On 11 October 1953 the first official episode of “Domenica Sportiva” was broadcast
The longest-running program on Italian television turns seventy today and carries the happy weight of a shared history, which belongs to all of us. October 11, 1953, is the day on which the first official episode of “Domenica Sportiva” was broadcast. Italy emerged from the post-war period with a confidence in the future that will unfortunately fade over the years, Rai has for some time started experimental broadcasts, sport – football and cycling above all – accompany Italians in their laborious rebirth. There is the need – almost physiological after so much pain – to find consolation in the beauty of sporting exploits. In the news, the “noble sweat” of the protagonists who chase a ball and draw applause in stadiums full of men – yes, they are almost always and almost all men – dressed to the nines, while the bicycle – in an Italy still predominantly rural – transforms from a means of transport that marks a geography to a vehicle of leisure, it becomes a factor of emancipation that favors greater mobility, therefore a more conscious autonomy.