Italy: Francesco Gabbani wins Sanremo 2017
Francesco Gabbani wins the Italian competition Sanremo 2017 with the song "Occidentali's Karma". The winner of Sanremo has the right to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2017, and Francesco will go to Kyiv
Campione dei Campioni. Sanremo 2017 has finished after five nights of music and entertainment. The winner of the 67th Festival of Sanremo's Campioni (Big Artists) is Francesco Gabbani with the song "Occidentali's Karma". He has the right to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv, and shortly after his victory he announced, that he wants to go to Kyiv in May 2017.
The final had 16 contestants qualified from the earlier nights' competitions in Italy. The 3 best advanced to the Super Final and performed again: Francesco Gabbani, Fiorella Mannoia and Ermal Meta. The winner of Sanremo 2017 was decided by 40% televote, 30% expert jury and 30% demoscopic poll (poll by around 300 music fans).
Sanremo 2017 – Result
- Francesco Gabbani – "Occidentali's Karma" (superfinalist)
- Fiorella Mannoia – "Che sia benedetta" (superfinalist)
- Ermal Meta – "Vietato morire" (superfinalist)
- Michele Bravi – "Il diaro degli errori"
- Paola Turci – "Fatti bella per te"
- Sergio Sylvestre – "Con te"
- Fabrizio Moro – "Portami via"
- Elodie – "Tutta colpa mia"
- Bianca Atzei – "Ora esisti solo tu"
- Samuel – "Vedrai"
- Michele Zarrillo – "Mani nelle mani"
- Lodovica Comello – "Il cielo non mi basta"
- Marco Masini – "Spostato di un secondo"
- Chiara Galiazzo – "Nessun posto è casa mia"
- Alessio Bernabei – "Nel mezzo di un applauso"
- Clementino – "Ragazzi fuori"
Sanremo 2017
Sanremo 2017 had two sections:
- Big Artists (Campioni) with 22 artists
- Newcomers (Nuove Proposte) with 8 artists
The winner of the Big Artist section of Sanremo 2017 were offered the option to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv.
Sanremo 2017 ran over 5 consecutive nights, and was hosted by Carlo Conti at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, Italy.
Sanremo 2017 schedule
Big Artists
1: Big artists 1:2
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
The 22 Big Artists were split into two parts. The first part with 11 of the Big Artists performed on Night 1, and the voting began (50% press jury and 50% televote). No eliminations. Top-8 qualified directly to the semi-final on fourth night.
2: Big artists 2:2
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
The second part of the Big Artists with the last 11 entries were performed and voted upon. Top-8 qualified directly to the semi-final on fourth night (50% press jury and 50% televote).
3: Cover's night + Second chance
Thursday, 9 February 2017
The 16 qualified finalists performed a cover of a known Italian song. The 6 non-qualified entries performed again, and the best 4 qualified to the semi-final, and the two last were eliminated (50% press jury and 50% televote).
4: Semi-final
Friday, 10 February 2017
The 20 qualified semi-finalists performed their Sanremo songs. Top-16 qualified to Saturdays final of Sanremo, and the four last were eliminated. (40% televote, 30% expert jury, 30% demoscopic poll).
5: Final
Saturday 11 February 2017
The 16 finalists all performed in the Final of Sanremo 2017. The 3 best advanced to the Super Final, and performed again. The winner of Sanremo 2017 was decided by 40% televote, 30% expert jury and 30% demoscopic poll (poll by around 300 music fans).
Sanremo winner and Eurovision
The winner of Sanremo Big Artists have the option to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv. If the winner declines to go to Kyiv then RAI will internally select another participant. This was the case last year, when Stadio won Sanremo 2016 with 43% of the votes in the Final. They couldn't compete in Eurovision 2016, so the runner-up Francesca Michielin was offered the ticket to Stockholm with her Sanremo entry "No degree of separation", finishing 16th at Eurovision 2016.
Italy in Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision 2017 will be Italy's 43rd contest. They have won twice, in 1964 with the song "Non Ho L'étà" and in 1990 with "Insieme: 1992". Worst result was in 1966 where they finished last.
The most known song is "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" or better known as "Volare" from 1958. It is also the most covered Eurovision Song Contest song. The song has been covered by famous stars such as Dean Martin, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and many more.
Italy had a long pause from Eurovision Song Contest from 1998 to 2010. Since then Italy has been a"Big-5"-country, automatically qualifying for every year's Grand Final.
