Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro win Sanremo 2018 in Italy

Festival di Sanremo 2018 was spread over five evenings and, as usual, included two categories: the "Campioni" or established artists and the "Nuove Proposte" or newcomers. In a change of format for 2018, votes cast every night counted towards the end result and all performers qualified for the final this year. During the final 30% of the result came from the Press Centre Jury, 20% came from expert jurors and 50% from televoting and, after all the votes have been added, it was revealed that Fabrizio Moro and Ermal Meta were the winners of the "Campioni" category in Sanremo 2018.

About Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro

Ermal Meta has become a classic singer/songwriter in Italy in only three years: 6 platinum and 4 gold records are the proof. His big hits include Odio Le Favole and A Parte Te. Both songs are taken from the debut album Umano and the double album Vietato Morire. In last year's Sanremo 2017 Ermal finished in the Top 3 and won the Critic Award Mia Martini. He also won the Best New Artist category for the MTV Tim Music Awards.

Fabrizio Moro studied at the "Roberto Rossellini" Institute for cinematography and television in Rome, while he learns to play the guitar, the piano and the bass as self-taught and in his teen years he started writing and arranging his first songs. In 2007 he participated in Sanremo with the song Pensa, dedicated to the victims of the mafia, managing to win in the New Proposals category and also winning the Critics Award Mia Martini. He also ranked 3rd place in the following year. His albums have reached gold and platinum status and Fabrizio Moro has also become a successful songwriter for other artists.

They will now represent Italy at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon with their winning Sanremo 2018 song Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente.

The class of 2018

The 20 established acts in the "Campioni" section of Sanremo:

• Annalisa - Il mondo prima di te (3rd place)
• Ron - Almeno pensami
• The Kolors - Frida (mai, mai, mai)
• Max Gazze - La leggenda di Cristalda e Pizzomunno
• Ornella Vanoni with Bungaro & Pacifico - Imparare ad amarsi
• Fabrizio Moro & Ermal Meta - Non mi avete fatto niente (1st place)
• Mario Biondi - Rivederti
• Roby Facchinetti & Riccardo Fogli - Il segreto del tempo
• Lo Stato Sociale - Una vita in vacanza (2nd place)
• Noemi - Non smettere mai di cercarmi
• Decibel - Lettera dal Duca
• Elio e le Storie Tese - Arrivedorci
• Giovani Caccamo - Eterno
• Red Canzian - Ognuno ha il suo racconto
• Luca Barbarossa - Passame er sale
• Diodato & Roy Paci - Adesso
• Nina Zilli - Senza appartenere
• Renzo Rubino - Custodire
• Enzo Avitabile & Peppe Servillo - Il coraggio di ogni giorno
• Le Vibrazioni - Così sbagliato

Riccardo Fogli represented Italy in Eurovision in 1983, Luca Barbarossa did so in 1988, Decibel's lead singer Enrico Ruggeri in 1993 and Nina Zilli in 2012.

The participants in the Newcomers section "Nuove proposte":

• Ultimo - Il ballo delle incertezze (winner)
• Mirkoeilcane - Stiamo tutti bene (2nd)
• Mudimbi - Il mago (3rd)
• Lorenzo Baglioni - Il congiuntivo (4th)
• Alice Caioli - Specchi rotti (5th)
• Eva - Cosa ti salverà (6th)
• Giulia Casieri - Come stai (7th)
• Leonardo Monteiro - Bianca (8th)

After the first show of Sanremo on 6th February Lo Stato Sociale, which eventually finished in second place, received a lot of attention from Eurovision fans on social media after their performance of Una vita in vacanza which was accompanied by an 83 year old dancer! Check out the video on YouTube! The dancer, known as Paddy Jones previously won Spanish talent show¡Tú sí que vales! in 2009 and in 2014 she participated in Britain's Got Talent.

Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest

Not only was Italy one of the founding participants of the Eurovision Song Contest, taking part in the first ever edition in 1956, the country is responsible for the entire Eurovision format! Italy has won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1963 and 1990.  

Italy took a break from Eurovision in 1997 but in 2011 came back after a thirteen year absence with the winner of the newcomers section, Raphael Gualazzi, who placed second in Eurovision in Düsseldorf. Since then Italy has participated in the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest every year as one of the so-called Big Five countries. Read more about Italy's history in the Eurovision Song Contest.