Rachele FalchiSpectacle Without Substance: The “Viva Puccini” Program and the Embarrassing Hollowing Out of Musical Genius. Venezi Takes the Jackpot: A Clumsy Augias Parody Opens the Show
The False Celebration of Art: Beatrice Venezi’s “Viva Puccini” and Cultural Shipwreck on TV
A breathtaking end and start to the year on RAI channels. The grand finale of 2024, now etched into the annals of television history, featured the unforgettable “Happy New Year, you jackasses” shouted by Angelo from Ricchi e Poveri just moments before the countdown on Rai 1’s live broadcast of “L’anno che verrà”, hosted by Marco Liorni from Reggio Calabria.
How could RAI possibly top that for the prime-time slot welcoming 2025? By obliterating Giacomo Puccini on national television, of course.
Enter Rai 3, which handed the task of dissecting the genius of the Lucchese composer—rendering it an all-you-can-eatbuffet digestible for the widescreen-loving Italian TV audience—to Beatrice Venezi, the baton-wielding darling of nationalist sentiment in Italy.
Venezi and her entourage presented an unsettling portrait of how RAI’s higher-ups seem to view cultural programming: Puccini’s masterpieces were hollowed out, repackaged, and turned into a lackluster afternoon talk-show spectacle. This superficial rendering of the composer’s works was aimed at an audience mistakenly presumed incapable of appreciating their brilliance. What resulted was a crash course on opera, overly simplified for beginners, with liberties and interpretations that deserved a failing grade.
A Noble Intention, But…
The declared intention was noble: to bring the public closer to Giacomo Puccini, one of the greatest Italian composers. But closer how? Not through deeper exploration, not by elevating the audience with the power of his works, but by diminishing them with a fragmented narrative and a staging that celebrated the aesthetics of appearances more than the essence of art.
Yes, the influences that pop music, film scores, or even rock have absorbed from Puccini’s legacy are evident and worth telling. But the strategies and individuals chosen to convey them were, to put it mildly, underwhelming.
This is not about tearing down the effort for the sake of it. The goal isn’t to claim that opera cannot be explained in simple terms or to elevate it as something for an exclusive elite. Far from it. Opera has always been for the people; the most passionate and knowledgeable opera lovers were historically the loggionisti—ordinary folks, often with little formal education, as some might say.
What matters is that so-called “highbrow” music must be communicated in a way that is simple without being simplistic. That is the crux of the matter.
When dealing with certain areas of knowledge—be it music, history, politics, science, or anything else—that need to be made accessible to an audience largely unfamiliar with them, the responsibility is immense. Respect for both the subject matter and the listeners—Italian men and women tuning in—must be absolute. It’s akin to entering a cathedral. Here, however, no one bothered to remove their hat.
One thing stood out dramatically. In this context, music became a mere pretext. The spotlight was on Beatrice Venezi, not Puccini. The cameras lingered on her every move, exaggerating her role to the extreme. She was the Creator, Conductor, Host, and even a guest of her own show. Bianca Guaccero, nominally entrusted with hosting duties, seemed out of place—clearly unable to take charge because, plainly, she was in someone else’s house.
Moreover, Stinchelli, Tognazzi, and Guerri failed to provide any real added value to the program. To be fair, achieving this in such a context would have been a tall order.
I’d prefer not to comment on the quality of the hosting or some of the vocal performances chosen to interpret Puccini’s most famous arias. It’s incredibly difficult to assess from a TV broadcast whether the lackluster sound quality stemmed from poor work by the audio engineers or other reasons. Let’s leave room for doubt, shall we?
Mockery or Imitation?
The program opened with a questionable choice: an uncertain impressionist performing a gag that portrayed Corrado Augias as a mix of manic delirium and arteriosclerotic confusion. In poor taste. Was this an attempt to take a jab—a thinly veiled, poisoned dart—at the great Augias in response to his often outspoken criticism of the current right-wing government? If so, parody requires intelligence, style, and creative finesse—all of which were conspicuously absent here.
An Experience That Makes the Difference
Thankfully, I recently had the privilege of attending a masterpiece that truly honors Puccini’s greatness, a celebration of his art that highlights its complexity and depth. The production Puccini Puccini, che cosa vuoi da me at the Auditorium Agnelli in Turin, part of the MiTo Festival, offered a genuine immersion into the world of Puccini.
With Toni Servillo on stage, bringing his extraordinary acting talent to bear, he vividly captured Puccini’s vibrant genius. The performance was an emotional journey, with Servillo masterfully conveying the artist’s passion and vulnerability in every nuance.
Equally remarkable was the flawless direction of the Milan Symphony Orchestra under Gianna Fratta, adding yet another layer of excellence to the production and elevating it to extraordinary heights.
This is the standard of Italian musical culture we deserve: sophisticated, elegant, and accessible to all—celebrating Puccini without diluting or oversimplifying his work.
Cultural Flattening as a Strategy
This is not an isolated case but a symptom of a broader trend. Public television, which should stand as a bastion of culture, is succumbing to the logic of superficial entertainment. The idea that the audience must always be “pampered” and never challenged has become pervasive. But who benefits from this? Certainly not culture, which is stripped of its transformative power.
Culture should not merely entertain—it must elevate, inspire, and at times even unsettle. It should demand effort.
Viva Puccini avoided all of this, opting instead for the easier path: turning genius into spectacle without ever delving into its artistic soul.
The Future
If this is how we intend to promote culture, we must ask ourselves whether we are betraying its deeper purpose. Great art does not need to be made “accessible” by stripping it of its complexity. It needs to be treated with respect, with the understanding that it can speak to anyone if given the right context.
In this sense, productions like Puccini Puccini, che cosa vuoi da me show that it is possible to celebrate greatness and elevate audiences to new levels of understanding and sensitivity.
Perhaps it is time for public television to once again believe in its audience—challenging them to grow rather than indulging them with a watered-down, spectacularized version of our cultural heritage.
