What a night Sanremo! Five endless nights. 26 competing entries. Countless delays and some good Mediterranean drama. What a frame for one of the oldest music festivals in Europe. The Festival of Sanremo ended in the middle of the night. The wait is over: Måneskin won with Zitti e buoni!
If you have followed the five nights entirely you probably deserve a huge round of applause right now. The Festival of Sanremo 2021 approached a total length of 30 hours since last Tuesday. The Italian national broadcaster RAI did not deceive the expectations with a show comparable to the standards reached in recent years. 26 Campioni, among them both comebacks and new entries, were battling on stage for the big prize. They were:
- Aiello – Ora
- Annalisa – Dieci
- Arisa – Potevi fare di più
- Malika Ayane – Ti piaci così
- Orietta Berti – Quando ti sei innamorato
- Bugo – E invece sì
- Colapesce / Di Martino – Musica leggerissima
- Coma_Cose – Fiamme negli occhi
- Gio Evan – Arnica
- Extraliscio Feat. Davide Toffolo – Bianca luce nera
- Fasma – Parlami
- Fulminacci – Santa Marinella
- Gaia – Cuore amaro
- Ghemon – Momento perfetto
- Irama – La genesi del tuo colore
- La rappresentante di lista – Amare
- Lo Stato Sociale – Combat Pop
- Madame – Voce
- Maneskin – Zitti e buoni
- Ermal Meta – Un milione di cose da dirti
- Max Gazze’ – Il farmacista
- Michielin/Fedez – Chiamami per nome
- Noemi – Glicine
- Willie Peyote – Mai dire mai (La Locura)
- Random – Torno a te
- Francesco Renga – Quando trovo te
It came down to three
Here’s a little resume of the Festival. On Tuesday and Wednesday night the performances were voted by a jury of 300 experts. On Thursday night they were evaluated by the orchestra. Tonight the televote was in charge. All the points were added up tonight to establish the final ranking of Sanremo 2021. The three most voted songs advanced to the Big Final. Before the beginning of the fifth and last night, Ermal Meta (Eurovision 2018 alongside Fabrizio Moro) with the entry Un milione di cose da dirti was topping all the released rankings.
The hosts of the night, Amadeus and Fiorello, announced the final ranking around 2 am:
- TOP3
- TOP3
- TOP3
- Colapesce Dimartino – Musica leggerissima
- Irama – La genesi del tuo colore
- Willie Peyote – Mai dire mai (la locura)
- Annalisa – Dieci
- Madame – Voce
- Orietta Berti – Quando ti sei innamorato
- Arisa – Potevi fare di più
- La rappresentante di lista – Amare
- Extraliscio ft. Davide Toffolo – Bianca luce nera
- Lo Stato sociale – Combat pop
- Noemi – Glicine
- Malika Ayane – Ti piaci così
- Fulminacci – Santa Marinella
- Max Gazzè – Il farmacista
- Fasma – Parlami
- Gaia – Cuore amaro
- Coma_Cose – Fiamme negli occhi
- Ghemon – Momento perfetto
- Francesco Renga – Quando trovo te
- Gio Evan – Arnica
- Bugo – E invece si
- Aiello – Ora
- Random – Torno a te
Therefore, the top 3 advanced to the final vote. They were announced in a random order:
- Ermal Meta – Un milione di cose da dirti
- Francesca Michielin & Fedez – Chiamami per nome
- Måneskin – Zitti e buoni
We have a winner!
The televote was therefore available again. Televoters (34%), the expert jury (33%) and the orchestra (33%) were jointly in charge of nominating the winning song of the 71st Festival of Sanremo. As it has been the case since 2015, the winner is giving the opportunity to represent Italy at next Eurovision.
In a climax of suspense around 2:30 am CET Amadeus announced the final result:
- Måneskin – Zitti e buoni
- Francesca Michielin & Fedez – Chiamami per nome
- Ermal Meta – Un milione di cose da dirti
The Måneskin were declared winner of the 2021 Festival of Sanremo with the entry Zitti e buoni. The group is therefore eligible to fly the Italian flag at the Grand Final of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam on 22 May 2021!
Let’s watch the winning performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OISmX4vOKA
Other prizes were awarded tonight:
- Prize of the critics Mia Martini, awarded to Willie Peyote with Mai dire mai (la locura)
- Prize of the press in memory of Lucio Dalla, awarded to Colapesce Dimartino with Musica leggerissima
- Prize Sergio Bardotti to the best lyrics, awarded to Madame with Voce
- Prize Giancarlo Bigazzi to the best musical composition, awarded to Ermal Meta with Un milione di cose da dirti
On another side, Sanremo 2021 also organized another category, the Nuove proposte. In this section reserved to new entrants in the music industry, the trophy went to Gaudiano with Polvere da sparo. Raphael Gualazzi, the Italian representative in 2011, won this category with his Follia d’amore (Madness of love).
Italy in Eurovision
Italy is one of the founding members of the Eurovision Song Contest and a current member of the so-called Big5. They have taken part a total of 45 times since 1956. They took the trophy in two occasions, in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti (Non ho l’età), and again in 1990 with Toto Cutugno (Insieme). The country first withdrew in 1994 and again in 1998. Lately, since their comeback in 2011 they have reached the podium on three occasions. During the show Congratulations: the 50 years of the Eurovision Song Contest the Italian entry Nel blu dipinto di blu (Domenico Modugno, Eurovision 1958) reached the runner-up place.
