Italy: Here are finalists for Sanremo 2017

The Italian broadcaster RAI held the fourth night of Sanremo 2017. Tonight the last stage before the final took place, with 16 qualifiers and 4 eliminated. The decision was made by the combination 40% televoting, 30% expert jury and 30% demoscopic poll (poll by around 300 music fans).

Sanremo 2017 – Finalists

Saturday, 11 February 2017

• Chiara – "Nessun posto è casa mia"
• Samuel – "Vedrai"
• Ermal Meta – "Vietato morire"
• Michele Bravi – "Il diario degli errori"
• Fiorella Mannoia – "Che sia benedetta"
• Clementino – "Ragazzi fuori"
• Lodovica Comello – "Il cielo non mi basta"
• Paola Turci – "Fatti bella per te"
• Marco Masini – "Spostato di un secondo"
• Francesco Gabbani – "Occidentali's Karma"
• Michele Zarrillo – "Mani nelle mani"
• Bianca Atzei – "Ora esisti solo tu"
• Sergio Sylvestre – "Con te"
• Elodie – "Tutta colpa mia"
• Fabrizio Moro – "Portami via"
• Alessio Bernabei – "Nel mezzo di un applauso"
• Ron – "L'ottava meraviglia" (eliminated)
• Al Bano – "Di rose e di spine" (eliminated)
• Gigi D'Alessio – "La prima stella" (eliminated)
• Giusy Ferreri – "Fa talmente male" (eliminated)

What's next?

The 16 qualified finalists will perform their songs at Saturday's final of Sanremo. In the final the 3 best will advance to the Super Final, and will perform again. The winner of Sanremo 2017 will be decided by 40% televote, 30% expert jury and 30% demoscopic poll (poll by around 300 music fans).

Sanremo 2017

Sanremo 2017 has two sections:

• Big Artists (Campioni) with 22 artists
• Newcomers (Nuove Proposte) with 8 artists

The winner of the Big Artist section of Sanremo 2017 will be offered the option to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv.

Sanremo 2017 runs over 5 consecutive nights, and will be 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 will be split into two parts. The first part with 11 of the Big Artists will perform on Night 1, and thevoting begins (50% press jury and 50% televote). No eliminations. Top-8 qualifies 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 will be performed and voted upon. Top-8 qualifies 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 will perform a cover of a known Italian song. The 6 non-qualified entries will perform again, and the best 4 will qualify to the semi-final, and the two last will be eliminated (50% press jury and 50% televote).

4: Semi-final

Friday, 10 February 2017

The 20 qualified semi-finalists will perform their Sanremo songs. Top-16 qualifies to Saturdays final of Sanremo, and the four last will be eliminated. (40% televote, 30% expert jury, 30% demoscopic poll).

5: Final

Saturday 11 February 2017

The 16 finalists will all perform in this evening's Final of Sanremo 2017. The 3 best will advance to the Super Final, and will perform again. The winner of Sanremo 2017 will be 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.

Sanremo 2017 will be aired on Rai 1 and Rai HD.

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.