Politica e piccolo schermo in Italia dal 1954 al 1994

This article reconstructs the relationship between television and politics in Italy from the beginning of broadcasting (January 1954) to the arrival of Silvio Berlusconi on the Italian political scene and his first electoral victory in 1994. Through a careful study of the compared dimension the author shows how Italy seemed to move away from the main Western democracies in the context of an increasing mediatisation of the public scene. Even though the development of media, and particularly of television, was comparable to other European countries and, basically, similar to France, the image of politician in Italy has been hidden for a long time behind the slogans and symbols of the parties that remained the undisputed rulers of the public and electoral scene in the 60’s and 70’s. However, a meaningful evolution – analysed by the author through the transformations of media as well as the disruption of the institutional and partisan context – occurred from the 80’s. The article shows the new and radical hallmark of this evolution which allowed Italy not only to make up lost time in respect to the other European countries, but also to rapidly assert itself as pioneer in the field of political mediatization and personalization. In 1994, the “descent into the political arena” and electoral victory of Silvio Berlusconi – owner of a media empire who used television as a trampoline to launch himself into the national political competition and uncontested leader of a personal and media-centred party such as Forza Italia – represent the synthesis and peak of a previously unseen process of symbiosis between politics and television that no other country experienced in such an intensive way.