Italy: “Festival di Sanremo 2019” kicks off tonight

The 69th edition of “Festival di Sanremo” kicks off tonight in Italy as the 24 artists will perform their competing entries for the very first time this evening. For a second consecutive year it will be hosted by Claudio Baglioni, Claudio Bisio and Virginia Raffaele.

The first edition of the most popular Italian song contest was held at the Sanremo Casino in 1951 in order to revitalize the economy and the reputation of the town of Sanremo after World War II. Throughout all the years “Festival di Sanremo” has facilitated the careers of some of Italy’s most successful singers and was the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Voting System

Just as in the previous years since Italy’s return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011, the festival will determine the Italian representative in Tel Aviv via a combination of televoting and jury results. In the first three nights televoting will decide 40%, a demoscopic jury 30% (composed of a sample of 300 music fans) and the jury of the press room the remaining 30% of the results. In the fourth and fifth evening of the competition the voting will be determined 50% by televoting, 30% by the jury of the press room and 20% by an expert jury. The press jury voting will be decided by accredited journalists following the competition from the Roof Hall at the Teatro Ariston. The Expert jury consists of personalities from the world of music, culture and entertainment. In this year’s edition it is composed by Mauro Pagani (president of the Jury, musician and singer), Ferzan Özpetek (film director and screenwriter), Camila Raznovich (music TV presenter), Claudia Pandolfi (actress), Elena Sofia Ricci (actress), Beppe Severgnini (columnist), Serena Dandini (TV presenter) and Joe Bastianich (chef and restaurant owner).

The Participants

24 acts and songs are competing in this year’s “Festival di Sanremo”. All the artists will advance to the final night as there will be no eliminations throughout the week. They will perform their entry in different constellations and stagings and will be scored during the week: in the first night all 24 artists will perform their Sanremo entry for the very first time, while half of the particpants will perform their songs for a second time in the second and third evening. In the fourth evening the 24 artists will perform their entries in duets. All artists will then again each perform their entry for a final time in the fifth and final night with the top three facing a superfinal vote that will decide the winner of Sanremo 2019.

The competing artists and entries are:

• Patty Pravo & Briga – “Un po’ come la vita”
• Daniele Silvestri – “Argento vivo”
• Ex-Otago – “Solo una canzone”
• Federica Carta & Shade – “Senza farlo apposta”
• Negrita – “I ragazzi stanno bene”
• Arisa – “Mi sento bene”
• Achille Lauro – “Rolls Royce”
• Francesco Renga – “Aspetto che torni”
• Boomdabash – “Per un millione”
• Enrico Nigiotti – “Nonno Hollywood”
• Nino D’Angelo & Livio Cori – “Un’altra luce”
• Mahmood – “Soldi”
• Paola Turci – “L’ultimo ostacolo”
• Simone Cristicchi – “Abbi cura di me”
• Zen Circus – “L’amore è una dittatur”
• Anna Tatangelo – “Le nostre anime di notte”
• Loredana Bertè – “Cosa ti aspetti di me”
• Irama – “La ragazza con il cuore di latta”
• Ultimo – “I tuoi particolari”
• Motta – “Dov’è Italia”
• Nek – “Mi farò trovare pronto”
• Il Volo – “Musica che resta”
• Ghemon – “Rose Viola”
• Einar – “Parole nuove”

Two of the participants, Einar and Mahmood, were selected as the winners of “Sanremo Giovani 2018” on December 20 and 21, 2018, and gained the right to participate in Sanremo 2019 with a new entry. Famous and global artists among this year’s participants include Nino D’Angelo, Anna Tatangelo, Loredana Bertè and Il Volo. The trio Il Volo, which consists of the baritone Gianluca Ginoble and the two tenors Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto, are returning to “Festival di Sanremo” this year after their victory in 2015. As a result they represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna with their song “Grande amore” where they reached the third place and won the televoting.

For a second consecutive year “Festival di Sanremo 2019” will be hosted by Claudio Baglioni, who was also the competition’s artistic director, Claudio Bisio and Virginia Raffaele. Andrea and Matteo Bocelli, Giorgia, Michelle Hunziker, Pierfrancesco Favino and Claudio Santamaria will be among the guest performer’s of tonight’s first show. Sanremo Festival will be broadcast live tonight on Rai 1 from 20:45 CET.