Italy: Songs for Sanremo 2018 presented

68° Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo 2018 has started in Italy. In tonight's show we had all the 20 songs in the Campioni – Big Artists section presented.

This evening's voting was a mix of 40% televote, 30% demoscopic jury, 30% press vote.

Beside the 20 songs, we also had some guest stars appearing: Fiorello, Gianni Morandi, Gabriele Muccino and Tommaso Paradiso.

Watch tonight's performances on YouTube and cast your vote in our poll.

First night's results

Sanremo 2018 schedule

Here is the schedule for Sanremo 2018 – for simplicity's sake, we will concentrate on the "Big Artist" category, as the winner of this category will be offered a ticket to Eurovision Song Contest 2018 as the Italian representative.

Tuesday 6 February: Presentation

• The 20 contestants present their songs
• Voting: 40% televote, 30% demoscopic jury, 30% press vote

Wednesday 7 February: Big Artists 1/2

• The first 10 of the contestants will perform their song
• Voting: 40% televote, 30% demoscopic jury, 30% press vote

Thursday 8 February: Big Artists 2/2

• The last 10 of the contestants will perform their song
• Voting: 40% televote, 30% demoscopic jury, 30% press vote
• The ranking for the 20 contestants will be calculated based on the first three nights and revealed

Friday 9 February: Duets

• The 20 contestants sing duets
• Voting: 40% televote, 30% press vote, 30% expert jury

Saturday 10 February: Final

• Round 1:
  • The 20 will again perform their songs
  • Voting: 40% televote, 30% press vote, 30% expert jury
  • The ranking for the 20 contestants will be calculated based on the whole week and revealed. The Top-3 advance to the Super-final.
• Round 2 (Super-final):
  • Top-3 will perform again in the Super-final.
  • Another round of voting takes place: 40% televote, 30% press vote, 30% expert jury
  • We have a winner! (and maybe a Eurovision representative for Italy)

The winner of the Sanremo "Big Artists" category has the option to represent Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon. If the winner declines to go to Lisbon then RAI will internally select another participant. This was the case in 2016, 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.

Claudio Baglioni will host Sanremo 2018 along with various co-hosts. Baglioni is also the artistic director of the live shows.

Italy in Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision 2018 will be Italy's 44th 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.