Ciao Europe! We’re heading to Italy tonight, namely to Sanremo where the Grand Finale of the 2019 Sanremo Song Festival is to take place. RAI, the Italian national broadcaster, will once again select its Eurovision hopeful via the internationally acclaimed Italian song contest. The winner of tonight’s competition will be offered the golden ticket to the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.

Italy will be fourth BIG 5 country to determine its Eurovision 2019 hopeful following France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

How to watch?

You can watch the 2019 Sanremo Song Festival’s Grand Finale  from 20:40 CET on the following channels:

• Rai 1
• Rai International (via satellite)
• Rai Play webstream

About tonight’s show

The Grand Finale of the 2019 Festival di Sanremo will be held tonight at the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo and will hosted Claudio Baglioni, Claudio Bissio and Virginia Raffaele .

The Campioni 24 candidates will fight for the coveted Sanremo trophy during tonight’s show. The 2019 Sanremo winner will be determined via a combined televoting/press jury/expert jury deliberation.

The winner will be elgible to represent Italy at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, if he/she declines the invite it will be entirely upon RAI’s discretion to deliberate the 2019 Italian Eurovision hopeful.

The Campioni Candidates

• Paola Turci – L’ultimo ostacolo
• Simone Cristicchi – Abbi cura di me
• Zen Circus – L’amore è una dittatura
• Anna Tatangelo – Le nostre anime di notte
• Loredana Bertè – Cosa ti aspetti da me
• Irama – La ragazza col cuore di latta
• Ultimo – I tuoi particolari
• Nek – Mi farò trovare pronto
• Motta – Dov’è l’Italia
• Il Volo – Musica che resta
• Ghemon – Rose viola
• Federica Carta e Shade – Senza farlo apposta
• Patty Pravo e Briga – Un po’ come la vita
• Negrita – I ragazzi stanno bene
• Daniele Silvestri – Argento vivo
• Ex Otago – Solo una canzone
• Achille Lauro – Rolls Royce
• Arisa – Mi sento bene
• Francesco Renga – Aspetto che torni
• Boomdabash – Per un milione
• Enrico Nigiotti – Nonno Hollywood
• Nino D’Angelo e Livio Cori – Un’altra luce
• Einar – Parole nuove
• Mahmood- Soldi

Italy in Eurovision

Italy is one of the founder members of the Eurovision Song Contest having debuted in the very first contest in Lugano back in 1956. The country has won the competition on two ocassions: 1964 (Gigliola Cinquetti) and 1990 (Toto Cotugno).

Italy withdrew from the event in 1997 and came back to the game after a 13 year hiatus. The Italians returned with great honours in 2011 when Raphael Gualazzi came 2nd in Düsseldorf.

Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro were crowned the winners of Sanremo 2018 and won the right to represent Italy at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with their entry Non mi avette fatto niente. The duo achieved an honorable 5th place in the Grand Final.