
The Italian Sanremo Festival is a prestigous music competition in Italy, which in recent years has been used again to find the Italian participant for the Eurovision Song Contest. Our beloved contest was shaped and formed in the idea of the Sanremo Festival. Read all about that Italian show in this article!
The Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo is held annually in the town of Sanremo, Liguria. Just like Eurovision, it is a music competition of previously unreleased songs. All the big Italian music stars took part in Sanremo, many of them even started their career at the festival. Think of names like Nek, Andrea Bocelli, Eros Ramazotti, Laura Pausini and many more!
History of Sanremo
The first edition of the Sanremo Festival was held between 29 and 31 January 1951. There were only three participants: Nilla Pizzi, Achille Togliani, and Duo Fasano. Starting from 1955, all editions of the festival have been broadcast live by the Italian TV station Rai.
From 1951 to 1976, the Festival took place in the Sanremo Casino, but starting from 1977, all the following editions were held in the Teatro Ariston, except in 1990, which was held at the Nuovo Mercato dei Fiori. From the 80’s the competition got enlarged with a Newcomers section, giving a stage for upcoming talents in the Italian music industry.
Between 1953 and 1971, except in 1956, each song was sung twice by two different artists, each one using an individual orchestral arrangement, to illustrate the meaning of the festival as a composers’ competition, not a singers’ competition. During this era of the festival, it was custom that one version of the song was performed by a native Italian artist while the other version was performed by an international guest artist. This became a way for many international artists to debut their songs on the Italian market, including Louis Armstrong, Stevie Wonder, Jose Feliciano and Paul Anka.
The festival went on to form the basis for the annual Eurovision Song Contest and is used as a method for choosing the Italian entry for that event each year.
Sanremo and the Eurovision Song Contest
Up to 1966 the winner of Sanremo was also the Italian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest. In that year, Domenica Modugno finished in last place and Italy changed things around. In most of the latter years, the winning artist went to Eurovision with another song.
But after Italy’s comeback – they were absent from Eurovision between 1998 and 2010 – they started to rely on Sanremo again heavily and a lot of the winning acts also succesfully went to Eurovision again. The only exemptions were in 2014 and 2016. In 2014, Emma Marrone was already chosen internally before the contest in Copenhagen, leaving Arisa out of Eurovision. As of 2020, Arisa is still the last female winning Sanremo. But in 2016, Francesca Michielin went to Stockholm, after the group Stadio were the last act to decline going to Eurovision to date.
Check out this overview below of all the winning acts at Sanremo and whether they went to Eurovision or not.
Year | Sanremo winner | Song | Artist at Eurovision | Eurovision song |
---|---|---|---|---|
1951 | Nilla Pizzi | Grazie dei fiori | – | – |
1952 | Nilla Pizzi | Vola colomba | – | – |
1953 | Carla Boni & Flo Sandon’s | Viale d’autunno | – | – |
1954 | Giorgio Consolini & Gino Latilla | Tutte le mamme | – | – |
1955 | Buongiorno tristezza | Claudio Villa & Tullio Pane | – | – |
1956 | Franca Raimondi | Aprite le finestre | Franca Raimondi | Aprite le finestre |
1957 | Claudio Villa & Nunzio Gallo | Corde della mia chitarra | Nunzio Gallo | Corde della mia chitarra (6th place) |
1958 | Domenico Modugno & Johnny Dorelli | Nel blu dipinto di blu | Domenico Modugno | Nel blu dipinto di blu (3rd place) |
1959 | Domenico Modugno & Johnny Dorelli | Piove (ciao ciao bambina) | Domenico Modugno | Piove (ciao ciao bambina) (6th place) |
1960 | Tony Dallara & Renato Rascel | Romantica | Renato Rascel | Romantica (8th place) |
1961 | Betty Curtis & Luciano Tajoli | Al di là | Betty Curtis | Al di là (5th place) |
1962 | Domenico Modugno & Claudio Villa | Addio, addio | Claudio Villa | Addio, addio (9th place( |
1963 | Tony Renis & Emilio Pericoli | Uno per tutte | Emili Pericoli | Uno per tutte (3rd place) |
1964 | Gigliola Cinquetti & Patricia Carli | Non ho l’età | Gigliola Cinquetti | Non ho l’età (1st place) |
1965 | Bobby Solo & The New Christy Minstrels | Se piangi, se ridi | Bobby Solo | Se piangi, se ridi |
1966 | Domenico Modugno & Gigliola Cinquetti | Dio, come ti amo | Domenico Modugno | Dio, come ti amo (17th place) |
1967 | Claudio Villa & Iva Zanicchi | Non pensare a me | Claudio Villa | Non andare più lontano (11th place) |
1968 | Sergio Endrigo & Roberto Carlos | Canzone per te | Sergio Endrigo | Marianne (10th place) |
1969 | Bobby Solo & Iva Zanicchi | Zingara | Iva Zanicchi | Due grosse lacrime bianche (13th place) |
1970 | Adriano Celentano & Claudia Mori | Chi non lavora non fa l’amore | Gianni Morandi | Occhi di ragazza (8th place) |
1971 | Nada & Nicola Di Bari | Il cuore è uno zingaro | Massimo Ranieri | L’amore è un attimo (5th place) |
1972 | Nicola Di Bari | I giorni dell’arcobaleno | Nicola Di Bari | I giorni dell’arcobaleno (6th place) |
1973 | Peppino Di Capri | Un grande amore e niente più | Massimo Ranieri | Chi sarà con te (13th place) |
1974 | Iva Zanicchi | Ciao cara, come stai | Gigliola Cinquetti | Si (2nd place) |
1975 | Gilda | Ragazza del sud | Wess and Dori Ghezzi | Era (3rd place) |
1976 | Peppino Di Capri | Non lo faccio più | Al Bano & Romina Power | We’ll live it all again (7th place) |
1977 | Homo Sapiens | Bella da morire | Mia Martini | Libera (13th place) |
1978 | Matia Bazar | …E dirsi ciao! | Ricchi e Poveri | Questo amore (12th place) |
1979 | Mino Vergnaghi | Amare | Matia Bazar | Raggio di luna (15th place) |
1980 | Toto Cutugno | Solo noi | Alen Sorrenti | Non so che darei (6th place) |
1981 | Alice | Per Elisa | – | – |
1982 | Riccardo Fogli | Storie di tutti i giorni | – | – |
1983 | Tiziana Rivale | Sarà quel che sarà | Riccardo Fogli | Per Lucia (11th place) |
1984 | Al Bano & Romina Power | Ci sarà | Alice & Battiato | I treni di Tozeur (5th place) |
1985 | Ricchi e Poveri | Se m’innamoro | Al Bano & Romina Power | Magic Oh Magic (7th place) |
1986 | Eros Ramazzotti | Adesso tu | – | – |
1987 | Gianni Morandi, Enrico Ruggeri & Umberto Tozzi | Si può dare di più | Umberto Tozzi and Raf | Gente di mare (3rd place) |
1988 | Massimo Ranieri | Perdere l’amore | Luca Barbarossa | Ti scrivo (12th place) |
1989 | Anna Oxa & Fausto Leali | Ti lascerò | Anna Oxa & Fausto Leali | Avrei voluto (9th place) |
1990 | Pooh & Dee Dee Bridgewater | Uomini soli | Toto Cutugno | Insieme: 1992 (1st place) |
1991 | Riccardo Cocciante | Se stiamo insieme | Peppino Di Capri | Comme è ddoce ‘o mare (7th place) |
1992 | Luca Barbarossa | Portami a ballare | Mia Martini | Rapsodia (4th place) |
1993 | Enrico Ruggeri | Mistero | Enrico Ruggeri | Sole d’Europa (12th place) |
1994 | Aleandro Baldi | Passerà | – | – |
1995 | Giorgia | Come saprei | – | – |
1996 | Ron & Tosca | Vorrei incontrarti fra cent’anni | – | – |
1997 | Jalisse | Fiumi di parole | Jalisse | Fiumi di parole (4th place) |
1998 | Annalisa Minetti | Senza te o con te | – | – |
1999 | Anna Oxa | Senza Pietà | – | – |
2000 | Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel | Sentimento | – | – |
2001 | Elisa | Luce | – | – |
2002 | Matia Bazar | Messaggio d’amore | – | – |
2003 | Alexia | per dire di no | – | – |
2004 | Marco Masini | L’uomo volante | – | – |
2005 | Francesco Renga | Angelo | – | – |
2006 | Povia | Vorrei avere il becco | – | – |
2007 | Simone Cristicchi | Ti regalerò una rosa | – | – |
2008 | Giò Di Tonno & Lola Ponce | Colpo di fulmine | – | – |
2009 | Marca Carta | La forza mia | – | – |
2010 | Valerio Scanu | Per tutte le volte che | – | – |
2011 | Roberto Vecchioni | Chiamami ancora amore | Raphael Gualazzi | Madness of love (2nd place) |
2012 | Emma Marrone | Non è l’inferno | Nina Zilli | Lámore è femmina (9th place) |
2013 | Marco Mengoni | L’essenziale | Marco Mengoni | L’essenziale (7th place) |
2014 | Arisa | Controvento | Emma | La mia città (21st place) |
2015 | Il Volo | Grande amore | Il Volo | Grance amore (3rd place) |
2016 | Stadio | Un giorno mi dirai | Francesca Michielin | No degree of seperation (16th place) |
2017 | Francesco Gabbani | Occidentali’s Karma | Francesco Gabbani | Occidentali’s Karma (6th place) |
2018 | Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro | Non mi avete fatto niente | Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro | Non mi avete fatto niente (5th place) |
2019 | Mahmood | Soldi | Mahmood | oldi (2nd place) |
2020 | Diodato | Fai Rumore | Diadato | Fai Rumore |
2021 | ? | ? | ? | ? |