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This paper represents an extract from a larger project on TV consumption in Italy during the 1950s and ’60s. Although the so-called “economic miracle” usually corresponds to the period between 1958 and 1963, it is more broadly interpreted here in order to attempt a cultural history of early TV audiences. Beginning with the medium’s origins in 1954, this article traces out 1950s TV audiences through the social developments that took place during the period, overturning the traditional, hierarchical perspective of previous Italian television studies. Analysing both quantitative data (the statistics collected by Servizio Opinioni) and qualitative sources (diaries and memories preserved by the Archivio Diaristico Nazionale), the article seeks to capture the voice of the Italian p opular audience, and hence to understand the change that collective identities and societies underwent at the beginning of the “economic miracle”.
