After the winner Sanremo 2025, Olly, announced he would not be participating at Eurovision 2025, RAI have confirmed Sanremo 2025 runner-up Lucio Corsi will represent Italy in Eurovision 2025 in Basel with “Volevo essere un duro”
First Time since 2016 a winner refuses participation
Italy has used Festival di Sanremo to select its Eurovision representative (except 2014, when it internally selected Emma Marrone to represent them in Copenhagen). In 2016, Stadio, a Pop-Rock band won the Big Artists category in the festival but declined the opportunity to represent Italy in Stockholm, with the opportunity being given to Francesca Michielin. Since then, all the winners of the festival have participated in the competition – a tradition Olly has broken this year.
As a member of the Big Five, Lucio will represent Italy at the Grand Final of Eurovision 2025 on May 17 with his Sanremo entry “Volevo essere un duro”
Italy’s Eurovision Journey
Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since the very beginning and have always been considered a powerhouse in the contest. The country has won the contest on three occasions in 1964, 1990 and 2021. Italy withdrew after 1997, returning again in 2011 with Raphael Gualazzi who sang ‘Madness Of Love’. Raphael placed second in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest after scoring 189 points.
Italy’s most recent entry in 2024 was “La Noia” by Angelina Mango. At the close of voting, Italy scored a total of 268 points in the Eurovision 2024 Grand Final, placing 7th. Of these, 164 points came from the juries, whilst the remaining 104 points came from the televote.
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News Source: RAI
Photo Credit: RAI
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