Buonasera Sanremo! The famous Italian song Festival reached a climax of emotions this Saturday night during the Grand Final. After five long shows it all came to a conclusion. The word is out! Mahmood and Blanco triumphed and will therefore represent the country on home soil at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Turin.

The 72nd edition of the Sanremo Song Festival belongs to history. Five shows, endless performances, an excited audience, special guests, flowers, flowers and flowers. The most important music competition in Italy ended in the first hours of Sunday morning.

25 contestants entered the festival last Tuesday for the glory, but most importantly for the honour to fly the Italian flag at the next Eurovision Song Contest, which will return to Italy after 31 years.

About the show

The host of the Festival, Amadeus led several million viewers throughout the week. He was appointed by the Italian national broadcaster RAI for the third consecutive year. Tonight he was accompanied on stage by Sabrina Ferilli, a well-known actress.  These were the 25 entries competing in this year’s contest:

• Achille Lauro – Domenica
• Aka 7even – Perfetta così
• Ana Mena – Duecentomila ore
• Dargen D’Amico – Dove si balla
• Ditonellapiaga con Rettore – Chimica
• Elisa – O forse sei tu
• Emma – Ogni volta è così
• Fabrizio Moro – Sei tu
• Gianni Morandi – Apri tutte le porte
• Giovanni Truppi – Tuo padre, mia madre, Lucia
• Giusy Ferreri – Miele
• Highsnob e Hu – Abbi cura di te
• Irama – Ovunque sarai
• Iva Zanicchi – Voglio amarti
• La Rappresentante di Lista – Ciao ciao
• Le Vibrazioni – Tantissimo
• Mahmood e Blanco – Brividi
• Massimo Ranieri – Lettera di là dal mare
• Matteo Romano – Virale
• Michele Bravi – Inverno dei fiori
• Noemi – Ti amo non lo so dire
• Rkomi – Insuperabile
• Sangiovanni – Farfalle
• Tananai – Sesso occasionale
• Yuman – Ora e qui

Eurovision in Sanremo 2022

In this special Eurovision year of Italy, the Festival was filled with Eurovision acts and performers. A long list of former Italian Eurovision entrants were aiming at representing their country once again: Mahmood (Italy 2019), Emma (Italy 2014),  Fabrizio Moro (Italy 2018), Massimo Ranieri (Italy 1971 and 1973), Gianni Morandi (Italy 1970) and Iva Zanicchi (Italy 1969).

Special guest of the night was another former Eurovision entrant, Marco Mengoni (Italy 2013), who performed his Eurovision entry L’essenziale, as well as his latest single Mi fiderò.

A special moment was dedicated during the final to the late Raffaella Carrà, who passed away last year aged 78. She was honoured with a medley of her most memorable songs, also through a well-produced hologram on stage. Raffaella Carrà was considered by many to be a potential host for Eurovision 2022. She last appeared in Eurovision announcing the points of Italy at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf. Media also reports that she played a key role in bringing Italy back to the contest after more than a decade of absence.

Time for decisions

The decision of the three “super-finalists” was made 100% by the televote. At the end of all performances and with the televote closed, Amadeus unveiled the complete ranking from 25th to 4th:

• 4th: Irama – Ovunque sarai
• 5th: Sangiovanni – Farfalle
• 6th: Emma – Ogni volta è così
• 7th: La Rappresentante di Lista – Ciao ciao
• 8th: Massimo Ranieri – Lettera di là dal mare
• 9th: Dargen D’Amico – Dove si balla
• 10th: Michele Bravi – Inverno dei fiori
• 11th: Matteo Romano – Virale
• 12th: Fabrizio Moro – Sei tu
• 13th: Aka 7even – Perfetta così
• 14th: Achille Lauro – Domenica
• 15th: Noemi – Ti amo non lo so dire
• 16th: Ditonellapiaga con Rettore – Chimica
• 17th: Rkomi – Insuperabile
• 18th: Iva Zanicchi – Voglio amarti
• 19th: Giovanni Truppi – Tuo padre, mia madre, Lucia
• 20th: Highsnob e Hu – Abbi cura di te
• 21st: Yuman – Ora e qui
• 22nd: Le Vibrazioni – Tantissimo
• 23rd: Giusy Ferreri – Miele
• 24th: Ana Mena – Duecentomila ore
• 25th: Tananai – Sesso occasionale

…which means that the three finalists were:

• Elisa – O forse sei tu
• Gianni Morandi – Apri tutte le porte
• Mahmood e Blanco – Brividi

The vote was then reopened only for the top three contestants. This time, the decision was split between the televote (one third), the press (one third) and the demoscopic jury (one third).

We have a winner!

Before revealing the final top 3, different awards were distributed to this year’s contestants:

• Critics award “Mia Martini” to Massimo Ranieri with Lettera di là dal mare.
• Press award “Lucio Dalla” to Gianni Morandi with Apri tutte le porte.
• “Sergio Bardotti” award to the best lyrics to Fabrizio Moro with Sei tu.
• “Giancarlo Bigazzi” award to the best musical composition to Elisa with O forse sei tu.

Finally, well into the night, Amadeus announced the winner of the 72nd Sanremo Festival. It is Mahmood and Blanco with Brividi with 54,3% of the televote!

Second place went to Elisa with O forse sei tu. Third came Gianni Morandi with Apri tutte le porte.

It is therefore a grand comeback to the Eurovision stage for Mahmood, who already represented his home country back in 2019 in Tel Aviv with his iconic Soldi, placing second behind the winner Duncan Laurence. The duo confirmed during the winner’s press conference hold right after the Final that they are intentioned to take part to Eurovision for Italy.

Mahmood triumphed in Sanremo for the second time in three years, this time together with 18-year-old Blanco.

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 three times (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.

Let’s watch again the performance of Mahmood and Blanco on stage at the 72nd Sanremo Festival: