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.
Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno was an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician. He was best known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano", released on his 1983 album of the same title. Cutugno also won the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 held in Zagreb, SFR Yugoslavia, with the song "Insieme: 1992", for which he wrote both the lyrics and music. He has been described as "one of the most popular singers in Italy and a symbol of Italian melody abroad", as well as "one of the most popular Italian performers on a global scale" and "one of the most successful Italian songwriters of all time", selling over 100 million records worldwide.
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.
"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.
"Al di là" ("Beyond") is a song written by Italian composer Carlo Donida and lyricist Mogol, and recorded by Betty Curtis. The English lyrics were written by Ervin Drake. The song was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in Italian by Curtis at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on 18 March 1961, after Curtis had won the Sanremo Music Festival 1961 on 2 February.
"Addio, addio" was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1962, performed in Italian by Claudio Villa.
"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.
"Quando quando quando" is an Italian pop song from 1962, in the bossa nova style, with music written by Tony Renis and lyrics by Alberto Testa. The song, originally recorded in two different versions by Tony Renis and Emilio Pericoli, competed in the Sanremo Music Festival in 1962, where it placed fourth, and later became a commercial success in Italy, topping the Musica e dischi singles chart. American entertainer Pat Boone, who recorded the song in 1962, sang the English lyrics written by Ervin Drake.
Emilio Pericoli was an Italian singer. He was born in Cesenatico, Romagna, Italy.
"Follia d'amore" is a song by Raphael Gualazzi. It was the winner of the Sanremo Music Festival 2011 in the newcomer artists' section and also won the Critics' "Mia Martini" Award for newcomers.
Il Volo is an Italian operatic pop trio, consisting of Gianluca Ginoble, Piero Barone, and Ignazio Boschetto. They describe their music as "popera". Having won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, they represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Grande amore", finishing first in the televote and third overall.
Elio Cesari, known by his stage name of Tony Renis, is an Italian singer, composer, music producer and film actor.
"Grande amore" is a song performed by Italian operatic pop trio Il Volo, and written by Francesco Boccia and Ciro "Tommy" Esposito. The song won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015 and represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 where it won the televoting, came sixth with the juries and third overall. The song was also covered with releases in other languages.
The Sanremo Music Festival 1963, officially the 13th Italian Song Festival, was the 13th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, province of Imperia between 7 and 9 February 1963.
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.
The Sanremo Music Festival 2020, officially the 70th Italian Song Festival, was the 70th edition of the 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 4 and 8 February 2020.
Italy originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The winner of the "Campioni" section of the 70th Sanremo Festival, Diodato with "Fai rumore", would have represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was planned to be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
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