Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Italy will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in October 2020 that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2021, would earn the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.[1]
| Eurovision Song Contest 2021 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Italy | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Sanremo 2021 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 6 March 2021 | |||
| Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Background
Prior to the 2021 Contest, Italy had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-four times since its first entry during the inaugural contest in 1956.[2] 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 Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010.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 Italy 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. In 2020, Diodato was set to represent the nation with the song "Fai rumore" before the contest's cancellation.
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 forwent 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 2021 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the competing artists at the Sanremo Music Festival 2021. According to the rules of Sanremo 2021, 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 will take place between 2-6 March 2021 with the winner being selected on the last day of the festival.
Twenty-six artists will compete in Sanremo 2021. Among the competing artists are former Eurovision Song Contest entrants Francesca Michielin and Ermal Meta, who represented Italy in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Additionally, Noemi and Francesca Michielin & Fedez's songs were co-written by Mahmood, who represented Italy in 2019. The performers are:[3][4]
| Artist | Song | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Aiello | "Ora" | Antonio Aiello |
| Annalisa | "Dieci" | Annalisa Scarrone, Davide Simone.Jacopo Ettorre, Dario "Dardust" Faini |
| Arisa | "Potevi fare di più" | Gigi D'Alessio |
| Bugo | "E invece sì" | Cristian Bugatti, Simone Bertolotti, Andrea Bonomo |
| Colapesce & Dimartino | "Musica leggerissima" | Lorenzo Urciullo, Antonio Di Martino, Federico Nardelli, Giordano Colombo |
| Coma_Cose | "Fiamme negli occhi" | Fausto Zanardelli, Francesca Mesiano |
| Ermal Meta | "Un milione di cose da dirti" | Ermal Meta, Roberto Cardelli, Cristian Milani |
| Extraliscio feat. Davide Toffolo | "Bianca luce nera" | Pacifico, Mirco Mariani |
| Fasma | "Parlami" | Tiberio Fazioli |
| Francesca Michielin & Fedez | "Chiamami per nome" | Alessandro Mahmoud, Davide Simonetta, Alessandro Raina, Federico Leonardo Lucia, Francesca Michielin |
| Francesco Renga | "Quando trovo te" | Roberto Casalino |
| Fulminacci | "Santa Marinella" | Filippo Uttinacci, Tommaso Colliva |
| Gaia | "Cuore amaro" | Gaia Gozzi, Jacopo Ettorre, Daniele Dezi, Simone Privitera, Giorgio Spedicato |
| Ghemon | "Momento perfetto" | Giovanni Luca Picariello, Simone Privitera, Daniele Raciti |
| Gio Evan | "Arnica" | Giovanni Giancaspro |
| Irama | "La genesi del tuo colore" | Filippo Maria Fanti, Giulio Nenna, Dario "Dardust" Faini |
| La Rappresentante di Lista | "Amare" | Veronica Lucchesi, Dario Mangiaracina, Dario "Dardust" Faini |
| Lo Stato Sociale | "Combat Pop" | Lodovico Guenzi, Alberto Gazzola, Francesco Draicchio, Matteo Romagnoli, Alberto Guidetti, Enrico Roberto, Jacopo Ettorre |
| Madame | "Voce" | Francesca Galeno, Dario "Dardust" Faini, Enrico Botta |
| Malika Ayane | "Ti piaci così" | Malika Ayane, Pacifico, Alessandra Flora, Rocco Rampino |
| Måneskin | "Zitti e buoni" | Damiano David, Ethan Torchio, Thomas Raggi, Victoria De Angelis |
| Max Gazzè & La Trifluoperazina Monstery Band | "Il farmacista" | Max Gazzè, Francesco Gazzè |
| Noemi | "Glicine" | Alessandro Mahmoud, Ginevra Lubrano, Francesco Fugazza, Dario "Dardust" Faini |
| Orietta Berti | "Quando ti sei innamorato" | Ciro Esposito, Francesco Boccia, Marco Rettani, Vincenzo "Enzo" Campagnoli |
| Random | "Torno a te" | Emanuele Caso, Samuel Balice |
| Willie Peyote | "Mai dire mai (La locura)" | Guglielmo Bruno |
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 will take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands and consist of two semi-finals on 18 and 20 May and the final on 22 May 2021. 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
- "Eurovision 2021: per l'Italia il vincitore di Sanremo. Nessun ritorno automatico per Diodato". Eurofestival News (in Italian). 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
- "Italy Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
- 26 Acts to Take Part in Sanremo 2021 "Campioni" Category - EscXtra
- 26 Campioni di SanRemo2021 SanRemo Rai Twitter account
| Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
Note: Entries scored out are when Italy did not compete | |||||||||||||||||||