Looking for 'A Place in the Sun'?: The Italian Way to Soap Opera

In the 1980s, the soap opera became a sort of “up-to-date” television genre in Europe, both in academic interest (Allen, 1985, 1995; Ang, 1985; Dyer, Geraghty, Jordan, Lovell, Paterson, & Stewart, 1981; Geraghty, 1991; Modleski, 1984; Radway, 1984; Silj, 1988), and in television program production. Many local soap operas were aired during those years in many countries, whose schedules were already filled with many United States-imported serials belonging to the so-called “Second Golden Age” (Thompson, 1996). In contrast, in Italy neither the public service television RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) nor the newly-born commercial television Mediaset produced any soap operas until the second half of the nineties, therefore scholarship about this topic was minimal. However, within a span of five years the situation changed radically. From 1996 to 2001 three soap operas were produced: Un posto al sole (1996, “A place in the sun”), Vivere (1999, “Living”), and CentoVetrine (2000, “The Mall”). Moreover, in 2008 the Italian “soapscape” was enriched by a new RAI production, Agrodolce (“Bittersweet”). The first Italian soap opera project was the result of a risky adaptation process based on an Australian format. In the nineties, imported formats in Italy were not so common. Furthermore, television drama is considered the less amenable genre to the global nature of formats, because of its tendency to deal with local issues and to appeal to a mostly national audience (Bignell & Lacey, 2005; Brunsdon, 1997, 2000; Caughie, 2000; Hobson, 2002; Moran & Malbon, 2006). This chapter will discuss key moments in the history of the Italian soap opera as a new television genre as well as present the unique characteristics of the local Italian television system. Ultimately, the chapter argues that the birth of an Italian soap opera style was late in comparison with the rest of Europe and of the United States mostly because of the peculiar Italian television scenario.