Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020
| Eurovision Song Contest 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Italy | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Sanremo 2020 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 8 February 2020 | |||
| Selected artist(s) | Diodato | |||
| Selected song | "Fai rumore" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Antonio Diodato Edwyn Roberts | |||
| Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Italy will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The winner of the "Campioni" section of the Sanremo Festival - Diodato with "Fai rumore" will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which will be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Background
Prior to the 2020 Contest, Italy had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-four times since its first entry during the inaugural contest in 1956.[1] Since then, Italy has won the contest on two occasions: in 1964 with the song "Non ho l'età" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti and in 1990 with the song "Insieme: 1992" performed by Toto Cutugno. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. Their return in 2011 with the song "Madness of Love", performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placed second—their highest result, to this point, since their victory in 1990. In 2018, Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro represented the nation with the song "Non mi avete fatto niente", placing fifth with 308 points. In the 2019 edition, Mahmood represented Italy with the song "Soldi", placing second with 472 points.
Between 2011 and 2013, the broadcaster used the Sanremo Music Festival as an artist selection pool where a special committee would select one of the competing artist, independent of the results in the competition, as the Eurovision entrant. The selected entrant was then responsible for selecting the song they would compete with. For 2014, RAI forewent using the Sanremo Music Festival artist lineup and internally selected their entry. Since 2015, the winning artist of the Sanremo Music Festival is rewarded with the opportunity to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, although in 2016 the winner declined and the broadcaster appointed the runner-up as the Italian entrant.
Before Eurovision
Artist selection
Italian broadcaster RAI confirmed that the performer that would represent Italy at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the competing artists at the Sanremo Music Festival 2020. According to the rules of Sanremo 2020, the winner of the festival earns the right to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, but in case the artist is not available or refuses the offer, the organisers of the event reserve the right to choose another participant via their own criteria. The competition took place between 4-8 February 2020 with the winner being selected on the last day of the festival.
Twenty four artists will compete in Sanremo 2020. Among the competing artists will be former Eurovision Song Contest entrants Raphael Gualazzi and Francesco Gabbani, who represented Italy in 2011 and 2017 respectively. The performers are:
| Artist | Song (English translation) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Achille Lauro | "Me ne frego" (I don't give a damn) | Achille Lauro, Daniele Dezi, Daniele Mungai, Matteo Ciceroni, Edoardo Manozzi |
| Alberto Urso | "Il sole ad est" (The sun at east) | Gerardo Pulli, Piero Romitelli |
| Anastasio | "Rosso di rabbia" (Red with anger) | Anastasio, Stefano Tartaglini, Marco Azara, Luciano Serventi |
| Diodato | "Fai rumore" (Make noise) | Diodato, Edwyn Roberts |
| Elettra Lamborghini | "Musica (E il resto scompare)" (Music (And the rest disappears)) | Davide Petrella, Michele Canova |
| Elodie | "Andromeda" | Dardust, Mahmood |
| Enrico Nigiotti | "Baciami adesso" (Kiss me now) | Enrico Nigiotti |
| Francesco Gabbani | "Viceversa" (Vice versa) | Francesco Gabbani, Pacifico |
| Giordana Angi | "Come mia madre" (Like my mother) | Giordana Angi, Manuel Finotti |
| Irene Grandi | "Finalmente io" (Finally me) | Andrea Righi, Gaetano Curreri, Roberto Casili, Vasco Rossi |
| Junior Cally | "No grazie" (No thanks) | Antonio "Junior Cally" Signore, Jacopo Ettorre, Eugenio Maimone, Leonardo Grillotti, Merk & Kremont |
| Le Vibrazioni | "Dov'è" (Where is) | Davide Simonetta, Francesco Sarcina, Roberto Casalino |
| Levante | "Tikibombom" | Claudia "Levante" Lagona |
| Marco Masini | "Il confronto" (The confrontation) | Daniele Coro, Federica Camba, Marco Masini |
| Michele Zarrillo | "Nell'estasi o nel fango" (In ecstasy or in mud) | Valentina Parisse, Michele Zarrillo |
| Paolo Jannacci | "Voglio parlarti adesso" (I want to talk to you now) | Andrea Bonomo, Emiliano Bassi, Maurizio Bassi, Paolo Jannacci |
| Piero Pelù | "Gigante" (Giant) | Luca Chiaravalli, Piero Pelù |
| Pinguini Tattici Nucleari | "Ringo Starr" | Riccardo Zanotti |
| Rancore | "Eden" | Dardust, Rancore |
| Raphael Gualazzi | "Carioca" | Davide Pavanello, Davide Petrella, Raphael Gualazzi |
| Riki | "Lo sappiamo entrambi" (We both know) | Riccardo "Riki" Marcuzzo, Riccardo Scirè |
| Rita Pavone | "Niente (Resilienza74)" (Nothing (Resiliency74) ) | George Merk |
| Tosca | "Ho amato tutto" (I loved everything) | Pietro Cantarelli |
On 7 February, Bugo & Morgan were disqualified for failing to deliver their performance during the fourth evening.
Final
The 23 Big Artists each performed their entry again for a final time on 8 February 2020. A combination of public televoting (33%), press jury voting (33%) and expert jury voting (33%) selected the top three to face a superfinal vote, then the winner of Sanremo 2020 was decided. Diodato was declared the winner of the contest with the song "Fai rumore". During the press conference that followed the final, Diodato accepted to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest.
| Superfinal – 9 February 2019 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury (50%) |
Televote (50%) |
Total | Place |
| 1 | Diodato | "Fai rumore" | 23.9% | 39.3% | 1 | |
| 2 | Francesco Gabbani | "Viceversa" | 38.9% | 33.9% | 2 | |
| 3 | Pinguini Tattici Nucleari | "Ringo Starr" | 37.2% | 26.8% | 3 | |
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 will take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands and consist of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May and the final on 16 May 2020.[2] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big 5", Italy automatically qualifies to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, Italy is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals.
References
- ^ "Italy Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
- ^ "Rotterdam to host Eurovision 2020!". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2020-01-23.