Italy: Diodato wins Sanremo 2020!

The 70th Italian song festival brought us a week full of music live from the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo, with many guests, the newcomer's competition and no less than 24 participants in the Big category, the one serving as the Italian selection for Eurovision Song Contest.

These contestants were judged each night by a variety of juries: a demographic jury, the Festival's orchestra and backing singers, a jury in the press room and the Italian public via televoting. Once all their results we're added, Diodato emerged victorious.

Get to know Diodato

Antonio Diodato, born 30 August 1981, is an Italian singer/songwriter born in Aosta and has lived in Taranto and Rome. After making his first music in Stockholm, Diodato came back to Italy where he has released 3 albums so far.

Diodato has previous experience in the Italian Song Contest, as he participated in the newcomer's section of Sanremo in 2014, placing 2nd. In the same year, he also won 'Best Newcomer' at the MTV Italian Awards. The performer participated again in Sanremo in 2018 with trumpet player Roy Paci and the song Adesso, reaching 8th place among the Big artists.

After working as an actor in the film Un'avventura in 2019, Diodato returned to Sanremo for the third time in 2020, winning first place, the Critics Award and the Press Award for his song Fai Rumore.

Fai Rumore was written by Diodato and Edwyn Roberts and released on his fourth album, Che vita meravigliosa.

The Sanremo 2020 Big competition

After all the entries were performed in the final, the general ranking was announced with the Top 3 proceeding to a super final. These were Diodato, Francesco Gabbani and Pinguini Tattici Nucleari. Their scores were reset and voted again by the public through televoting (accounting for 34% of the total) and two juries, the press jury (33%) and the demographic jury (33%). This is the final ranking of the Big category:

1. Diodato - Fai Rumore (39,3%)
2. Francesco Gabbani - Viceversa (33,9%)
3. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari - Ringo Starr (26,8%)
4. Le Vibrazioni - Dov'è
5. Piero Pelù - Gigante
6. Tosca - Ho Amato Tutto
7. Elodie - Andromeda
8. Achille Lauro - Me Ne Frego
9. Irene Grandi - Finalmente Io
10. Rancore - Eden
11. Raphael Gualazzi - Carioca
12. Levante - Tikibombom
13. Anastasio - Rosso Di Rabbia
14. Alberto Urso - Il Sole Ad Est
15. Marco Masini - Il Confronto
16. Paolo Jannacci - Voglio Parlarti Adesso
17. Rita Pavone - Niente (Resilienza 74)
18. Michele Zarrillo - Nell'Estasi O Nel Fango
19. Enrico Nigiotti - Baciami Adesso
20. Giordana Angi - Come Mia Madre
21. Elettra Lamborghini - Musica (E Il Resto Scompare)
22. Junior Cally - No Grazie
23. Riki - Lo Sappiamo Entrambi

Hosted by the popular Italian presenter Amadeus, the Sanremo 2020 stage at the Ariston Theatre has seen many guest performances, including international stars like Dua Lipa, Mika and Lewis Capaldi and past Eurovision participants Albano & Romina Power, Massimo Ranieri, Ricchi e Poveri and Bobby Solo. Former Eurovision participants Francesco Gabbani and Raphael Gualazzi were competing and placed second and eleventh respectively.

Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest

Italy was one of the 7 original participants of the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956, but in 1997, they withdrew from the competition only to return in 2011 where they placed 2nd. Italy has won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti and in 1990 with Toto Cutugno, subsequently hosting in Naples in 1965 and in Rome in 1991.

The Eurovision Song Contest was modelled on the Festival di Sanremo, which began in 1951. Although Sanremo is often used to select the Italian Eurovision entry, it continues to be a separate competition in its own right. The winner of Sanremo 2019, Mahmood, took his entry Soldi to Tel Aviv, where he placed 2nd.

Are you excited to see Diodato perform in Rotterdam? Let us know how you feel about the results of Sanremo in the comments below!

===

Posted 08 February 2020 at 02:48 CET

Italy is ready for Sanremo final

After yesterday's 'Sanremo70' special, it was time for the fourth live show of the Italian song Festival 'Sanremo 2020'. All the participants of the 'Big' category performed their entries again, this time judged by the Press Jury on the eve of the final. Alongside those performances, 4 artists in 'Nuove Proposte', the newcomer's category, faced their final.

On Wednesday night, Sanremo celebrated its 70-year history with a show where all the participants in the Big category performed covers of classic songs from the contest in special versions or duets. The festival's orchestra and backing singers were the ones in charge of voting on those performances, which resulted in a win for Tosca. That result put her in 4th place in the general ranking, which still has Francesco Gabbani at number 1.

In the aftermath of Sanremo 70, all 24 Big acts in the competition performed their own songs, evaluated this time by the Press Jury, whose votes add to those of the previous evening's, drawing up a new provisional ranking, which will be revealed at the beginning of the final on Saturday.

These were the results of the Press Jury:

• Paolo Jannacci - Voglio Parlarti Adesso (13th)
• Rancore - Eden (7th)
• Giordana Angi - Come Mia Madre (19th)
• Francesco Gabbani - Viceversa (2nd)
• Raphael Gualazzi - Carioca (12th)
• Pinguini Tattici Nucleari - Ringo Starr (3rd)
• Anastasio - Rosso Di Rabbia (11th)
• Elodie - Andromeda (8th)
• Riki - Lo Sappiamo Entrambi (22nd)
• Diodato - Fai Rumore (1st)
• Irene Grandi - Finalmente Io (10th)
• Achille Lauro - Me Ne Frego (9th)
• Piero Pelù - Gigante (5th)
• Tosca - Ho Amato Tutto (6th)
• Michele Zarrillo - Nell'Estasi O Nel Fango (20th)
• Junior Cally - No Grazie (17th)
• Le Vibrazioni - Dov'è (4th)
• Alberto Urso - Il Sole Ad Est (23rd)
• Levante - Tikibombom (15th)
• Bugo e Morgan - Sincero (dq)
• Rita Pavone - Niente (Resilienza 74) (14th)
• Enrico Nigiotti - Baciami Adesso (21st)
• Elettra Lamborghini - Musica (E Il Resto Scompare) (18th)
• Marco Masini - Il Confronto (16th)

The song Sincero was automatically disqualified when one of its performers, Bugo, abandoned the stage at the beginning of the performance as his partner, Morgan, decided to sing different lyrics, thus breaking the rules of the competition. That means there are now 23 hopefuls in the race to become Italy's representative at Eurovision.

In the Nuove Proposte (newcomer's category), the final duel was between Tecla and Leo Gassmann with the latter emerging as the winner with his song Vai Bene Così.

Stay tuned for the final show of 'Sanremo 2020' to see who will represent Italy at Eurovision. Watch live from on 8 February at 20:45 CET.

===

Posted 06 February 2020 at 02:02 CET

Italy: All entries presented for Sanremo

During the second live show of 'Sanremo 2020' the second half of the participating songs were performed on stage at the Ariston Theatre. That means that all 24 entries in the 'Big' category, the one intended for established artists, have now been introduced to the audience for the first time.

In the second of 5 live shows taking place in Sanremo from 4 to 8 February 2020, the remaining songs of the Big competition in the 70th Italian Song Festival have been premiered. The contest also continued for the Nuove Proposte (newcomers) category. Big serves as the Italian selection for Eurovision Song Contest since 2015.

These were the 12 Big acts in competition today:

• Piero Pelù - Gigante (2nd)
• Elettra Lamborghini - Musica (E Il Resto Scompare) (10th)
• Enrico Nigiotti - Baciami Adesso (9th)
• Levante - Tikibombom (6th)
• Pinguini Tattici Nucleari - Ringo Starr (3rd)
• Tosca - Ho Amato Tutto (4th)
• Francesco Gabbani - Viceversa (1st)
• Paolo Jannacci - Voglio Parlarti Adesso (8th)
• Rancore - Eden (11th)
• Junior Cally - No Grazie (12th)
• Giordana Angi - Come Mia Madre (7th)
• Michele Zarrillo - Nell'Estasi O Nel Fango (5th)

In charge of judging the songs in the second show, just like the first, was the demographically diverse jury which produced a preliminary ranking (above, in brackets). As all 24 entries have been performed, the rankings of the 2 nights were combined with the top 5 results being:

• Elodie (5th)
• Pinguini (4th)
• Piero Pelù (3rd)
• Le Vibrazioni (2nd)
• Francesco Gabbani (1st)

In the final on Saturday 8 February, the jury score will account for 1/3 of the total result. In the newcomers' category, the remaining contestants battled in duels to get a spot in the semi-final, and final, on Friday 7 February. The winners were Fasma and Marco Sentieri.

Among tonight's invited guests was Massimo Ranieri who represented Italy twice at the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1971 and again in 1973, and Ricchi e Poveri, who represented Italy in Eurovision in 1978, making a comeback as the original four-piece for the first time since 1981.

Stay tuned for the third live show on Thursday, called Sanremo70 where the 'Big' participants will perform covers of popular Sanremo songs.

===

Posted 05 February 2020 at 01:45 CET

Sanremo 2020 kicks off in Italy

On Tuesday 4 February, the Italian Song Festival started its 70th edition with the first live show from Sanremo. Over the course of the week, and under the artistic direction of the popular Italian presenter Amadeus, 24 acts will perform their songs live from the Ariston Theatre aiming to become the winner of 'Sanremo 2020'.

In the first of 5 live shows taking place in Sanremo from 4 to 8 of February, the 2 annual competitions got started: Nuove Proposte for newcomers and Big for established artists.

According to the rules of Sanremo 2020, the winning artist of Big will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 at the request of Italian public broadcaster RAI. While originally announced that there would be 22 competing acts, 24 artists were announced in contention tonight. This included the newly added Rita Pavone with Niente (Resilienza 74) and Tosca with Ho amato tutto.

From the 24 that will be showcased over the coming days, these were today’s 12 Big acts in competition:

• Irene Grandi - Finalmente Io (4th)
• Marco Masini - Il Confronto (5th)
• Rita Pavone - Niente (Resilienza 74) (10th)
• Achille Lauro - Me Ne Frego (9th)
• Diodato - Fai Rumore (3rd)
• Le Vibrazioni - Dov'è (1st)
• Anastasio - Rosso Di Rabbia (8th)
• Elodie - Andromeda (2nd)
• Bugo e Morgan - Sincero (12th)
• Alberto Urso - Il Sole Ad Est (6th)
• Riki - Lo Sappiamo Entrambi (11th)
• Raphael Gualazzi - Carioca (7th)

In the first show, a demographically diverse jury was in charge of judging the songs and providing a preliminary ranking (above, in brackets). In the final on Saturday 8 February, the jury will account for 1/3 of the total result.

In the newcomers' category, the first 4 of 8 contestants battled in duels to get a spot in the semi-final on Friday 7 February. The winners were Tecla and Leo Gassmann.

Among the invited guests were Albano & Romina Power who represented Italy twice at the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1976 and again in 1985, finishing 7th on both occasions.

Stay tuned for the second live show on Wednesday, when the second half of the participants will perform their songs for the first time.

===

Posted 02 January 2020 at 08:21 CET

22 Sanremo Festival artists revealed!

Italian broadcaster RAI has announced the 22 contestants that will go head to head for the Italian ticket to Rotterdam. The name of each artist's entry will be revealed in the coming days.

The 22 Festival participants are:

• Anastasio
• Giordana Angi
• Bugo feat. Morgan
• Diodato
• Elodie
• Francesco Gabbani
• Irene Grandi
• Raphael Gualazzi
• Paolo Jannacci
• Junior Cally
• Elettra Lamborghini
• Achille Lauro
• Levante
• Le Vibrazioni
• Marco Masini
• Enrico Nigiotti
• Piero Pelù
• Pinguini Tattici Nucleari
• Rancore
• Riccardo “Riki” Marcuzzo
• Alberto Urso
• Michele Zarrillo

You might have noticed amongst them former Eurovision artists Francesco Gabbani and Raphael Gualazzi. Francesco won the main section of Sanremo with Occidentali’s Karma in 2017, going on to place 6th in the Grand Final in Kyiv. Raphael won Sanremo is 2011 with Madness Of Love and went on to come 2nd in Düsseldorf.

The 70th edition of the Festival di Sanremo, under the artistic direction of popular Italian presenter Amadeus, will be broadcast on from 4 to 8 February 2020 live from the Ariston Theater in Sanremo.

What do you think of this year's lineup? Let us know in the comments!