Italy: RAI confirms Eurovision 2023 participation; Sanremo 2023 rules and dates released

• The Italian national broadcaster, RAI, has confirmed participation at Eurovision 2023 and has released the dates and rules of the next edition of Sanremo Festival. 

  RAI will be present at Eurovision 2023 and his kicked off the preparations for selecting next year's Eurovision act. Sanremo Festival will be serving again as the country's format to determine the act and song that will be eligible to represent Italy in the 67th edition of the contest. 

  The 73rd Sanremo Festival will be hosted by Amadeus for a fourth year in a row. The iconic music competitionwill be taking place next year from February 7 to February 11. In addition the broadcaster has released the rules of the 2023 Sanremo Festival. 

  Amadeus stated on the early release of rules and dates: 

   “The goal is to have a longer preparation time available to transfer an exciting story of today's Italian music from the Ariston stage to the homes of viewers, giving voice to new talents and already established artists.The cast, also based on the musical proposals that will arrive to me, will be chosen, as always, giving weight to the value of the songs and their potential compared to the market, with particular attention to their 'radio appeal'."

   

  Format and results 
  
  
  A total of 25 acts will be taking part in the festival among which the three acts to be selected via the Sanremo Giovani festival. However the three acts from Sanremo Giovani will copete with a different song than the one from Sanemo Giovani competition. 

  Sanremo will unfild over five evenings. The fourth evening will be dedicated to the Covers: on this occasion the artists will be able to draw from a repertoire ranging from 1 January 1960 to 31 December 1999, reinterpreting a song together with a guest identified by them and approved by the Artistic Direction. The most voted interpretation will receive a special award.

  The competing songs of the 25 competing acts will be judged by the audience at home through televoting (from landline and mobile telephones), by the Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web (150 representatives of the media accredited to the Festival) and by the Opinion Jury. (300 components).
  
  In the first and second evening the jury of the press room, TV, radio and web will vote and will carry out its vote by dividing itself into three independent components: a third for TV and print media, a third for the radio and a third for the web jury. .
  
  In the third evening, 50% of the vote will be entrusted to televoting and the other 50% to the opinion poll jury.
  
  Finally, during the fourth and fifth evening, the voting will be divided into three parts: 34% entrusted to televoting, 33% to the press room -tv-radio, web jury and 33% to the opinion poll jury.

   

  Sanremo Giovani 2022

  In addition it has been confirmed that Sanremo Giovani will be taking place again with three of its acts securing a spot in the Sanremo 2023 line up. The Grand final show of Sanremo Giovani will be held on December 12, 2022. 

  Submission window will open on Thursday, May 12 at 18:00 CET and will close on October 12 the same time. Artists from 16 to 29 years old that have publised at least 2 song in the past and haven't taken part in Sanremo Area 2022, can submit their applications for participation. 

   

  Italy in Eurovision 

  Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 47 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956.  After a 14-year absence from 1998 and on, the country returned to the contest in 2011. Italy has won the contest twice  in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti and her song “Non ho l’età”.  Italy’s second victory in the contest came in 1990 with Toto Cutugno and the song “Insieme: 1992”.

  Italy’s come back to the contest has proved to be very successful, the country having finished in the top ten in eight times of the last decade (2011–2021), with Raphael Gualazzi second in 2011, Nina Zilli ninth in 2012, Marco Mengoni seventh in 2013 and Il Volo third in 2015, Francesco Ghabbani 6th in Kiev. In 2018  the winners of Sanremo 2018 ,Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro, represented Italy in Eurovision in Lisbon with their song “Non mi avete fatto niente”. The Italian duo achieved an honorable 5th place in the Grand final with 308 points and a remarkable 3rd placing in the public voting.

  In 2019 , Mahmood, winner of Sanremo 2019 represented the country in Tel Aviv with his entry Soldi. The Italian representative kept the good results for Italy achieving a 2nd place in the Grand Final in Tel Aviv. In 2020 Diodato might have won the Sanremo festival with 'Fai Rumore' but unfortunately didn't have the chance to perform in Rotterdam as the contest was cancelled de to the coronavirus pandemic.

  Last year the rock band Maneskin won Saremo 2021 and went on representing the nation on Rotterdam where they triumphed with their song 'Zitti e Buoni' bringing the 2022 contest to Italy. This year the duo Mahmood & Blanco representing the host nation with their Sanremo 2022 winning song 'Brividi', finishing in the honorable 6th place. 

   

  News Source: RAI.IT

  Image: Festival Di Sanremo FB

   

   

AUTHORS

Angelos D.
Loyal follower of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1987, I've made the competition one of the stories of my life. After attending as accredited press the event for 13 consecutive years along with the 2017-2024 JESC editions, I also enjoy the last three years sharing more Eurovision music through the Eurofans radio's project.