Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Country	Italy
National selection
Selection process	Sanremo Music Festival 2017
Selection date(s)	11 February 2017
Selected artist(s)	Francesco Gabbani
Selected song	"Occidentali's Karma"
Selected songwriter(s)	Francesco Gabbani Filippo Gabbani Luca Chiaravalli Fabio Ilacqua
Placement
Final result	6th, 334 points
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2016 • 2017 • 2018►

Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Occidentali's Karma", written by Francesco Gabbani, Filippo Gabbani, Luca Chiaravalli and Fabio Ilacqua. The song was performed by Francesco Gabbani. Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) announced in October 2016 that the winning performer(s) of the Big Artists section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2017 would earn the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. The selected performer would also be given the right to choose their own song to compete with at Eurovision. In February 2017, Francesco Gabbani emerged as the winner of Sanremo with the song "Occidentali's Karma". The artist accepted the invitation to represent Italy at Eurovision and decided that "Occidentali's Karma" would be his contest entry.

Background

Main article: Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2017 contest, Italy had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-two times since its first entry during the inaugural contest in 1956. ^[1] Since then, Italy has won the contest on two occasions: in 1964 with the song "Non ho l'età" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti and in 1990 with the song "Insieme: 1992" performed by Toto Cutugno. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. Their return in 2011 with the song "Madness of Love", performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placed second—their highest result, to this point, since their victory in 1990. In 2016, Francesca Michielin represented the nation with the song "No Degree of Separation", placing sixteenth with 124 points.

The Italian national broadcaster, Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), broadcasts the event within Italy and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RAI confirmed Italy's participation in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 September 2016. ^[2] Between 2011 and 2013, the broadcaster used the Sanremo Music Festival as an artist selection pool where a special committee would select one of the competing artist, independent of the results in the competition, as the Eurovision entrant. The selected entrant was then responsible for selecting the song they would compete with. For 2014, RAI forwent using the Sanremo Music Festival artist lineup and internally selected their entry. Since 2015, the winning artist of the Sanremo Music Festival is rewarded with the opportunity to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, although in 2016 the winner declined and the broadcaster appointed the runner-up as the Italian entrant.

Before Eurovision

Sanremo Music Festival 2017

Sanremo 2017 logo

Main article: Sanremo Music Festival 2017

On 20 October 2016, the Italian broadcaster RAI confirmed their continued tradition of selecting Italy's Eurovision entry from the Sanremo Music Festival. For the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, this selection would be made from the artists competing in the Big Artists category of the 67th Sanremo. ^[3] As outlined, the festival's rules gave the winner of this category the first right of refusal to represent Italy at Eurovision. However, if the winner declined, RAI reserved the right to choose another participant based on their own criteria. The Sanremo Music Festival 2017, hosted by Carlo Conti, took place from 7 to 11 February in Sanremo, Italy at the Teatro Ariston. Voting during the festival included a combination of public televoting (40%), press jury voting, a poll of 300 music fans, and an expert jury voting (30%), all contributing to the selection of the winner on the final day ^{[4] [5] [6]}

The Big Artists category at the Sanremo Music Festival 2017 featured a lineup of twenty-two artists, including prominent figures such as Al Bano, a past Eurovision representative for Italy in 1976 and 1985, known for his duets with Romina Power. Additionally, Emma Marrone, who represented Italy in 2014, contributed as a songwriter for Elodie's entry. The Big Artists category featured twenty-two artists, including Al Bano, a former Eurovision contestant for Italy in 1976 and 1985, performing duets with Romina Power. Emma Marrone, who represented Italy in Eurovision 2014 was a songwriter for performer Elodie. ^[7] Those performing in the Big Artists category were:

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Al Bano	"Di rose e di spine"	Maurizio Fabrizio, Katia Astarita, Albano Carrisi
Alessio Bernabei	"Nel mezzo di un applauso"	Roberto Casalino, Dario Faini, Vanni Casagrande
Bianca Atzei	"Ora esisti solo tu"	Francesco Silvestre
Chiara	"Nessun posto è casa mia"	Niccolò Verrienti, Carlo Verrienti
Clementino	"Ragazzi fuori"	Clemente Macarro, Fabio Bartolo Rizzo, Pablo Miguel Lombroni Capalbo, Stefano Tognini
Elodie	"Tutta colpa mia"	Emma Marrone, Oscar Angiuli, Gianni Pollex, Francesco Cianciola
Ermal Meta	"Vietato morire"	Ermal Meta
Fabrizio Moro	"Portami via"	Fabrizio Mobrici, Roberto Cardelli
Fiorella Mannoia	"Che sia benedetta"	Erika Mineo, Salvatore Mineo
Francesco Gabbani	"Occidentali's Karma"	Francesco Gabbani, Filippo Gabbani, Fabio Ilacqua, Luca Chiaravalli
Gigi D'Alessio	"La prima stella"	Luigi D'Alessio
Giusy Ferreri	"Fa talmente male"	Paolo Catalano, Fabio Clemente, Roberto Casalino, Alessandro Merli
Lodovica Comello	"Il cielo non mi basta"	Federica Abbate, Antonio Di Martino, Dario Faini, Fabrizio Ferraguzzo
Marco Masini	"Spostato di un secondo"	Marco Masini, Diego Calvetti, Sergio Vallarino
Michele Bravi	"Il diario degli errori"	Federica Abbate, Giuseppe Anastasi, Cheope
Michele Zarrillo	"Mani nelle mani"	Michele Zarrillo, Giampiero Artegiani
Nesli feat. Alice Paba	"Do retta a te"	Francesco Tarducci, Orazio Grillo
Paola Turci	"Fatti bella per te"	Paola Turci, Giulia Anania, Luca Chiaravalli, Davide Simonetta
Raige feat. Giulia Luzi	"Togliamoci la voglia"	Alex Andrea Vella, Antonio Iammarino, Luca Chiaravalli, Sergio Vallarino
Ron	"L'ottava meraviglia"	Rosalino Cellamare, Mattia Del Forno, Francesco Caprara, Emiliano Mangia
Samuel Umberto Romano	"Vedrai"	Samuel Umberto Romano, Riccardo Onori, Christian Rigano
Sergio Sylvestre	"Con te"	Giorgia Todrani, Stefano Maiuolo, Sergio Sylvestre

Final

On the final night of the Sanremo Music Festival 2017, Francesco Gabbani emerged as the winner with his performance of "Occidentali's Karma." Subsequently, during the closing press conference of the festival on 11 February 2017, Italy's national broadcaster RAI, officially confirmed Gabbani's acceptance to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. ^{[8] [9]} Further solidifying this decision, RAI took to Twitter to announce that Gabbani would bring "Occidentali's Karma," to the Eurovision stage in Kyiv. ^[10]

First Round – 11 February 2017

Draw	Artist	Song	Jury (30%)	Demoscopic Poll (30%)	Televote (40%)	Total	Place
1	Elodie	"Tutta colpa mia"	3.13%	6.78%	5.99%	5.37%	8
2	Michele Zarrillo	"Mani nelle mani"	3.13%	3.80%	3.49%	3.48%	11
3	Sergio Sylvestre	"Con te"	3.13%	7.30%	8.10%	6.37%	6
4	Fiorella Mannoia	"Che sia benedetta"	15.00%	15.05%	12.73%	14.11%	1
5	Fabrizio Moro	"Portami via"	4.38%	5.98%	7.94%	6.28%	7
6	Alessio Bernabei	"Nel mezzo di un applauso"	3.75%	2.02%	3.21%	3.01%	15
7	Marco Masini	"Spostato di un secondo"	2.50%	4.15%	3.63%	3.45%	13
8	Paola Turci	"Fatti bella per te"	13.75%	9.80%	4.15%	8.72%	5
9	Bianca Atzei	"Ora esisti solo tu"	1.88%	6.02%	7.26%	5.27%	9
10	Francesco Gabbani	"Occidentali's Karma"	9.38%	11.88%	14.37%	12.13%	2
11	Chiara	"Nessun posto è casa mia"	3.75%	3.68%	2.21%	3.11%	14
12	Clementino	"Ragazzi fuori"	3.13%	2.55%	2.69%	2.78%	16
13	Ermal Meta	"Vietato morire"	13.75%	7.72%	7.63%	9.49%	3
14	Lodovica Comello	"Il cielo non mi basta"	3.13%	3.18%	3.89%	3.45%	12
15	Samuel Umberto Romano	"Vedrai"	5.63%	5.42%	2.11%	4.16%	10
16	Michele Bravi	"Il diaro degli errori"	10.63%	4.67%	10.59%	8.82%	4

Second Round – 11 February 2017

Draw	Artist	Song	Jury (30%)	Demoscopic Poll (30%)	Televote (40%)	Total	Place
1	Fiorella Mannoia	"Che sia benedetta"	27.08%	37.89%	33.21%	32.78%	2
2	Ermal Meta	"Vietato morire"	43.75%	28.61%	23.10%	30.95%	3
3	Francesco Gabbani	"Occidentali's Karma"	29.17%	33.50%	43.69%	36.27%	1

At Eurovision

Francesco Gabbani Eurovision 2017

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was held at the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine, featuring two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May, followed by the grand final on 13 May 2017. ^[11] Eurovision rules stipulate that all participating countries, except the host nation and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom), must qualify from one of the semi-finals to enter the final. The top ten performers from each semi-final are chosen to compete in the final. As a "Big Five" member, Italy automatically qualified for the final, bypassing the semi-final rounds. However, Italy was still obligated to broadcast and vote in the first semi-final.

To organize the voting process and minimize geopolitical voting biases, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) divided the competing countries into six different pots. These pots were determined based on historical voting patterns, grouping countries with similar voting records together. This system aims to ensure a fair and diverse distribution of voting preferences among the participating nations. ^[12]

Voting

Points awarded to Italy

Points awarded to Italy (Final) ^[13]

Score	Televote	Jury
12 points	Albania   Malta	Albania   Malta
10 points	Montenegro   San Marino   Slovenia    Switzerland	Cyprus   France   Spain
8 points	Cyprus   Finland   Israel   Macedonia   Spain	Lithuania   Montenegro   Serbia
7 points	Croatia   Greece   Iceland	Finland   Norway
6 points	Austria   Azerbaijan   Romania   Serbia	Austria   Sweden
5 points	Belgium   Estonia   France   Georgia   Lithuania	Iceland
4 points	Armenia   Germany   Hungary   Moldova   Portugal	Greece
3 points	Latvia	San Marino
2 points	Australia   Netherlands   Norway   United Kingdom	Armenia   Georgia   Israel   Slovenia    Switzerland
1 point	Czech Republic   Ireland   Sweden

Points awarded by Italy

Points awarded by Italy (Semi-final 1) [14] Score Televote Jury 12 points   Moldova   Azerbaijan 10 points   Portugal   Sweden 8 points   Poland   Albania 7 points   Albania   Moldova 6 points   Belgium   Armenia 5 points   Montenegro   Belgium 4 points   Greece   Portugal 3 points   Cyprus   Cyprus 2 points   Georgia   Georgia 1 point   Sweden   Australia

Points awarded by Italy (Final) [13] Score Televote Jury 12 points   Moldova   Azerbaijan 10 points   Romania   Sweden 8 points   Bulgaria   Moldova 7 points   Ukraine   Belgium 6 points   Croatia   France 5 points   Portugal   Portugal 4 points   Hungary   Armenia 3 points   Poland   Norway 2 points   Belgium   Bulgaria 1 point   France   Austria

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Italian jury: ^[15]

• Antonello Carozza (jury chairperson) –musician, singer, art director
• Fabrizio Brocchieri –producer, label manager, tour manager, writer
• Giusy Cascio –journalist
• Chiara di Giambattista –television author and screenwriter
• Antonio Allegra –marketing director

Detailed voting results from Italy (Semi-final 1) ^[14]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		F. Brocchieri	A. Carozza	G. Cascio	C. di Giambattista	A. Allegra	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Sweden	2	5	6	1	3	2	10	10	1
02	Georgia	14	8	15	5	7	9	2	9	2
03	Australia	6	11	14	9	13	10	1	15
04	Albania	9	1	5	4	2	3	8	4	7
05	Belgium	3	13	4	2	5	6	5	5	6
06	Montenegro	10	18	7	15	14	14		6	5
07	Finland	11	12	13	14	12	12		11
08	Azerbaijan	4	2	3	3	1	1	12	17
09	Portugal	1	7	8	7	9	7	4	2	10
10	Greece	17	15	9	12	8	11		7	4
11	Poland	16	9	12	11	15	13		3	8
12	Moldova	8	3	2	6	6	4	7	1	12
13	Iceland	15	16	11	16	11	16		13
14	Czech Republic	12	10	16	13	18	15		18
15	Cyprus	7	4	10	8	10	8	3	8	3
16	Armenia	5	6	1	10	4	5	6	12
17	Slovenia	18	14	17	18	16	18		14
18	Latvia	13	17	18	17	17	17		16

Detailed voting results from Italy (Final) ^[13]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		F. Brocchieri	A. Carozza	G. Cascio	C. di Giambattista	A. Allegra	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	14	21	11	13	19	15		13
02	Poland	19	18	15	24	25	21		8	3
03	Belarus	21	17	21	18	16	20		11
04	Austria	7	12	7	12	10	10	1	15
05	Armenia	9	13	4	11	3	7	4	19
06	Netherlands	23	14	25	8	14	17		18
07	Moldova	5	3	3	4	5	3	8	1	12
08	Hungary	15	10	17	14	9	12		7	4
09	Italy
10	Denmark	25	23	23	25	23	25		24
11	Portugal	1	9	8	7	12	6	5	6	5
12	Azerbaijan	4	2	1	3	1	1	12	20
13	Croatia	24	24	19	22	15	22		5	6
14	Australia	16	7	16	16	21	14		22
15	Greece	22	19	22	23	20	23		14
16	Spain	20	25	20	17	24	24		25
17	Norway	17	6	6	6	7	8	3	17
18	United Kingdom	13	20	18	19	18	19		21
19	Cyprus	11	15	12	10	13	11		16
20	Romania	12	16	24	15	8	13		2	10
21	Germany	8	22	14	20	22	18		23
22	Ukraine	18	11	13	21	17	16		4	7
23	Belgium	3	5	5	1	6	4	7	9	2
24	Sweden	2	4	2	5	4	2	10	12
25	Bulgaria	10	8	9	9	11	9	2	3	8
26	France	6	1	10	2	2	5	6	10	1

References

1. "Italy Country Profile". EBU . Retrieved 10 February 2015.
2. "Italy: RAI confirms participation in Eurovision 2017". esctoday.com. Esctoday.com. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
3. Weaver, Jessica (20 October 2016). "Italy: Sanremo 2017 rules and regulations released; winner eligible to go to ESC". Esctoday.com. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 21 December 2016.
4. "Sanremo 2017, Maurizio Crozza conferma la presenza sul palco dell'Ariston: sue la "copertine" del Festival" (in Italian). 20 January 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
5. "Regolamento Sanremo 2017" (PDF). sanremo.rai.it (in Italian). RAI. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
6. "Festival di Sanremo 2017: i cantanti in gara, gli ospiti e il programma" (in Italian). 7 February 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
7. Granger, Anthony (20 October 2016). "ITALY: 22 campioni artists in Sanremo 2017 are revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 21 December 2016.
8. Escudero, Victor M. (12 February 2017). "Francesco Gabbani to represent Italy in Kyiv!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 12 February 2017.
9. Pigliavento, Alessandro (12 February 2017). "Sanremo 2017: vince Francesco Gabbani e vola all'Eurovision!". EurofestivalNews.com. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
10. RAI Eurovision [@EurovisionRAI] (12 February 2017). "Francesco Gabbani con «Occidentali's Karma» rappresenterà l'Italia all'Eurovision Song Contest 2017!" [Francesco Gabbani with «Occidentali's Karma» will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017] (Tweet). Retrieved 12 February 2017– via Twitter.
11. Jordan, Paul (9 September 2016). "Kyiv to host Eurovision 2017!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 11 September 2016.
12. Jordan, Paul (21 January 2016). "Semi-Final Allocation Draw on Monday, pots revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 25 January 2016.
13. "Results of the Grand Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
14. "Results of the First Semi-Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
15. Jordan, Paul (29 April 2017). "Who will be the expert jurors for Eurovision 2017?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 29 April 2017.

External links

• RAI's official Eurovision website Archived 9 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine