San Marino is a small sovereign state located within the territory of Italy. It has a musical heritage which includes the 17th-century composer Francesco Maria Marini di Pesaro and the 20th-century composer Cesare Franchini Tassini (1925–2010).
San Marino has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 13 times, debuting in the 2008 contest, followed by participation from 2011 onward. The nation did not participate in 2009 or 2010, citing financial difficulties. Having failed to qualify in their first four attempts, the nation qualified for the contest's final for the first time in 2014. Valentina Monetta represented San Marino in 2012, 2013 and 2014, making her the first entrant to participate in three consecutive contests since the 1960s. In 2019, Serhat managed to qualify to the final, marking the second appearance of the country in a Eurovision final and achieving their best result to date of 19th place. Following the 2020 contest's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, their 2020 candidate Senhit was again selected to represent San Marino in the following contest. She qualified to the final, making it the first time that San Marino made it to two consecutive finals.
San Marino debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, held in Belgrade, Serbia. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) officially confirmed San Marino's participation in the contest in November 2007 after deliberation amongst the broadcaster's shareholders.
San Marino RTV is a Sammarinese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by public broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting news bulletins and self-produced entertainment programming.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, held in Düsseldorf, Germany. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) confirmed the country's second participation in the contest on 22 November 2010, marking their return after not participating in 2009 and 2010. Italian singer Senhit Zadik Zadik, under the stage name Senit, was internally selected by SMRTV to represent San Marino with the song "Stand By". The entry was promoted through the creation of a music video, a promotional tour throughout Europe and an interview to the press in the lead up to the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. San Marino performed 12th in the first semi-final, held on 10 May 2011, and placed 16th, receiving 34 points and failing to qualify for the final.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) internally selected Valentina Monetta with "The Social Network Song" to represent the nation in the contest. SMRTV had initially proposed a different version of the song, titled "Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh", but was instructed to modify or replace the entry due to concerns relating to commercial messaging. The entry was promoted through the creation of a music video, a promotional tour throughout Europe and interviews to the press in the lead up to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. San Marino performed 11th in the first semi-final, held on 22 May 2012, and placed 14th, receiving 31 points and failing to qualify for the grand final. This marked their best placing in the contest to this point.
Valentina Monetta is a Sammarinese singer. She is best known for representing San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017. In the 2014 contest, Monetta became the first entrant to qualify for the final for San Marino.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, held in Malmö, Sweden. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) internally selected Valentina Monetta with "Crisalide (Vola)" to represent the nation in the contest. Monetta had previously represented San Marino at the 2012 contest, placing 14th in the semi-finals. The 2013 entry was promoted through the creation of a music video, a promotional tour that included stops in London and Amsterdam, and interviews to the press in the lead up to the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. San Marino performed second in the second semi-final, held on 16 May 2013, and placed 11th, receiving 47 points and failing to qualify for the grand final. However, this marked the nation's best placing to this point.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) internally selected Valentina Monetta with "Maybe" to represent the nation in the contest. Monetta had previously represented San Marino in both the 2012 and 2013 contests, though both entries failed to qualify for the grand final. The 2014 entry was promoted through the creation of music videos in both English and Italian, and a promotional tour that included stops in Amsterdam, Moscow and London. San Marino performed 12th in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, held on 6 May 2014, and placed 10th, receiving 40 points. The entry qualified for the grand final held four days later, where the nation placed 24th with 14 points. This marked their best placing to this point.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, held in Vienna, Austria. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) internally selected Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola with "Chain of Lights" to represent the nation in the contest. Both Simoncini and Perniola had previously represented San Marino in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest on separate occasions. The 2015 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest was promoted through the creation of a music video, a tour that included a stop in Moscow and a contest on social media that awarded prizes to winning participants. San Marino performed third in the second semi-final, held on 21 May 2015, and placed 16th with 11 points, failing to qualify for the final.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, held in Stockholm, Sweden. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) internally selected Turkish singer Serhat with "I Didn't Know" to represent the nation in the contest. The song was written by Olcayto Ahmet Tuğsuz and Nektarios Tyrakis and was presented to the public on 9 March 2016 alongside its music video. While initially a ballad version had been selected, SMRTV subsequently opted to use the disco version of the song for the contest based on feedback from the public. To promote the entry, Serhat embarked on a promotional tour across Europe in the lead up the Eurovision Song Contest. San Marino performed eighth in the first semi-final, held on 10 May 2016, and placed 12th with 68 points, failing to qualify for the final.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, held in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) internally selected Sammarinese singer Valentina Monetta and American singer Jimmie Wilson with "Spirit of the Night" to represent the nation in the contest. Monetta had previously represented San Marino as a solo artist on three previous occasions. The 2017 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest was promoted through the creation of a music video and promotional performances in Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Madrid. San Marino performed 10th in the second semi-final, held on 11 May 2017, and placed 18th with one point, failing to qualify for the final.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, held in Lisbon, Portugal. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) partnered with the London-based company 1in360 to stage an online search for their entrant, marking the first time the nation did not select their representative internally. The process, entitled 1in360, culminated in an 11-participant final with acts chosen from three wildcard selection processes and two 11-act showcase events. The winner of 1in360 was "Who We Are" performed by Jessika featuring Jenifer Brening. The 2018 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest was promoted through performances in London, Amsterdam, Madrid and Lisbon as well as a 10-week anti-bullying campaign to raise money for the Diana Award. San Marino performed fourth in the second semi-final, held on 10 May 2018, and placed 17th with 28 points, failing to qualify for the final.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, held in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) confirmed that a second season of 1in360 would not take place to select the entry. In January 2019, they announced that Serhat had been internally selected to represent the nation in the contest with the song "Say Na Na Na", co-written by himself and Mary Susan Applegate. Serhat had previously represented San Marino in 2016 but failed to qualify for the final. To promote the entry, a music video for the song was released and Serhat made appearances at Eurovision parties in Amsterdam and Madrid in the lead up to the contest. San Marino performed last (17th) in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, held on 14 May 2019, and placed 8th, receiving 150 points. The entry qualified for the final held four days later, where the nation placed 19th with 77 points. This marked their best placing to this point and their second final qualification.
"Say Na Na Na" is a 2019 single by Turkish singer Serhat. The song represented San Marino after being internally selected by Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV), the Sanmarinese national broadcaster. The song was released on 7 March 2019. It finished 19th in the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
San Marino planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was scheduled to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Italian singer Senhit was chosen to represent the nation with her song "Freaky!". Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) internally selected the singer, while her song was selected through a national final entitled Digital Battle. Senhit previously represented San Marino in the 2011 contest, but failed to qualify for the final. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe during 2020, the Eurovision Song Contest was cancelled in mid-March 2020. "Freaky!" was subsequently an entry for several replacement events including Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, Der kleine Song Contest and Sveriges 12:a. Senhit announced during the former of the three that she would return to represent the nation at the 2021 contest the following year.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) internally selected Senhit as their representative with the song "Adrenalina" featuring Flo Rida. Senhit was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Freaky!" before the event's eventual cancellation and had also served as the nation's 2011 entrant. "Adrenalina" was written and composed by Thomas Stengaard, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Jimmy Thörnfeldt, Kenny Silverdique, Suzi Pancenkov, Malou Linn Eloise Ruotsalainen and Chanel Tukia, along with Senhit and Flo Rida themselves. While Flo Rida had provided vocals for the track, his participation in the performance of the song on the Eurovision stage was only confirmed on the day of the second semi-final due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with the song "Stripper" performed by Achille Lauro. The Sammarinese broadcaster, San Marino RTV (SMRTV), organised a new national final concept entitled Una voce per San Marino to decide their representative. The event consisted of 299 emerging and nine established artists competing over a three month period from December 2021 through February 2022 for the opportunity to represent the nation at the contest. The winning entry "Stripper" was written by Lauro, Daniele Dezi, Daniele Mungai, Davide Petrella, Federico De Marinis, Francesco Viscovo, Gregorio Calculli, Marco Lanciotti, Matteo Ciceroni, Mattia Cutolo and Simon Pietro Manzari.
"Stripper" is a song by Italian rapper and singer Achille Lauro. The song represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, after winning Una voce per San Marino, the Sammarinese national final.
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Like an Animal" performed by Piqued Jacks. The Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) organised the national final concept entitled Una voce per San Marino to decide their representative. The event consisted of over 1000 emerging and 32 established artists competing over a five-month period from October 2022 through February 2023 for the opportunity to represent the nation at the contest. The winning entry "Like an Animal" was written by Andrea Lazzeretti, Francesco Bini, Marco Sgaramella, and Tommaso Oliveri.
