Bona sera Europe this is Sanremo calling! The 2022 Sanremo Song Festival will be kicking off tonight with its first soiree.

The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest host nation, Italy, kicks off its iconic Sanremo Song Festival tonight with its first show. The winner of Sanremo 2022 will be eligible to represent Italy at the forthcoming 2022 Eurovision Song Cotest.

How to watch?

You can watch the 2022 Sanremo Song Contest Night #1 at 20:40 CET via the following channels:

• Rai 1
• RaiPlay

About the show

The first set of 12 competing acts will showcase their songs during tonight’s gala:

• Achille Lauro (feat. Harlem Gospel Choir) – Domenica
• Ana Mena – Duecentomila ore
• Dargen D’Amico – Dove si balla
• Gianni Morandi – Apri tutte le porte
• Giusy Ferreri – Miele
• La Rappresentante di Lista – Ciao ciao
• Mahmood e Blanco – Brividi
• Massimo Ranieri – Lettera di là dal mare
• Michele Bravi – Inverno dei fiori
• Noemi – Ti amo non lo so dire
• Rkomi – Insuperabile
• Yuman – Ora e qui

We have three former Italian Eurovision acts competing tonight: Mahmood (Italy 2019) , Gianni Morandi (Italy 1970) and Massimo Ranieri (Italy 1971/ 1973).

The show will be hosted by Amadeus and Fiorello along with Ornella Muti, Lorena Cesarini, Drusilla Foer, Maria Chiara Giannetta and Sabrina Ferilli.

The 2021 Sanremos and Eurovision winners Maneskin will the gracing tonight’s show as special guests.

About Sanremo 2022

Amadeus will be the Sanremo host and artistic director for the third consecutive year. The 2022 Sanremo Song Festival will run from 01-05 February. The Grand Final of Sanremo 2022 is set to take place on Saturday 5 February, where the winner of the competition will be eligible to represent Italy at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest on home soil.

RAI has revamped the voting system for Sanremo 2022. There will be no eliminations throughout the competition until the last night where the winner will be determined. The press vote will be divided into 3 categories: written press, Radio & TV and web.

The 2022 Sanremo winner will be determined via a mixed televoting, press  jury (press room/web/tv/ radio) and demoscopic voting deliberation.

The 2022 Sanremo Agenda

• 01/02/2022–Sanremo 2022 Soiree #1 (First 12 acts will perform their entries)
• 02/02/2022–Sanremo 2022 Soiree #2 (Second set of 12 acts will perform their entries)
• 03/02/2022–Sanremo 2022 Soiree #3  ( All 24 acts will perform their respective entries)
  
• 04/02/2022 – Sanremo 2022 Soiree #4 ( All 24 acts will perform a cover song alone or with a guest)
  
• 05/02/2022– Sanremo 2022 Soiree #5– Grand Final ( 24 competing entries)

Italy in Eurovision

Italy is one of the founder countries of the Eurovision Song Contest having debuted at the very first contest in 1956 and has won the competition thrice (1964, 1990 and 2021). The country has hosted the event twice: Naples (1965) and Rome (1991). Thanks to Maneskin’s epic victory in Rotterdam last year the Eurovision bandwagon is returning to Italian soil for the the third time.