In these weeks, we take a look at the aftermath of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. In this episode we talk about Italy, the expected winning country of the contest in Kiev that only got a sixth place with Francesco Gabbani and his song ‘Occidentali’s Karma’.
At some point, according to professional gambler Daniel Gould, the bookmakers placed Italy so high as a favourite in their odds, that we never seen it in the past in such matter. When the end result was just a mere sixth place, we wonder… What went wrong for Italy?
Francesco Gabbani – Occidentali’s Karma Live @Eurovision
Of course we had the bad draw, being with many other candidates for the win in the first half, on starting slot 9. And the song, that had to be shortened down for Eurovision. But still, with a 6th place we have to agree on this: ‘Occidentali’s Karma’ and its chances to win in Kiev, were highly overrated.
The Aftermath
Despite the disappointing result, Italy still has high ambitions when it comes to Sanremo ánd the Eurovision Song Contest. Andrea Fabiano the Head of RAI 1 has revealed that he not only wants to see Italy host the Eurovision Song Contest, but to have Sanremo reach the technological standard of Eurovision. Mr Fabiano stated over the weekend that over the past two years RAI has begun to heavily push the Eurovision Song Contest, with the broadcaster recognising the potential of the event.
Looking forward the Head of RAI 1 wants to see Sanremo expand in both scale and the technology it uses. Within the next few years he wishes to see Sanremo approach the level of performances seen at the Eurovision Song Contest. In addition the broadcaster is in discussions with the city of Sanremo to move to a larger venue.
Mr Fabiano explained that in recent years Italian artists have recognised the value of participating in the Eurovision Song Contest and the opportunity of bringing the contest to Italy. In the run up to this years contest Francesco Gabbani was the favourite to win the contest, which lead to a number of cities provisionally expressing an interest in hosting.
One such city that approached RAI to host the contest in the event of victory was Bologna. We will have to wait and see if we can go to Italy in one of the upcoming years after all.