He was born in Rome, but spent his youth in Pula, where his father, an Admiral of the Regia Marina, directed the local naval academy.

In 1958 he met actress Sandra Mondaini, whom he married four years later, and with whom he frequently appeared in TV shows during his whole career.

In the 1970s he returned to RAI (the Italian state broadcasting company, then the only one existing) with a series of Saturday shows which made him and Mondaini extremely popular as hosts and authors of sketches.

[3] During his TV career Vianello also hosted quiz shows, such as Zig Zag and Il gioco del 9 on Canale 5; he also hosted the 1998 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival[1] and, from 1991 to 1999, Pressing, Mediaset's Sunday night sports talk show.

[3] His best-known and long-lasting TV programme, Casa Vianello, was a sitcom shot from 1988 to 2008 and broadcast by Mediaset channels Canale 5 and later moved to Rete 4, in which he and Mondaini played fictionalised versions of themselves.