Carosello

For the vegetable, seeCarosello (melon).For the record label, seeCarosello Records.

Carosello(Italianfor 'carousel') is an Italian televisionadvertisingshow that was broadcast onRAIfrom 1957 to 1977. The series mainly showed shortsketch comedyfilms using live action, various types ofanimation,andpuppetry.It had an audience of about 20 million viewers.

Carosello
Country of origin	Italy
Original language	Italian
No.of episodes	7261
Production
Running time	10 minutes
Production company	RAI
Original release
Network	Rai 1,Rai 2
Release	3 February 1957(1957-02-03)– 1 January 1977(1977-01-01)

History

Initially, the only income forItalian televisionbroadcasters came from subscription fees, but the amount was still very low. Rai had already thought of introducing a space dedicated to advertising in the television schedule.RAIwas looking for an original, innovative and interesting way to offer it to the public in a pleasant way through entertainment and shows without disturbing them. Then came the idea of making relatively long (average three minutes) funny curtains, comics and sketches, which attracted people's attention.

At an experimental level, some of the test procedures were performed with theproto-caroselli,based on fictitious products, made inTurin,RomeandMilan.In fact, this is what the carousel will look like two years later.

Animated segments

Carosellobegan to feature hand drawn and stop-motion segments in its second year, produced by Gamma Film, Paul Film, and Studio Pagot among others. Among the series' most notable segments wereCalimeroandLa Linea,who appeared in other content outsideCarosello.

Pallina

Pallina (Italian for 'little ball') was an Italian cartoon character created byQuartetto Cetrafor the series. She originally appeared in the 1960s, running from 1961 to 1968, and was a mascot for various cleaning products, including Solex and Vetril.