Rai, the Italian national broadcaster has announced that the 2014 Austrian Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst will perform at the 2015 Sanremo Song Festival next February.

Yes its true! Conchita Wurst the Queen of Austria will grace the Sanremo stage in a of weeks and treat the Italian audience with her performance. After attending the Italian Eurovision national final, the Austrian superstar will be flying to Germany and Sweden, where shell perform at Unser Song für Österreich and Melodifestivalen respectively. This weekend she will be gracing the Swiss national final in Kreuzlingen.

The 2015 Sanremo Song Festival will run from 10-14 February and will be the mechanism that RAI will use to select the 2015 Italian Eurovision entry and representative for Vienna. The winner of the Campioni Category at the 2015 Sanremo Song Festival will be eligible t0 represent Italy at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in May. The grand finale of the 2015 Sanremo Song Festival is scheduled to be held on Saturday 14 February.

A total of 20 candidates will be battling for the coveted grand prix in the 2015 Festival Della Canzone di Sanremo- Campioni Category. The 20 candidates will present their entries on Friday 13 February and only 16 will make it to Saturday’s grand final after a mixed televoting/expert jury/poll deliberation. Hence one of the 16 qualified acts for Saturday’s final will have the honour of flying the Italian flag in Vienna.

Initially 16 acts were slated to compete in the Sanremo 2015 Campioni category but RAI but the Sanremo comittee has decided to extend the number to 20 acts. On 11 December RAI announced the names of the 8 acts who will compete in the 2015 Sanremo Nuovi Proposti category.

This year the Campioni candidates will only compete with 1 song instead of 2 song as has been the case in the previous years.

The Campioni Candidates

1. Annalisa – Una finestra tra le stelle
2. Malika Ayane – Adesso e qui
3. Marco Masini – Che giorno è
4. Chiara – Straordinario
5. Gianluca Grignani – Sogni infranti
6. Nek – Fatti avanti amore
7. Nina Zilli – Sola
8. Dear Jack – Il mondo esplode
9. Alex Britti – Un attimo importante
10. Biggio e Mandelli – Vita d’Inferno
11. Moreno – Oggi ti parlo così
12. Bianca Atzei – Il solo al mondo
13. Raf – Come una favola
14. Lara Fabian – Voce
15. Grazia dI Michele e Mauro Coruzzi / Platinette – Io sono una finestra
16. Il Volo – Grande amore
17. Anna Tatangelo – Libera
18. Nesli – Buona fortuna amore
19. Irene Grandi – Un vento senza nome
20. Lorenzo Fragola – Siamo uguali

Famous Italian presenter and tv host Carlo Conti will be hosting the song festival. The shows will be aired live on Rai 1, Rai HD, Rai Radio 1 and Rai Radio 2. Carlo will be joined on stage by 2 former Sanremo participants Emma Marrone (2014 Italian representative/ Sanremo 2012 winner) and Arisa, who will help him host the musical extravaganza.

The Sanremo 2015 Agenda

• 10/02 – Sanremo Notte 1
• 11/02 – Sanremo Notte 2
• 12/02 – Sanremo  Notte 3
• 13/02 – Sanremo Notte 4 (Semifinal of Campioni Category with 20 acts)
• 14/02 – Sanremo Notte 5 ( Grand final of Sanremo 2015 with 16 acts)

Italy has long had the tradition of sending Sanremo winners or participants to the Eurovision Song Contest. The Sanremo rules and regulations have been released , where it  states that the winner of the 2015 Sanremo Song Festival will be eligible to represent Italy at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest if he/hes wishes to.

Article n.27 in the 2015 Sanremo Song Contest rules states:

The winner of the Campeoni category at the Sannremo Song Festival will have the right to participate at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest and represent Italy in the contest if he/she are available and agreeable.

 In case the artist is not available , the organizers of the above event will reserve the right to choose another participant via their own criteria.

The story so far

Since its return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011, Italy has selected its Eurovision representatives via the Sanremo Song Festival: Raphael Gualazzi (2011), Nina Zilli (2012) and Marco Mengoni (2013). But this changed in 2014 when RAI opted for an internal selection and Emma Marrone was given the grand honour of representing Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen with her entry La mia citta.

Emma achieved a 21st placing at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest grand final.

Italy debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 and was one of the founder members of the contest. The country has won the event 2 times in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti and 1990 with Toto Cotugno. Italy withdrew from the event in 1998 and returned back in 2011.

The 2015 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 19, 21, 23 May at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.

Stay tuned to Esctoday.com for the latest information on Italy , Sanremo 2015 and the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.