The Show on Radio Rai: “Tutto il Calcio minuto per minuto”!

It is a popular radio show on Rai Radio 1 dedicated to live commentary of the Italian football championship, created in January 1960 by Guglielmo Moretti, together with Roberto Bortoluzzi, who also became its first host, Sergio Zavoli and Giorgio Boriani.

The program was born during the 1959-60 football season. Moretti took inspiration from the French radio show Sports et Musique, in which reporters commentated live from the pitches on matches in the national rugby league championship. Broadcasts began on a trial basis in 1959, with the official debut taking place at 3:15 PM on Sunday, January 10, 1960. Among the matches broadcast in that first episode were Milan-Juventus, with commentary by Nicolò Carosio (who announced Juventus’ Gino Stacchini’s goal after just five minutes, the first in the show’s history), and Bologna-Napoli, with commentary by Enrico Ameri.

The program was also an experiment for the multiple open microphone broadcast of different events simultaneously, in preparation for the Games of the XVII Olympiad in Rome in 1960, a global event broadcast on television and radio by Rai.

The basic structure, which remained unchanged over the decades, included alternating broadcasts from the stadiums, with immediate notifications of particularly significant events (goals scored, penalties, expulsions, and more) from each pitch. The program’s central studio was originally located at the RAI headquarters in Milan, at Corso Sempione 27, and was hosted by Roberto Bortoluzzi. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the central studio was moved to the RAI studios at Saxa Rubra in Rome, with Massimo De Luca taking over the hosting duties after Bortoluzzi’s retirement.

Until the 1968-69 season, the program did not cover the final four matchdays of the Serie A championship. Starting in the 1969-70 season, RAI obtained authorization to broadcast all matchdays. From 1977-78, the program began covering the entire match: the first half on Domenica Sport on Radio2 and the second half on the main program, hosted by Mario Giobbe. Later, it also extended to Serie B, which is dedicated to the program when Serie A is off. From 1981-82, it was also broadcast on FM in stereo on RaiStereoDue and RaiStereoUno.

In 1990, at Giobbe’s suggestion, the first and second halves were combined into a single broadcast on various networks.

According to some sources, the peak audience for an episode dates back to May 20, 1973, the last day of the championship. On that particular occasion, Milan was at the top of the table and seemed close to winning the Scudetto. However, they suffered a stinging defeat in Verona, opening up the possibility of a play-off with Juventus, who were drawing at the Olimpico with Roma. Meanwhile, Lazio also had the opportunity to reach the top of the table by winning against Napoli, but lost the match.

The highlight of the broadcast occurred in the 87th minute, when the voice of Sandro Ciotti from Rome announced the winning goal by Cuccureddu, a Juventus player, which gave the Scudetto to the Bianconeri. It is estimated that 23 million listeners followed the radio commentary of that episode.

The radio commentators were exclusively male until 1988, when journalist Nicoletta Grifoni made her debut.

Eleven broadcasters have had the opportunity to announce a championship live over the years:

Enrico Ameri, Sandro Ciotti, Beppe Viola, Everardo Dalla Noce, Carlo Nesti, Riccardo Cucchi, Bruno Gentili, Livio Forma, Francesco Repice, Emanuele Dotto, and Giovanni Scaramuzzino.

On 10 January 2010, the show celebrated half a century of football on the radio: in the special episode of that day, after the recollections and emotions broadcast in the previous days, the fiftieth birthday was honored with an exceptional lineup featuring four historic voices, such as Claudio Ferretti, Enzo Foglianese, Ezio Luzzi and Nicoletta Grifoni, who returned to the microphone. Before the episode, numerous contributions from personalities from the world of football and sport, as well as from the listeners themselves, celebrated the anniversary.

Here is the series of contributions from the historic episode of 10 January: Hosted by Saxa Rubra, Alfredo Provenzali with Filippo Corsini; at the microphones, Riccardo Cucchi and Claudio Ferretti from Florence for Fiorentina-Bari, Carlo Verna and Enzo Foglianese from Naples for Napoli-Sampdoria, Emanuele Dotto and Ezio Luzzi from Genoa for Genoa-Catania, Giuseppe Bisantis and Nicoletta Grifoni from Livorno for Livorno-Parma, Tonino Raffa from Bologna for Bologna-Cagliari, Livio Forma from Udine for Udinese-Lazio, and Roberto Gueli from Palermo for Palermo-Atalanta.

That episode also exceptionally aired simultaneously on the Rai News 24 TV channel: on this occasion, colleagues Roberto Gueli and Tonino Raffa paid tribute to two late correspondents, Nicolò Carosio and Piero Pasini.

Opening theme and soundtrack!
From its debut until the RAI reform of 1975, the program had no theme music: it was simply introduced by announcers from the RAI headquarters in Milan, who introduced the sponsor, a brandy produced by a well-known liqueur brand from Trieste.

At the end, the announcers themselves used the quickly famous expression: “Did your favorite team win? Toast with… Didn’t win? Console yourselves with… And if they tied, then… grappa with character.”
The final sentence was later changed to
“Wish them better luck, always with…”

From October 24, 1976, to June 12, 1983, a fragment of Caravan was used in the Eumir Deodato version, before switching, from September 11, 1983, to June 21, 1987, to the song “A Taste of Honey” by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.
From September 13, 1987, to May 26, 1997, after the show’s host passed from Bortoluzzi to De Luca, the song was replaced by a tune composed specifically by Mauro Lusini.

After De Luca’s departure from the show and Provenzali’s passing of the baton, “A Taste of Honey” was reintroduced as the theme song, which still introduces the show today.

Conductors.
1960-1987 Roberto Bortoluzzi; occasionally replaced first by Adone Carapezzi and then by Massimo Valentini and Claudio Ferretti.

1987-1992 Massimo De Luca; alternating with Paolo Carbone, Rino Icardi, and Luigi Coppola. Replaced by Alfredo Provenzali on Saturday, April 14, 1990.

1992-2012 Alfredo Provenzali, supported by Luigi Coppola and later by Filippo Corsini (and for brief periods also by Giulio Delfino, Ezio Luzzi, Maurizio Isita, Ugo Russo, and Paolo Zauli). He temporarily replaced the then-current host Massimo De Luca on Saturday, April 14, 1990.

2012-present Filippo Corsini, already host of the Saturday edition dedicated to Serie B since 2005. 2019-Filippo Corsini for Serie A and Massimiliano Graziani for Serie B.

Former historic radio commentators Nicolò Carosio (a historic football voice, first on radio and then on TV, was the first to report from a pitch during Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto: he was the correspondent in Milan for Milan-Juventus, the main pitch of the first edition of the program). After that, however, not wanting to share the microphone with other colleagues, he decided to leave the program.

Alfredo Provenzali (from 1966 to 2012; in addition to being the host and liaison officer, he also covered water polo, swimming, and cycling matches).
Enrico Ameri (first voice from 1960 to 1991).

Sandro Ciotti (from 1960 to 1996; mainly covered Roma and Lazio in the 1960s, then became second voice, and finally first voice after Ameri’s retirement).

Riccardo Cucchi (from 1982 to 2017; he started following Campobasso in the 1980s, then first voice from 1995 to 2017 as well as sports editor at Giornale Radio Rai. On 12 February 2017 he commented on the last match from San Siro, Inter-Empoli)

Emanuele Dotto (historical voice of Genoa, voice of cycling and in the past of various other sports, correspondent and host of Sabato Sport. From 2016 until his retirement in 2019, he was a regular on Quelli che il calcio as a technical commentator).

Claudio Ferretti (third voice on the program from 1968 until his move to TV in 1988)

Adone Carapezzi (only in the 1960s, he broadcast from Milan covering both AC Milan and Inter Milan – he also commentated on cycling)

Ezio Luzzi (historical voice of Serie B from 1962 to 2000, returns to the microphone on Saturday afternoons to report on the “second division” championship in the 2011-2012 season)

Piero Pasini (mainly covered Bologna and other Emilia-Romagna teams; died in 1981 after Eraldo Pecci’s goal during the Bologna-Fiorentina match)

Enzo Foglianese (from 1970 to December 23, 1995; he was also part of the quartet that followed the Giro d’Italia on the radio, along with Claudio Ferretti, Giacomo Santini, and Alfredo Provenzali)

Gianfranco Pancani (commented on Fiorentina, Pisa, and the other Tuscan teams in the 1960s and 1970s; he was also a radio commentator for motorcycling and volleyball, a sport he occasionally commentated on TV.

Massimo Valentini (only in the 1960s; also a longtime television personality and anchorman for TG1)

Beppe Viola (a regular voice in the 1960s and 1970s; also a writer and longtime correspondent for La Domenica Sportiva)

Andrea Boscione (broadcast mainly from Turin)

Nico Sapio (broadcast from Genoa; swimming commentator, died on January 28, 1966 in a plane crash in Bremen along with the Italian national swimming team, which was traveling to the German city for an international meeting)

Italo Moretti (broadcast from Rome, then became director of TG3)

Luca Liguori (broadcast occasionally from Rome) Italo Gagliano (broadcast from Rome, then moved to TG2)

Mario Gismondi (broadcast from Bari and Foggia until 1970, then director of Corriere dello Sport)

Gustavo Delgado (broadcast from the RAI headquarters in Puglia, sporadically on air in the 1970s and 1980s)

Marcello Giannini (broadcast from Florence)

Everardo Dalla Noce (broadcast from Ferrara and Milan until the mid-1980s)

Emanuele Giacoia (in the 1970s and 1980s, commentated on Napoli, then Catanzaro and alternating between Avellino, Napoli, and Roma)

Nino Vascon (broadcast from Venice)

Arnaldo Verri (broadcast from Milan)

Nuccio Puleo (broadcast from Catania, then moved to TG2)

Cesare Viazzi (broadcast from Genoa and became director of the Rai regional headquarters in Liguria)

Mario Guerrini (broadcast from Cagliari and then from Milan)

Ugo Russo (from 1998 to 2014; also a radio commentator for many other sports, his last radio commentary was Livorno-Trapani on October 12).

Carlo Nesti (voice of Turin in the 1980s, later a regular on TV)

Cesare Castellotti (also a longtime commentator on 90º minuto from Turin)

Livio Forma (longtime commentator since 1980 for the most important league and cup matches, third on the lineup between the 1990s and 2000s. Last radio commentary in 2012)

Tonino Raffa (longtime commentator since 1982, primarily from the fields of Reggio Calabria and Messina, later working for the central newsroom until 2012)

Bruno Gentili (second commentator from the 1990s to 2007, then briefly serving as a Rai commentator for the national team’s matches)

Andrea Coco (longtime commentator for Sardinia since the early 1980s, as well as for Olympic disciplines such as fencing and swimming; retired since 2013)

Giulio Delfino (one of the main commentators of the Serie A football championship and Formula 1 commentator. Last radio commentary in 2012) His football commentary was Porto-Roma in the Champions League on 7 March 2019).

Roberto Gueli (Palermo’s voice since 2016, returning to the central editorial staff in 2018. He became the new deputy director of Rai’s TGR in 2019)

Antonello Orlando (among the leading voices since the early 1990s, his last was Cesena-Milan on September 11, 2010; now at Rai Sport)

Enzo Delvecchio (historical voice of Puglia since 1990; he has also covered the Olympics, the European Championships, and the World Cup. His last radio commentary was Lecce-Sassuolo on November 3, 2019)

Antonio Monaco (voice of Abruzzo but also correspondent for the Marche and Romagna regions, former second voice of the senior national team. He will step down from radio commentary starting from the 2022/2023 season)

Rino Icardi (hosted Domenica Sport from the 1990-1991 season and was also one of the longest-serving presenters on GR2 until 1992)

Massimiliano Graziani (made his debut as second voice on September 23, 2012, in the Lazio-Genoa match; since 2019, host of the “Tutto il Calcio Minuto per Minuto Serie B” edition and Deputy Editor-in-Chief)

Carlo Verna (voice from Naples since 1989, also covers swimming, president of the Order of Journalists since 2018, retired in 2024)

Umberto Avallone (made his football debut on May 14, 2011, occasionally reporting for early and late matches, also covering volleyball)

Maurizio Ruggeri (Host of Zona Cesarini until his retirement on July 8, 2023; formerly a track and field commentator and tennis and cycling expert)

Paolo Zauli (motorcycling correspondent until 2012, when he became editor-in-chief; anchor of the second half of Domenica Sport and Palasport)

Nico Forletta (Host of the MotoGP World Championship from 2012 to 2022; formerly curator and anchor of Moto Grand Prix, alternating with Paolo Zauli, who has now moved to the main editorial team)

Publishing date: July 13, 2025
Source: Wikipedia

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