Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025

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Eurovision Song Contest 2025
Participating broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI)
CountryFlag of Italy.svg  Italy
National selection
Selection processSelection among Sanremo Music Festival 2025 entries
Selection date(s)22 February 2025
Selected artist(s) Lucio Corsi
Selected song" Volevo essere un duro "
Selected songwriter(s)
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2024 •2025

Italy will be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song " Volevo essere un duro ", written by Lucio Corsi and Tommaso Ottomano, and performed by Corsi himself. The Italian participating broadcaster, Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI), used the Sanremo Music Festival 2025 to select its entry, with " Balorda nostalgia " performed by Olly emerging as the winner. However, Olly declined the opportunity to represent Italy in the contest, with RAI appointing runner-up Corsi as its entrant.

Contents

As a member of the "Big Five", Italy automatically qualifies to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Background

Prior to the 2025 contest, Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Italy forty-eight times since its first entry at the inaugural contest in 1956. [1] Since then, it has won the contest on three occasions: in 1964 with the song " Non ho l'età " performed by Gigliola Cinquetti, in 1990 with " Insieme: 1992 " by Toto Cutugno, and in 2021 with " Zitti e buoni " by Måneskin. It has withdrawn from the contest a number of times, with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. It made its return in 2011, and its entry "Madness of Love", performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placed second—its highest result, to that point, since its victory in 1990. A number of top 10 placements followed in subsequent editions, including its third victory in 2021. In 2024, it placed seventh with " La noia " performed by Angelina Mango. [1]

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RAI organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Between 2011 and 2013 and since 2015, RAI has regularly used the Sanremo Music Festival to select its entrant to the contest, at first through an intermediate stage of internal selection among the contestants, and after 2014 (when a full internal selection took place), the winner of the festival has always earned the right of first refusal to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Before Eurovision

Sanremo Music Festival 2025

RAI organised the Sanremo Music Festival 2025, the 75th edition of the event, between 11 and 15 February 2025. [2] On 20 August 2024, the broadcaster published the rules of the competition, confirming that the winner of the festival's Big Artists section would earn the right to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest. [3]

29 artists competed in the Big Artists section over the course of five consecutive nights, selected by the artistic director Carlo Conti by direct invitation and from public submissions, and their names were announced on 1 December 2024. [4] [5] Three former Italian Eurovision entrants were among the competing artists: Massimo Ranieri (1971 and 1973), Francesca Michielin (2016), and Francesco Gabbani (2017), as well as Achille Lauro, who represented San Marino in 2022. [6] Additionally, Noemi's entry was co-written by Mahmood and Blanco, both of whom represented Italy in 2022 (the former having previously competed in 2019). Blanco also co-wrote Giorgia and Irama's entries. [7]

Final

The final of the festival took place on 15 February 2025. All of the artists performed their songs one final time, with a combination of public televoting (34%), radio jury voting (33%) and press jury voting (33%) being summed up to the results obtained in the previous nights to determine five qualifiers for the superfinal round. The same system then selected the winner, Olly with the song " Balorda nostalgia ". [8] In the winner's press conference the following morning, Olly stated that he has yet to decide on his Eurovision participation, with RAI granting him until 23 February to make a decision. [9] On 22 February, Olly confirmed that he would not represent Italy in the contest, due to scheduling conflicts with his concert tour in May. [10] [11] [12] RAI subsequently announced that it had appointed the runner-up, Lucio Corsi with " Volevo essere un duro ", as its entrant. [13] [14]

Superfinal –15 February 2025 [15]
DrawArtistSongProvisional rankingSecond round rankingsTotal scoreFinal ranking
Radio juryPress juryTelevote
 %Place
1 Fedez " Battito "55420.51%317.67%4
2 Simone Cristicchi " Quando sarai piccola "4456.13%514.78%5
3 Brunori Sas " L'albero delle noci "13316.61%420.32%3
4 Lucio Corsi " Volevo essere un duro "31125.70%223.39%2
5 Olly " Balorda nostalgia "22231.05%123.84%1

References

  1. 1 2 "Italy". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 2023-08-09.
  2. ↑ Granger, Anthony (2024-07-19). "Italy: Festival di Sanremo 2025 Delayed One Week". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2024-07-20.
  3. ↑ Dammacco, Beppe (2024-08-20). "Sanremo 2025: fuori il regolamento. Il vincitore va all'Eurovision" [Sanremo 2025: rules released. The winner goes to Eurovision]. Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-12-01.
  4. ↑ Conti, Andrea (2024-11-21). "Festival di Sanremo 2025, Carlo Conti: 'La selezione dei Big non mi fa dormire la notte, saranno più di 24. Li svelerò l'1 dicembre al Tg1 delle 13:30'" [Sanremo Festival 2025, Carlo Conti: "The Big Artists' selection keeps me awake at night, they will be more than 24. I will reveal them on 1 December on the 13:30 Tg1"]. FQMagazine (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  5. ↑ Laffranchi, Andrea (2024-12-01). "Sanremo 2025, i cantanti in gara: la lista dei big del Festival, da Giorgia ed Elodie a Fedez e Achille Lauro" [Sanremo 2025, the competing singers: the list of the Festival's "Bigs", from Giorgia and Elodie to Fedez and Achille Lauro]. Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-12-01.
  6. ↑ Dammacco, Beppe (2024-12-01). "Sanremo 2025: l'elenco dei Big in gara. Il numero degli artisti sale a 30" [Sanremo 2025: the list of Big in the competition. The number of artists rises to 30]. Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-12-01.
  7. ↑ Alicandri, Alessandro (2025-01-21). "Sanremo 2025, chi ha scritto le canzoni? L'elenco degli autori e produttori" [Sanremo 2025, who wrote the songs? The list of songwriters and producers]. TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  8. ↑ Rossini, Federico (2025-02-16). "Olly vince il Festival di Sanremo 2025 con "Balorda nostalgia"" [Olly wins the Sanremo Festival 2025 with “Balorda nostalgia”]. Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-02-16.
  9. ↑ Dammacco, Beppe (2025-02-16). "Eurovision 2025: Olly non conferma la partecipazione e si prende del tempo" [Eurovision 2025: Olly does not confirm participation and takes some time]. Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-02-16.
  10. ↑ Dammacco, Beppe (2025-02-22). "Eurovision 2025: è ufficiale, Olly rinuncia e non sarà sul palco di Basilea" [Eurovision 2025: it's official, Olly gives up and will not be on stage in Basel]. Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-02-22.
  11. ↑ "Lucio Corsi will represent Italy at Eurovision 2025". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 2025-02-22. Retrieved 2025-02-22. Olly declined the opportunity to represent Italy at Basel 2025, citing a need to focus on what was already a busy schedule of work and touring ahead of him this summer.
  12. ↑ Rossini, Federico (2025-02-16). "Olly all'Eurovision 2025 e il problema delle date del tour sold out" [Olly at Eurovision 2025 and the problem of sold out tour dates]. Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-02-22.
  13. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest, Lucio Corsi per l'Italia" [Eurovision Song Contest, Lucio Corsi for Italy]. RAI Ufficio Stampa (in Italian). RAI. 2025-02-22. Retrieved 2025-02-22.
  14. ↑ Rossini, Federico (2025-02-22). "Eurovision 2025: ufficiale, Lucio Corsi rappresenterà l'Italia a Basilea" [Eurovision 2025: Official, Lucio Corsi to represent Italy in Basel]. Eurofestival News (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-02-22.
  15. ↑ "Sanremo 2025" (PDF) (in Italian). RAI. 2025-02-16. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
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