But some year later he worked again for the RAI, his show "Serata d'Onore" was broadacast on Rai Due. In 1997, he signed again to Mediaset, but his shows "La canzone del secolo" and "Tiramisù" had very little success. His professional crisis went over in 1999, when he was asked by Rai Tre to host a brand new program, "Giorno dopo Giorno", that lately was moved to the prime time, with the name "Novecento". In 2002, he hosted the Festival di Sanremo, after the 2001 edition had been a fiasco. He chose like co-host Manuela Arcuri and Vittoria Belvedere. He was called again the following year (with Claudia Gerini and Serena Autieri), but it was less successful. In 2004 he left RAI, but in 2005 he came back again, with the programme "Sabato Italiano", on Rai Uno. On October 2, 2005, he hosted for the eight time the Sunday-afternoon program "Domenica In", that he had left in 1991. In 2007, he host again the Festival di Sanremo, with Michelle Hunziker; it is his twelfth time, and he exceeds Mike Bongiorno, who hosted eleven times. In March 2008, he will host his thirteenth edition with Piero Chiambretti.
