Bianca Maria Piccinino

Bianca Maria Piccinino (born 29 January 1924) is an Italian journalist and television hostess. She was the first woman to conduct an Italian newscast, the 5:00 pm newscast.

Life and career
Born in Trieste in 1924, Piccinino graduated with a degree in biology and joined RAI in 1953 as a television writer and presenter of popular science.

In the mid-1950s she conducted the television program L'amico degli animali with Angelo Lombardi and their assistant Andalù; she was conductor of Eurovision Song Contest 1957 and 1958.

In the following years, Piccinino became responsible for fashion programmes, and in 1975 she conducted with Emilio Fede the first edition of the TG1 programme. On 29 July 1981, she presented the live broadcast of the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer for Rai 1. Against the requests for her changing to Canale 5, she stayed on Rai even after his retirement in 1989, taking care of the weekly TV magazine Moda for some years.

Currently, Piccinino teaches "Costume fashion" at the Koefia Academy in Rome and writes articles for magazines. She turned 100 on 29 January 2024.

Orders

 * San Giusto d’Oro: Trieste, 12 December 2014