Carosello

Any student of Italian culture should certainly be familiar with the mythic Carosello - a television program of about 10 minutes in length than ran from 1957 until 1977 that featured comic and theatric performances of many of Italy's budding stars as well as featuring household products and commercials. The show was popular among Italian families, and, as such, the phrase "E dopo Carosello, tutti a nanna" (After Carosello everyone to bed!) in the spoken Italian vernacular.

Einaudi along with Rai Trade published a DVD/book set entitled Tutto il meglio di Carosello (1957-1977). The DVD contains the various Carosello segments that have aired over the years - some of them are quite interesting (even comical at times) and can make for interesting viewing. The Italian used is also quite easy to understand, and I think that this was done in such a way as to make the show approachable and available to all.

The book is equally fascinating, which presents a history of the show with writings by Aldo Nove, Edmondo Berselli under the direction of Guia Croce. It's an excellent and thought-provoking history of the show, why it came about, its purpose, the actors involved as well as why the show went away. The most interesting section of the book is entitled Tramonto, which seeks to explain the show's demise and why it went away (it is even believed that the Americans wanted to kill the show!).

The book and DVD show how powerful Carosello was for Italy and for Italians - it had a huge impact on Italian society and culture as well as providing an arena for Italy's pool of talented actors, comics, musicians and artists while at the same time providing an advertising outlet for businesses and retailers. Its influence pervaded so many sectors of Italian business and became one of the most watched programs (even if it was only ten minutes long!) in all of Italy for almost two decades.