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).
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.
Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. The Italian entry was selected through an internal selection with the artist being selected by a special committee from the participants of the Sanremo Music Festival 2013 and the song selection being carried out by the artist. Marco Mengoni represented Italy with the song "L'essenziale", which placed 7th and scored 126 points in the final.
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.
Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Grande amore", written by Ciro Esposito and Francesco Boccia. The song was performed by the male operatic pop trio Il Volo. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in September 2014 that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2015 would have the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. The selected performer would also be given the right to choose their own song to compete with at Eurovision. In February 2015, Il Volo emerged as the winners of Sanremo with the song "Grande amore". The trio accepted the invitation to represent Italy at Eurovision and decided that "Grande amore" would be their contest entry.
Antonio Diodato, known simply as Diodato, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He won the 70th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Fai rumore" and was scheduled to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, before the event's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "No Degree of Separation" written by Federica Abbate, Francesca Michielin, Cheope, Fabio Gargiulo and Norma Jean Martine. The song was performed by Francesca Michielin. Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) announced in October 2015 that the winning performer(s) of the Big Artists section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2016 would have the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden. The selected performer would also be given the right to choose their own song to compete with at Eurovision. The group Stadio ended up winning the Big Artists section, however they declined the opportunity to represent Italy in Stockholm. RAI then appointed the runner-up, Francesca Michielin, as the Italian entrant. Michielin performed a bilingual Italian and English version of her Sanremo runner-up entry "Nessun grado di separazione", which was titled "No Degree of Separation" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.
The Sanremo Music Festival 2016 was the 66th annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, Italy between 9 and 13 February 2016 and organised and broadcast by Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). The show was presented by Carlo Conti, who also served as the artistic director for the competition. Conti hosted the show together with Virginia Raffaele, Mădălina Diana Ghenea and Gabriel Garko. The program was written by Carlo Conti, Ivana Sabatini, Emanuele Giovannini, Leopoldo Siano, Giona Peduzzi, Riccardo Cassini, Martino Clericetti and Mario D'Amico.
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.
Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in October 2017 that the winning performer(s) of the Big Artists section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2018 would earn the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Sanremo Music Festival 2019 was the 69th annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held in the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo and organised and broadcast by RAI. The show was held between 5 February 2019 and 9 February 2019. Claudio Baglioni was the artistic director of the contest, and co-hosted it with Virginia Raffaele and Claudio Bisio. 24 entries competed in one section only. Mahmood emerged as the winner of the festival with his song "Soldi".
Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in November 2018 that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2019, later turning out to be Mahmood with "Soldi", would earn the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Alessandro Mahmoud, known professionally as Mahmood, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence after competing on the sixth season of the Italian version of The X Factor. He has won the Sanremo Music Festival twice, in 2019 with the song "Soldi" and in 2022 alongside Blanco with the song "Brividi". His Sanremo victories allowed him to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest in those respective years, finishing in second place in 2019 and in sixth place in 2022 as the host entrant.
Moldova originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Prison" written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Philipp Kirkorov and Sharon Vaughn. The song was performed by Natalia Gordienko. Songwriter Philipp Kirkorov represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" where he placed seventeenth, while Natalia Gordienko had previously represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 together with Arsenium and Connect-R, placing twentieth with the song "Loca". The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final Finala națională 2020 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. 34 entries competed to represent Moldova in Rotterdam, with 20 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 29 February 2020 after auditioning in front of a jury panel. "Prison" performed by Natalia Gordienko emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.
"Fai rumore" is a song written and performed by Italian singer Antonio Diodato. It was released as a single on 7 February 2020 and was featured on his album Che vita meravigliosa. The song won the Sanremo Music Festival 2020, and would have represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, before the event's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It topped the Italian singles chart in its second week of release. This song won Eurovision-Gleði – Okkar 12 stig, an Icelandic alternative show for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.
Che vita meravigliosa is the fourth studio album by the Italian singer-songwriter Diodato. It was released on 14 February 2020 by Carosello Records. The album peaked at number four on the Italian Albums Chart. The album includes the singles "Il commerciante", "Non ti amo più", "Che vita meravigliosa" and "Fai rumore".
Italy participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in October 2020 that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2021, later turning out to be Måneskin with "Zitti e buoni", would earn the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Måneskin eventually became the sixty-eighth winner of the Eurovision Song Contest and the first Italian entry to win the contest in 31 years. Italy received a total of 524 points, winning the public vote with 318 points and coming at fourth place in the jury vote with 206 points.
Italy hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, having won the previous edition with "Zitti e buoni" by Måneskin. Italian broadcaster RAI announced that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2022, later turning out to be Mahmood and Blanco with "Brividi", would earn the right to represent the nation at the contest. As both the host country and a member of the "Big Five", Italy automatically qualified to the final.
Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in June 2022 that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2023, later revealed to be Marco Mengoni with "Due vite", would earn the right to represent the nation at the contest.
Italy is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. Italian broadcaster RAI announced that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2024 will earn the right to represent the nation at the contest.
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