🇮🇹 Meet the TES Team: Silvia

Before September 1st hits, and we get sucked into a new Eurovision season, we wanted to take the opportunity to give our readers a chance to get to know our team a bit better. There’s no other way to do this other than to do a series where we introduce ourselves. In this part, it is the turn of our Social Media coordinator and writer, Silvia.

Hey everyone! Silvia here. I was born in Rome and I’m currently living in Spain. I study Journalistic and Audiovisual Communication at university and I’m a big fan of music, Eurovision, and sports such as football, formula 1 and tennis!

Name: Silvia Stifini (some call me Sil, Silv, Sivi… they’re all fine!)

Birthday: October 5th, 2006

Pronouns: She/her

You can find her posting on:

Instagram: @sivistif

X: @sivistif

How did I get into the Eurovision Song Contest?

It was 2015, I was 8 years old, and as any average Italian, I was watching Sanremo. I absolutely loved that edition and I remember listening to the songs nonstop for weeks. One day, while scrolling on YouTube, I came across the official video of “Grande Amore” by Il Volo – but it was posted by the Eurovision channel. I had no idea what Eurovision was, so I explored the channel and did a bit of research… and that’s how I discovered it!
I became obsessed with 🇸🇮 Slovenia that year – and it’s still my personal winner!

What point did I consider myself as a “Eurofan”?

I watched a national final “just out of boredom”… and since then I haven’t been able to stop. Even when my family would call me to come eat dinner at a restaurant outside, I’d be like: “Sorry, it’s Super Saturday!”
That’s probably when I realised I was… slightly obsessed.

How has my life changed since becoming a Eurofan?

I definitely listen to way more music now! I enjoy discovering songs from so many countries, exploring different genres, languages, and cultures. Even my general knowledge of Europe has improved because of it.

Back in 2018, instead of hanging out at the park with my friends, I created a platform to share Eurovision news – and I was only 12. I put a lot of effort into it (even skipped a few school lessons just to post breaking news… don’t tell my teachers!) and that’s when I realised that what I truly enjoy is covering Eurovision.

Since then, I’ve kept learning how to improve, how to write, how to be a journalist… so yeah, Eurovision kind of shaped my childhood!

What are my favourite Eurovision countries? And my top 5 favourite songs?

Tough question… it changes every year! But usually, I really enjoy Portugal. I love Portuguese songs and their soft and cute vibe. Of course, my own country Italy always brings something special – it’s usually very high quality and stands out. Other countries I often enjoy are the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Albania (I love the Balkan genre!). Oh, and I can’t forget my dear Bosnia.

As for my top 5 Eurovision songs (which was extremely hard to narrow down), here we go:

• 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (1973) Anne-Marie David with “Tu Te Reconnaîtras”
• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (1997) Katrina and the Waves with “Love Shine a Light”
• 🇳🇴 Norway (2009) Alexander Rybak with “Fairytale”
• 🇮🇹 Italy (2021) Måneskin with “Zitti E Buoni”
• 🇦🇱 Albania (2018) Eugent Bushpepa with “Mall”

Honourable mentions:

• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (2022) Sam Ryder with “SPACE MAN”
• 🇸🇮 Slovenia (2015) Maraaya with “Here for You”
• 🇲🇰 North Macedonia (2012) Kaliopi with “Crno I Belo”

What are my favourite National Final songs?

Every year, my playlist gets more than 80 new songs just from national finals… so this question is incredibly hard to answer! But to keep it simple, I’ll go with five favourites – some of them are quite recent – listed from the oldest to the most recent:

• 🇮🇹 Nek with “Fatti Avanti Amore” (Sanremo 2015 – Italy)
• 🇪🇪 Stefan with “Without You” (Eesti Laul 2019 – Estonia)
• 🇦🇱 Eldis Arrnjeti with “Një Kujtim” (Festivali i Këngës 2024 – Albania)
• 🇺🇦 MOLODI with “My Sea” (Vidbir 2025 – Ukraine)
• 🇮🇹 Brunori Sas with “L’albero Delle Noci” (Sanremo 2025 – Italy)

What are you looking forward to in the next Eurovision season?

I’m really looking forward to finally attending a Eurovision-related event – whether it’s a national final, a pre-party, or maybe even Eurovision itself!
I can’t wait to see who will represent each country and discover all the new songs. I’m also excited to meet new people, find new artists to fill my Spotify playlists, and experience the magic of the season all over again.

And of course, I’m really looking forward to sharing this Eurovision season with all of you through That Eurovision Site – with news, interviews, podcasts, and much more. Stay tuned… we’re going to have fun 🙂

What do you think of Sivi’s opinions? Want to learn more about our team? Let us know in the comments below or on social media. Don’t forget to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ over at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Tumblr, Threads and Bluesky.

Photo Credit: That Eurovision Site