Italy: Sanremo to be used as national selection for Eurovision 2023
Italy will be using the famed Festival di Sanremo as the national selection for Eurovision 2023. The event will feature five live shows starting on 7 February
The Festival di Sanremo will continue to be used as Italy's national selection for Eurovision.
RAI – the Italian public broadcaster – has confirmed the news, as well as the official dates of the competition, and that Italy will indeed compete at next year's Eurovision.
The festival will take place at Teatro Ariston in Sanremo from 7 to 11 February. It is known that a total of 25 songs will compete, and that Amadeo Sebastiani (or Amadeus) will be the artistic director of next year's show.
Of the 25 songs, 22 will be invited by the artistic direction of the festival, whereas three will be invited from the Sanremo Giovani pre-competition.
In the end, the winner of Sanremo 2023 will be invited to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, an invitation that may be declined.
RAI is accepting proposals preferably until 28 November 2022, and the full list of regulations can be found on RAI's homepage.
Sanremo 2023
Next year's Festival di Sanremo will feature five live shows:
- 7 February
During the first night, 12 to 13 songs up for competition will be performed. In this first instance, only the juries will vote: the press and TV jury, the radio jury, and the online jury.
- 8 February
On the second night, the remaining songs will be performed. The voting method will be the same.
- 9 February
All 25 songs will be performed, and the voting will be shared between the televote (50%) and the opinion poll (50%).
- 10 February
Each of the 25 artists will perform, with a special guest, a cover of a national or international song from the '60s, '70s, '80s or '90s.
- 11 February
The 25 songs will be performed one last time. The televote will determine the top 3 songs which will advance to the superfinal. Here, the voting will be split between the televote (34%), the demoscopic jury (33%), and the jury vote (33%); and then a winner will be announced.
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
Italy has participated in 47 Eurovision contests. They have won three times:
- 1964: Gigliola Cinquetti – Non Ho L'étà
- 1990: Toto Cutugno – Insieme: 1992
- 2021: Måneskin – Zitti e buoni
Their worst result came in 1966, when they finished last.
Italy's most well-known song is "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu," better known as "Volare" from 1958. It is also the most covered Eurovision Song Contest song ever. The song has been covered by famous stars such as Dean Martin, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and many more.
Italy took a long pause from the Eurovision Song Contest from 1998 to 2010. Since then, Italy has been a "Big-5" country, which means they don't have to go through the Semi-final round and are automatically qualified for the Grand Final.
