There was a time when turning on the Italian television was like opening a door to Versailles. Not Hollywood, Versailles. Because while America churned out dreams, Italy created the illusion that those dreams were real, tangible, and could materialize in your living room through a magic that needed no scientific explanation. Do you remember when an episode of \u201cDonna sotto le stelle\u201d was an event? Not just a show\u2014an event. Do you remember \u201cLe Stelle della Moda\u201d? <\/p>\n\n
It wasn\u2019t just a fashion show. It was a display of overwhelming creative power where the Italian fashion system\u2014Valentino, Armani, Versace, Krizia, Dolce & Gabbana, Ferr\u00e9\u2014wasn\u2019t merely presented; it was celebrated. And the stars of this spectacle were the most influential figures on the planet: the \u201cBig Five\u201d supermodels\u2014Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Claudia Schiffer\u2014the Valkyries who defined beauty for the rest of the world. It was the 1990s, when an Italian fashion show featuring these names wasn\u2019t just a show\u2014it was a global event. <\/p>\n\n
“Donna sotto le stelle” (Woman Under the Stars), the event broadcast live from the Spanish Steps in Rome from 1986 to 2003 on RAI and later on Canale 5, was the crowning achievement of this excellence: Twelve of Italy\u2019s leading fashion designers presented their collections against a backdrop provided by nature itself. There was no need for special effects when you had Rome, when you had the biggest names in the fashion world. Italy told its story to the world through these programs. And the world listened. <\/p>\n\n
And then there were the Telegatti. Mom, the Telegatti. They were living proof that Italian good taste had a right to sit at the same table as global culture. And when I say \u201cMichael Jackson,\u201d you\u2019re not reading a fantasy. In 1997, the King of Pop took the Telegatti stage alongside Luciano Pavarotti, exuding a confidence that resonated with millions of viewers: Italy was still the place where the impossible could happen. He was there to promote the HIStory World Tour, which would arrive in Italy a few weeks later, but above all, he was there because the Telegatti stage had become a global symbol of television excellence. <\/p>\n\n
But it wasn\u2019t just Michael Jackson. Over the years, major international stars literally lined up to participate: Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, Sharon Stone, Cher, Elton John, and then George Clooney with Danny DeVito and even Sylvester Stallone. These names weren\u2019t invited just to fill the stage. They came because Italy still had the magnetic power to attract the best the world had to offer. There was a creative team that understood one fundamental thing: entertainment isn\u2019t what you do; it\u2019s what you show. How did Italy stop believing in itself? How did Italy stop teaching people to appreciate beauty? <\/p>\n\n
Do you remember Maestro Manzi? Millions of Italians learned to read and write watching that TV show. But that was just the most obvious level. The deeper level was this: TV taught you about excellence without you even realizing it. You watched Falqui\u2019s variety shows. You watched Mina. You watched Raffaella Carr\u00e0. You watched Proietti. And what did you see? Not just a simple TV show. You saw a theatrical spectacle that could make the whole world envious. And you, sitting in your living room, learned without even realizing it what beauty was. What it meant to do a job well. What excellence was\u2014not as an abstract concept, but as a tangible experience. <\/p>\n\n
Then it happened that the networks discovered the most dangerous thing of all: that they no longer needed to spend big to entertain the audience. All it takes is a ready-made format. All it takes is an old story recycled a thousand times. In short, all it takes is mediocrity. Around the year 2000, this conscious choice began to become irreversible. Perhaps it was the looming economic crisis. Perhaps it was the plain and simple creative laziness that sets in when you think you\u2019ve already won. Perhaps it was the fact that, once you discovered you could make money with less effort, there was no economic reason to go back. But suddenly, the big shows began to disappear. <\/p>\n\n
There was a model that worked: the international talent show brought global excellence into the Italian living room, where Italian creativity served as a golden frame for that excellence. The result? Something that was neither completely Italian nor completely international, but a unique alchemy. Then another model arrived: the generic talent show, the reality show, the dating show. That is, the model where the format becomes the boss, and creativity becomes a budget line item. Where the hosts are no longer the magicians of entertainment but the CEOs of a well-oiled machine. This model won out because it costs less. Because it\u2019s easier to copy. Because it doesn\u2019t challenge you. But it lost everything else. And Italy, as a nation, decided that was fine. That there was no need for grand visions. That it was enough to fill the programming schedule with whatever cost the least. <\/p>\n\n
What would make Italy great again on TV? The question is only rhetorical on the surface. Because the answer exists, and it\u2019s not even particularly complicated. We need someone who truly understands that entertainment isn\u2019t just something that happens in a studio. It\u2019s a philosophy. It\u2019s the belief that the audience deserves beauty and wonder, and that Italy has the DNA to create it. We need financial courage. Yes, \u201cLe Stelle della Moda\u201d cost a fortune. So what? We need to rediscover something Italy once had: the idea that beauty is not a luxury, but a necessity. That if the world is watching you, they have the right to see something that transforms them. In short, we need to rebel against this era where gray has become the default color. <\/p>\n\n
Maybe people don\u2019t want beauty anymore. Maybe they want comfort, familiarity, the packaged ordinary. Or maybe, quite simply, no one had the courage to admit they were wrong. Italy once invented the language of television entertainment. And that language spread around the world. Now it\u2019s silent. Listen. And that\u2019s not nostalgia. It\u2019s a real loss. When you watch an old episode of \u201cLe Stelle della Moda\u201d on YouTube, and see what the world was like back then\u2014how it was possible for an idea, a show, to carry that much cultural weight\u2014you ask yourself: isn\u2019t that beautiful? Wouldn\u2019t you want it to come back? Or have you learned to do without beauty? And that, too, of course, is a choice. <\/p>\n\n