The winners of the 2015 Sanremo Song Festival, Il Volo will represent Italy at the  forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, next May.

The announcement revealing the 2015 Italian Eurovision representative was made during the 2015 Sanremo Song Festival final. Il Volo will have the honour of flying the Italian flag in Vienna on 23 May. Italy will compete at the Grand Final of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest on 23 May as it one of the BIG 5 countries along with Spain, UK, France and Germany.

Grande Amore

ll Volo won the Sanremo Song Festival with their entry Grande Amore. It is yet unclear if they will go to Vienna with Grande Amore or with another entry. If they opt for Grande Amore, the song will have to be shortened to 3 minutes in order to comply with the Eurovision Song Contest rules; the length of the competing song must not be more than 3 minutes.

NEK  came 2nd and Malika Ayane was 3rd in the competition.

The 2015 Sanremo Song Festival was held at Teatro Ariston, Sanremo from 10-14 February.  A total of 20 acts battled for the grand prix in the Campioni category whilst a total of 8 acts battled in Nuovi Proposte Categorty. The show was hosted by Carlo Ponti, Emma Marrone (Italy 2014) and Arisa.

Sanremo 2015 and Eurovision

Last September RAI announced that winner of the forthcoming 2015 Sanremo Song Festival would be eligible to represent Italy at the 2015 Eurovison Song Contest in Vienna next May if he/she wishes to.

Italy has long had the tradition of sending Sanremo winners or participants to the Eurovision Song Contest. The 2015 Sanremo rules and regulations , stated that the winner of the 2015 Sanremo Song Festival would 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.

About Italy

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.