Italy: Sanremo 2016

12 acts are selected to take part in the Sanremo 2016 Giovani round. It will be held on November 27th and will be transmitted live on RAI 1.

Out of the twelve participating acts, six will qualify to the Nuove Proposte group of Sanremo 2016. A committee will select then another two entries which will make the final 8 acts in the group. The participants are:

Beatrice Visconti – Paulette
Cecile – N.E.G.R.A.
Chiara Dello Iacovo – Introverso
Ermal Meta – Odio le favole
Francesco Gabbani – Amen
Francesco Guasti – Io e te
Irama – Cosa restera’
Michael Leonardi – Rinascerai
Rumor – Il Grande salto
Siberia – Gioia
Una – Amare stanca
Valeria & Piero Romitelli – Mai abbastanza

Sanremo 2016 will be held on 9-13 February. The winner of the Campioni round will have the right to represent Italy in the final of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.

Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 41 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956. It was one of only seven countries that competed at the very first contest. Italy competed at the contest frequently until 1997. After a fourteen-year absence, the country competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Italy has won the contest twice. Italy won for the first time in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti and “Non ho l’età”. Italy’s second victory in the contest came in 1990 with Toto Cutugno and the song “Insieme: 1992”. Other good 1990s results were Mia Martini in 1992 and Jalisse in 1997, who both finished fourth. After 1997, Italy withdrew from the competition.

On 31 December 2010, it was officially announced by the EBU that Italy would be returning to the contest as part of the “Big Five”, meaning that it automatically qualified for the final of the 2011 contest.

Italy’s return to the contest has proved to be very successful, the country having finished in the top ten in four of the last five contests (2011–2015), with Raphael Gualazzi second in 2011, Nina Zilli ninth in 2012, Marco Mengoni seventh in 2013 and Il Volo third in 2015, Italy’s 16th top five result in the contest. In 2015, Italy won the televoting receiving votes from all countries, but the juries placed them sixth. Since the introduction of the 50/50 voting system in 2009, this was the first time that the winner of the viewers vote did not win the contest.