Mahmood & Blanco win 'Festival di Sanremo' and will represent Italy 🇮🇹

📺 Watch: Mahmood & BLANCO – Brividi

Before competing in Sanremo, all contestants are required to tell broadcaster Rai whether they would be willing to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest should they triumph… shortly after the show, the pair confirmed that they will travel to Turin.

This will be Mahmood’s second Eurovision appearance having already represented Italy with his song Soldi in 2019, finishing second in Tel Aviv.

📺 Watch: Mahmood – Soldi (2019)

Finishing in 3rd place at Sanremo was Gianni Morandi who, like Mahmood, has also represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest once before… he came 8th in 1970 with the song Occhi di Ragazza.

Hosted by Amadeus, the week-long televisual extravaganza has seen over 100 glittering performances from the competing participants and guest acts, with shows running late into the night.

During the show on Wednesday evening, the three hosts of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest were revealed to be: Laura Pausini, Alessandro Cattelan and Mika.

Twenty-five acts were in the running to win Sanremo…

72º Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo 2022

1. Matteo Romano – Virale
2. Giusy Ferreri – Miele
3. Rkomi – Insuperabile
4. Iva Zanicchi – Voglio amarti
5. Aka 7even – Perfetta così
6. Massimo Ranieri – Lettera di là dal mare
7. Noemi – Ti amo non lo so dire
8. Fabrizio Moro – Sei tu
9. Dargen D’Amico – Dove si balla
10. Elisa – O forse sei tu
11. Irama – Ovunque sarai
12. Michele Bravi – Inverno dei fiori
13. La Rappresentante di Lista – Ciao ciao
14. Emma – Ogni volta è così
15. Mahmood & Blanco – Brividi
16. Highsnob & Hu – Abbi cura di te
17. Sangiovanni – Farfalle
18. Gianni Morandi – Apri tutte le porte
19. Ditonellapiaga & Donatella Rettore – Chimica
20. Yuman – Ora e qui
21. Achille Lauro feat. Harlem Gospel Choir – Domenica
22. Ana Mena – Duecentomila ore
23. Tananai – Sesso occasionale
24. Giovanni Truppi – Tuo padre, mia madre, Lucia
25. Le Vibrazioni – Tantissimo

Elisa, Gianni Morandi, and Mahmood & Blanco were the top 3 finalists after the penultimate round of voting (press jury, demoscopic jury and televote); the other 22 acts were eliminated and phone lines were opened once more for the super final.

The Results:

1. Mahmood & Blanco – Brividi (1st)
2. Elisa – O forse sei tu (2nd)
3. Gianni Morandi – Apri tutte le porte (3rd)

Italy, as the host country, automatically qualifies for the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest which will take place on Saturday 14 May 2022.

Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest

In 1997, the country withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest but since their return in 2011 they’ve finished inside the top 10 on a whopping 8 occasions out of 10, picking up two silver medals and a win along the way….

📺 Watch: Måneskin – Zitti E Buoni (Grand Final 2021)

The Italians struck gold at the 2021 Grand Final in Rotterdam with alt-rock band Måneskin. Their self-penned track Zitti E Buoni (English translation: ‘Shut Up and Behave’) won the Eurovision Song Contest with 524 points and became an instant hit, as did their follow-up songs I Wanna Be Your Slave and Mamma Mia.

The band have enjoyed enormous success across Europe and beyond, topping global streaming charts (their cover of Beggin’ alone was used in 9 million TikTok creations overall and 3.7 billion views of the #Maneskin hashtag) and becoming the first Eurovision Song Contest winners since ABBA to appear on America’s hugely popular Saturday Night Live.

Can Italy do the double this year?

Let us know what you think via the official Eurovision Song Contest YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook channels.