Fiorello baldini mike bongiorno biography

I would not imagine either that many would believe a television personality is credited with uniting Italy. For the uninitiated, Mike Bongiorno was basically a quiz show host. He was, however, revered by the Italian people, and a state funeral was held in his honour. But why, some may be wondering, was a television personality accorded the honour of a full blown state funeral in Italy?

This surprised me, I can tell you. Yet once you know a little bit more about Mike Bongiorno, you start to understand why he was held in such high regard in Italy. Indeed, he is considered by many Italians as being the person who helped unite their country, primarily by getting them to watch television. Why is this significant?

Of Italian origins, Mike Bongiorno, who was born in New York to an Italian mother and an Italian American father, returned to Italy as a child when his mother and father separated. Bongiorno completed much of his schooling in Italy and, harbouring ambitions to become a journalist, he worked for the sports section of Italian newspaper La Stampa as an assistant.

Rosario Tindaro Fiorello (born

Life for the young Bongiorno was to become pretty tough before things picked up and he started down the road towards stardom. Abandoning his studies during the second world war, Bongiorno joined up with the Italian resistance movement or partisans, and his knowledge of English proved to be very useful to the resistance groups which he collaborated with.

Indeed, it was as a result of his knowledge of English that he was assigned an important and dangerous mission. While carrying out this mission, Bongiorno was caught by the German Gestapo and only escaped execution as a result of the Germans discovering his American identity documents. Instead of being subjected to a firing squad, Bongiorno was first placed in prison in Italy.