Today rehearsals for Junior Eurovision 2024 kicked off in Madrid. Countries rehearsing on Day 1 include Georgia, Italy, Cyprus, Albania, Ukraine, Estonia, Armenia, North Macedonia and Spain. The second country to rehearse today is Italy’s Simone Grande.
What did we learn about Simone Grande’s staging?
Disclaimer: Please note that the EBU has not released footage from the first rehearsals, and that the description detailed in this article is mainly based from the pictures and if available footage from the delegations themselves.
Simone appears on a brightly lit stage surrounded by dancers wearing a shiny blue jacket and trousers combination, and a t-shirt that reads, ‘Love is the Answer’. He is surrounded on stage by three dancers, and the centerpiece of the staging is a curtained bed, and the singer’s personality
If you are interested in seeing more pictures from Simone Grande’s first rehearsal today, you can look through them right here.
Who is Simone Grande?
Simone Grande grew up in small-town Rozzano and first found success through winning The Voice Kids Italy. Outside of singing, Grande enjoys cooking, dancing, and cheering on his favorite football team, Inter Milan.
Simone Grande’s presence at Junior Eurovision was seemingly confirmed back in December, before RAI had even made a decision! During his appearance on The Voice Kids, host Antonella Clerici announced that one of the show’s twelve finalists would represent Italy this year in Madrid; however, many viewers took this to mean that the winner would automatically go to Junior Eurovision. On 10 September, RAI confirmed that they had internally selected Grande, and his song “Pigiama Party” was released the next week.
Italy’s Junior Eurovision Journey
Italy made its Junior Eurovision debut in 2014 with Vincenzo Cantiello and the song “Tu primo grande amore”. The performance scored 159 points on its way to a victory. Since winning, Italy’s best result is a 3rd place in the 2016 contest. Italy has so far participated eight times in the contest.
Italy’s most recent participation was in 2023. Melissa and Ranya’s “Un Mondo Giusto” finished 11th after receiving 81 points with 37 points coming from the international juries and 44 points from the online voters.
Are you looking forward to seeing Italy at Junior Eurovision in Madrid? As always, let us know what you think by commenting down below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky as we prepare for Junior Eurovision 2024!
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming/EBU
That Eurovision Site 
Tim J