🇮🇹 22 Artists Competing at Festival di Sanremo 2022 Announced

Today, we found out important information about the upcoming edition of Festival di Sanremo. Italian broadcaster RAI has today announced the 22 artists who will be competing in the “big” section of Festival di Sanremo next year.

The competing artists are:

• Elisa
• Dargen D’amico
• Gianni Morandi
• Ditonellapiaga & Donatella Rettore
• Noemi
• Highsnob & Hu
• Le Vibrazioni
• Sangiovanni
• Massimo Ranieri
• La Rappresentante Di Lista
• Ana Mena
• Emma
• Achille Lauro
• Michele Bravi
• Fabrizio Moro
• Mahmood & Blanco
• Irama
• Giovanni Truppi
• Giusy Ferreri
• Aka7even

The 22 artists will this year be joined by two winners from Sanremo Giovani, the newcomers’ section. They will be selected on 15th December 2021, thereby completing the Sanremo lineup.

The candidates for Sanremo Giovani can be found here.

What else do we know about Sanremo 2022?

The 72nd Festival di Sanremo will take place between the 1st and 5th February 2022, returning to its regular slot after being delayed by a month last year due to pandemic restrictions. Amadeus returns as both host and artistic director, and will be joined on stage by Fiorello.

The five nights of the contest will be split as follows:

• On the first and second nights, 12 acts each will perform their entries, and will be scored by the press juries (one jury each for written press and TV, radio, and web press)
• On the third night, all 24 songs will be performed again, and will be scored by both a televote and a 1000-person demoscopic (population-representative) jury
• On the fourth night, all 24 competing artists will perform a cover of a song from the 60s, 70s or 80s (Italian or non-Italian, alone or with a guest performer); voting will use the same system as the first three nights
• On the fifth and final night, all 24 artists will perform their songs again, with televoting alone deciding on the top 3 acts. Following this, the press and demoscopic juries, and televote, will decide the winning song from the final three.

Sanremo is not a national final in the traditional sense – and in fact pre-dates and inspired the Eurovision we know and love today! This means that the winner will not automatically represent this year’s host nation in Turin, but will be given first refusal to do so. If they decline, the organisers of Sanremo will select the act who will compete as part of this year’s contest.

Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest

Reigning winners Italy has participated in the contest 46 times since it began in 1956. In addition to 2021, they also won in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti’s “Non ho l’eta” and in 1990 with Toto Cutugno’s “Insieme: 1992”.

Italy took an extended break from the contest from 1994 to 2011 (returning once in 1997). They became a member of the Big Five upon their return and have only missed the top 10 twice since. They finished second twice: in 2011 (with Raphael Gualazzi’s “Madness of Love”) and in 2019 (with Mahmood’s “Soldi”). Italy also notched third place in 2015 with Il Volo’s “Grande Amore”, which won the televote.

Perhaps the most iconic Italian Eurovision entry is Domenico Modugno’s “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” – better known as “Volare” – which placed third in 1958. It was a success in the American charts and won the first ever Grammy award for Song of the Year.

Which artists are you most excited about seeing on the list?? Who would you like to see represent Italy on their home soil? Let us know in the comments or on social media. Be sure to follow ‘THAT Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

News Source: RAI

Photo Source: RAI