Italy: The final countdown for Sanremo 2018 begins

The most complicated national final begins tomorrow. A week of music, with many interpretations and successive votes, of different electoral bodies, will be needed to the winner of the Sanremo 2018, possibly the Italian representative in Lisbon, be chosen.

The 68th Sanremo Festival will be held at Ariston Theater in Sanremo from 6 to 10 February 2018 and will be hosted by Claudio Baglioni with Michelle Hunziker and Pierfrancesco Favino.

The contest includes the «Campioni» category with 20 famous artists and bands and the «Nuove Proposte» category with 8 new artists.

The winner of the “Campioni” category will be Italy’s representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 unless he refuses to participate. In this case, RAI will select one of the other candidates in the high category, taking into account the final ranking.

In the “Campioni”  category we meet:

• Annalisa
• Decibel
• Diodato and Roy Paci
• Elio e le Storie Tese
• Enzo Avitabile and Peppe Servillo
• Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro
• Giovanni Caccamo
• Le Vibrazioni
• Lo Stato Sociale
• Luca Barbarossa
• Mario Biondi
• Max Gazzè
• Nina Zilli
• Noemi
• Ornella Vanoni, Bungaro and Pacifico
• Red Canzian
• Renzo Rubino
• Roby Facchinetti and Riccardo Fogli
• Ron
• The Kolors

The “Nuove Proposte”  category includes:

• Alice Caioli
• Eva
• Giulia Casieri
• Leonardo Monteiro
• Lorenzo Baglioni
• Mirkoeilcane
• Mudimbi
• Ultimo 

First night

All 20 Campioni contestants will be presented and  will perform live their songs. The voting will consist of a mixed system: televoting 40%, polling committee* 30% and press committee ** 30%.

* The polling committee consists of 300 fans across Italy who will vote electronically from their home and have been chosen specifically for this purpose.

** The press committee consists of all accredited journalists covering the festival.

Second night

10 of the 20 Campioni contestants will re-interpret their songs. The voting system will be the same as the first night.The contest  for Nuove Proposte will also be launched: 4 out of 8 songs will be presented and the voting will be with the same: 40% televoting, 30% polling committee and 30% press committee.

Third night

The remaining 10 Campioni will re-interpret their entries and the voting system will be the same as the first night. At the end of the night, a ranking of all participants will be formed with the sum of the three-night votes.

Also, the remaining 4 songs of the Nuove Proposte category will be presented and the voting will be the same with the previous night’s system.

Fourth Night

The 20 Campioni will present another version of their song with the accompaniment of another artist. The votιng will be as follows: 50% televoting, 30% press committee and 20% expert jury. The votes of this evening will be offset by the votes of previous nights.

Also, the 8 of the Nuove Proposte category will be presented. The winner of this category will be decided by 50% televoting, 30% press committee and 20% expert jury.

Fifth Night – Final of Sanremo

All 20 Campioni songs will be featured and the voting will be the same as the  fourth night system. The overall ranking will be an average of the votes of all the nights and various awards will be given.

Then, there will be a second round of zero vote for the first three artists to vote in order to the winner be selected  and  if he wishes, he will be the Italy’s  representartive  at the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest. The voting system in the second round will be the same.

The Sanremo 2018 Expert Jury

Italian public television (RAI) has announced the names of the jury of experts who will co-decide the last two days of the Sanremo Festival.

The jury consists of 8 members and consists of the following:

• Pino Donaggio: He is the chairman of the jury. Composer but also performer. His greatest success was in cinema, working with Roberto Begnini.
• Giovanni Allevi: He has served classical music with dozens of concerts all over the world. In 2011, he was honored with the biggest medal of the Italian Republic for his contribution to culture.
• Serena Autieri: Successful actress, but also singer. She has starred in many films. She is a vocalist and a
  transliterator too.
• Milly Carlucci: He was a commentator of the Eurovision competition,  presenter at “Games without Borders”, as well as other international co-productions.
• Gabriele Muccino: He is considered one of the most important Italian directors of his generation. He has many international but also domestic distinctions.
• Rocco Papaleo: Singer and actor. He has also passed the Sanremo Festival.
• Mirca Rosciani: Orchestrator and conductor. She has worked with the biggest musical ensembles in the country.
• Andrea Scanzi: Journalist, theatrologist and playwright. He has worked in Italy’s biggest publications, covering musical themes.

The jury is called upon to cast its votes in the last two days of the festival. This year, the jury participates only by 20% in the results, despite this percentage was 30% utill last year.

The first show starts tomorrow at 20.35 CET and you can watch it HERE.