The Eurovision Song Contest 1958 was the third edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS), the contest, originally known as the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1958 was held on Wednesday 12 March 1958 at the AVRO Studios in Hilversum, the Netherlands and hosted by Dutch television presenter Hannie Lips. This marked the first time that the contest was hosted in the country of the preceding year's winner, a tradition that has been continued ever since.
The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the 1965 contest with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), the contest was held at the Villa Louvigny on 5 March 1966 and was hosted by Luxembourgish television presenter Josiane Chen.
The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival currently hosted by Amadeus, is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual TV music competition in the world on a national level and it is also the basis and inspiration for the annual Eurovision Song Contest.
Domenico Modugno was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu dipinto di blu", for which he received Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. He is considered the first Italian cantautore.
Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 48 times since making its debut as one of only seven countries to compete at the first contest in 1956, which took inspiration from the Sanremo Music Festival. Italy competed at the contest without interruption until 1980, discontinuing its participation on a number of occasions during the 1980s and 1990s. After a 13-year absence starting in 1998, the country returned to the contest in 2011. Italy has won the contest three times, along with an additional 16 top-five finishes. Italy hosted the contest in Naples (1965), Rome (1991) and Turin (2022).
"Nel blu, dipinto di blu", popularly known as "Volare", is a song originally recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno. Written by Modugno and Franco Migliacci, it was released as a single on 1 February 1958.
"L'amour est bleu" is a song whose music was composed by André Popp, and whose lyrics were written by Pierre Cour, in 1967. Bryan Blackburn later wrote English-language lyrics for it. First performed in French by Greek singer Vicky Leandros as the Luxembourgish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967, it has since been recorded by many other musicians, most notably French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat, whose familiar instrumental version became the first number-one hit by a French lead artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 in America.
"Non ho l'età ", usually given as just "Non ho l'età", was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, held in Copenhagen. It was performed in Italian by Gigliola Cinquetti representing Italy. Like all previous Italian Eurovision entries, the song had also won that year's Sanremo Music Festival. Cinquetti was sixteen years old, making her the youngest Eurovision winner in history until 1986 when Belgium's Sandra Kim won the contest with "J'aime la vie" – initially claiming to be fifteen, it was later revealed that Kim was only thirteen. In 1990, the EBU made a new rule requiring contestants to be aged 16 or older before the contest; this age rule still operates.
"Corde della mia chitarra" is an Italian song written by Giuseppe Fiorelli, composed by Mario Ruccione, and performed by Nunzio Gallo and Claudio Villa. The song is the winner of the Italian national Sanremo Music Festival 1957 where it was performed twice by the two singers and the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. Both original recordings of the song are ranked among the top 100 most successful songs in Italy in 1957.
"Piove " is an Italian song written by Domenico Modugno (music) and Eduardo Verde (lyrics). It won first prize at the 1959 Sanremo Music Festival, where it was performed twice, once by Modugno and once by Johnny Dorelli.
"Se piangi, se ridi" is a song written by Gianni Marchetti, Roberto Satti and Mogol. It was first performed during the 15th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival, in January 1965, when Italian singer Bobby Solo and American folk band The New Christy Minstrels performed two different versions of the song, winning the competition.
"Dio, come ti amo" is a song which was first performed as duo by Domenico Modugno and Gigliola Cinquetti at the Sanremo Music Festival 1966. By winning the competition, it was chosen as the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, and performed in Italian by Modugno. It was also the title of an Italian Musicarello released in 1966, in which the singer was the main star, accompanied by Mark Damon, Raimondo Vianello and Nino Taranto.
Claudio Villa was an Italian singer and actor.
Italy was represented by Domenico Modugno, with the song '"Nel blu dipinto di blu", at the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 12 March in Hilversum, Netherlands. Broadcaster RAI chose the winning song from the Sanremo Music Festival 1958 as their Eurovision entry: the song had been performed twice at Sanremo and Modugno was chosen over Johnny Dorelli as the performer.
On 2 December 2010, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that Italy would compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, set to be held in Düsseldorf, Germany. Italy returned to the contest after a 13-year absence, having last competed in the 1997 contest. The entry was organised by Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) and finished second after the winning song from Azerbaijan.
Connie Francis Sings Modern Italian Hits is a studio album recorded by American entertainer Connie Francis.
"L'Edera" is an Italian language song, written by Saverio Seracini and Vincenzo D'Acquisto. The song premiered at the 8th Sanremo Music Festival in January 1958, being performed first by Nilla Pizzi and then Tonina Torrielli, with separate performances, and placing second in the competition, behind "Nel blu dipinto di blu" by Domenico Modugno and Johnny Dorelli. "L'Edera" was later recorded by several Italian artists, including Claudio Villa.
The discography of the Sanremo Music Festival winners includes all the winning singles of the annual Festival della Canzone Italiana, an Italian song contest better known as the Sanremo Music Festival, held in the Ligurian city of the same name since 1951 and broadcast by RAI. As of 2024, the Festival has awarded 74 songs, but from 1953 to 1955, from 1957 to 1971, in 1990 and in 1991, each entry was performed by two different acts, resulting in two different releases for each winning song, for a total of 94 singles.
Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their entry was selected internally by the Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). Emma represented Italy with the song "La mia città". In the final, Italy placed 21st, scoring 33 points.
The Sanremo Music Festival 1962, officially the 12th Italian Song Festival, was the 12th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, province of Imperia between 8 and 18 February 1962.
"Addio, addio"
