🇮🇹 Sanremo 2023: Night 1 Recap

Sanremo 2023 has officially begun! Tonight, the first show of the festival was held, with 14 artists performing their entries.

Sanremo 2023: Night 1 (Tuesday 7th February)

Running Order	Artist	Song Title	Translation	Songwriter(s)	Result
1.	Anna Oxa	“Sali (Canto dell’anima)”	“Ascend (Song of the Soul)”	Anna Hoxha, Fiorenzo “Fio” Zanotti, Francesco Bianconi, Giuseppe “Kaballà” Rinaldi	14th
2.	gIANMARIA	“Mostro”	“Monster”	Antonio Filippelli, Gianmarco Manilardi, Gianmaria Volpato, Vincenzo Centrella, Vito Petrozzino	12th
3.	Mr. Rain	“Supereroi”	“Superheroes”	Federica Abbate, Lorenzo Vizzini Bisaccia, Mattia “Mr. Rain” Balardi	9th
4.	Marco Mengoni	“Due vite”	“Two Lives”	Davide Petrella, Davide Simonetta, Marco Mengoni	1st
5.	Ariete	“Mare di guai”	“Sea of Troubles”	Arianna “Ariete” Del Giaccio, Dario “Dardust” Faini, Edoardo “Calcutta” D’Erme, Vincenzo Centrella	11th
6.	Ultimo	“Alba”	“Sunrise”	Andrea Pugliese, Simone Cremonini, William “Will” Busetti	4th
7.	Coma_Cose	“L’addio”	“The Farewell”	Carlo Frigerio, Fabio Dalè, Fausto Zanardelli, Francesca “California” Mesiano	3rd
8.	Elodie	“Due”	“Two”	Elodie Di Patrizi, Federica Abbate, Francesco “Katoo” Catitti, Jacope Ettorre	2nd
9.	Leo Gassmann	“Terzo cuore”	“Third Heart”	Giorgio Pesenti, Leonardo “Leo” Gassman, Marco Paganelli, Riccardo Zanotti	5th
10.	I Cugini di Campagna	“Lettera 22”	“Letter 22”	Fabio Gargiulo, Dario Mangiaracina, Veronica Lucchesi	8th
11.	Gianluca Grignani	“Quando ti manca il fiato”	“When You’re Out Of Breath”	Enrico Melozzi, Gianluca Grignani	10th
12.	Olly	“Polvere”	“Dust”	Emanuele Lovito, Federico “Olly” Olivieri, Julien “JVLI” Boverod	13th
13	Colla Zio	“Non mi va”	“I Don’t Feel Like”	Andrea “Armo” Arminio, Andrea “Mala” Malatesta, Francesco “Glampo” Lamperti, Giorgio Pesenti, Tommaso “Berna” Bernasconi, Tommaso “Petta” Manzoni	7th
14.	Mara Sattei	“Duemilaminuti”	“Two Thousand Minutes”	Damiano David, Davide “Thasup” Mattei, Enrico Brun	6th

The combined results of the voting from tonight’s show and tomorrow night’s show will be shared following all of the performances tomorrow. The running order for both nights can be found here.

What else happened tonight?

The first night of Sanremo 2023 was presented by Amadeus and Gianni Morandi, with Chiara Ferragini as the guest host. Her monologue involved highlighting activists working to end violence against women in Italy. Morandi also took to the microphone throughout the evening, including starting the show with the Italian national anthem.

Guest performances were given by Pooh and Elena Sofia Ricci. Last year’s winners, Mahmood and Blanco, also performed their winning song “Brividi” once more. Salmo performed on the cruise ship floating stage, and we also saw part of the performance from Piero Pelù on the Colombo Square stage, just outside the Ariston theatre. There was also a tribute to Italian singer and songwriter Lucio Battisti, who would have turned 80 this year, as well as the 75th anniversary of the Italian constitution.

What else do we know about Sanremo 2023?

Festival di Sanremo 2023 will take place between 7th – 11th February. 28 artists will take part in the contest – 22 established artists and 6 selected through Sanremo Giovani for newcomer artists. The shows will take place from the Teatro Ariston, Sanremo, across the five nights.

Here’s a little guide as to how each night of the contest will work!

Night	What Happens?	Voting	Hosts	Guests
Night 1 (7th February)	14 artists will perform their competing entry.	The press jury votes on night 1	Amadeus Gianni Morandi Chiara Ferragini	Elena Sofia Ricci Mahmood & Blanco Pooh Salmo* Tribute to Lucio Battisti
Night 2 (8th February)	The remaining 14 artists will perform their competing entry.	The press jury votes on night 2 (and we receive a ranking of all 28 songs over the two nights)	Amadeus Gianni Morandi Francesca Fagnani	Al Bano Black Eyed Peas Fedez* Francesco Arca Massimo Ranieri
Night 3 (9th February)	All 28 artists will perform their competing entry.	The demoscopic jury and public vote on night 3	Amadeus Gianni Morandi Paola Egonu	Alessandro Siani Angelo Duro Måneskin Peppino di Capri Takagi & Ketra*
Night 4 (10th February)	All 28 artists will perform a cover of a song from the 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s with an invited guest.	The press jury (33%), demoscopic jury (33%) and public (34%) vote on night 4	Amadeus Gianni Morandi Chiara Francini	Cast of “Mare Fuori” Guè* Tribute to Lucio Dalla
Night 5 (11th February)	All 28 artists will perform their competing entry, and the winner will be decided!	The public vote on night 5, with the top 5 artists across all five nights making it to the podium, and a final vote across all three juries, weighted in the same way as night 4, determines the winner from these	Amadeus Gianni Morandi Chiara Ferragini	Depeche Mode Gino Paoli Luisa Ranieri Ornella Vanoni Salmo* Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Guests marked with an * will perform on the floating stage – a cruise ship! Additionally, other notable Italian acts including Piero Pelù (night 1), Francesco Renga & Nek (night 2), Annalisa (night 3), La Rappresentante di Lista (night 4) and Achille Lauro (night 5), alongside Gemelli di Guidonia, will perform live in the Colombo Square, near the Ariston Theatre, with clips of their performances broadcast during the live Sanremo shows.

Italy’s Eurovision Journey

Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since the very beginning and has always been considered a powerhouse in the contest. Italy has won the contest on three occasions: in 1964, 1990 and 2021. After 1997, Italy withdrew for a while, returning again in 2011 with Raphael Gualazzi, who sang ‘Madness Of Love.’ Raphael placed second in the 2011 Eurovison Song Contest, scoring 189 points.

Italy’s most recent entry in 2022 was ‘Brividi’ by Mahmood and Blanco, performed on home soil after rock band Måneskin won the previous contest in 2021. At the close of voting, Italy scoring 268 points in the Eurovision 2022 Grand Final, placing sixth.

What did you think of the first show for Sanremo 2023? Which acts stood out the most to you? As always, let us know your thoughts by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as we prepare for Eurovision 2023.

News Source: Rai

Photo Credit: Rai