What a night! What a show! The 73rd edition of the Festival of Sanremo delivered yet another sensational show and met all the expectations. It took more than 25 hours of live television, but here we are: Marco Mengoni won the Festival of Sanremo with Due vite. It is the second triumph at Teatro Ariston for the artist and a Eurovision comeback next may in Liverpool!

It was well into the night when the name of the winner of the Festival of Sanremo 2023 was proclaimed from the stage of Teatro Ariston. Co-hosts Amadeus and Gianni Morandi delivered the most awaited news in Italy for the past week. Marco Mengoni realised a successful comeback ten years after his first victory and took the trophy home with his Due vite.

Sanremo 2023 line-up

This were tonight’s competing acts in running order:

• Elodie – Due
• Colla Zio – Non mi va
• Mara Sattei – Duemilaminuti
• Tananai – Tango
• Colapesce Dimartino – Splash
• Giorgia – Parole dette male
• Modà – Lasciami
• Ultimo – Alba
• Lazza – Cenere
• Marco Mengoni – Due vite
• Rosa Chemical – Made in Italy
• Cugini di Campagna – Lettera 22
• Madame – Il bene nel male
• Ariete – Mare di guai
• Mr. Rain – Supereroi
• Paola & Chiara – Furore
• Levante – Vivo
• LDA – Se poi domani
• Coma_Cose – L’addio
• Olly – Polvere
• Articolo 31 – Un bel viaggio
• Will – Stupido
• Leo Gassmann – Terzo cuore
• gIANMARIA– Mostro
• Anna Oxa – Sali (Canto dell’anima)
• Shari – Egoista
• Gianluca Grignani – Quando ti manca il fiato
• Sethu – Cause perse

The final night of Sanremo 2023 saw the special appearance of Depeche Mode who performed for the very first time their latest single Ghost again. Achille Lauro (San Marino, 2022) and Ornella Vanoni also graced the evening.

Towards the end of the night co-host Amadeus read out a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy directed to all participants and organisers of the Festival. This was followed by the performance of AntytilA, a Ukranian rockband.

The finalists

At the end of all performances the televote delivered the shortlist of five finalists who advanced to the last round of voting. The audience was the sole responsible for putting these acts through. But before, the ranking from last to sixth was announced:

• 6th place: Giorgia – Parole dette male
• 7th place: Madame – Il bene nel male
• 8th place: Rosa Chemical – Made in Italy
• 9th place:  Elodie – Due
• 10th place: Colapesce Dimartino – Splash
• 11th place: Modà – Lasciami
• 12th place: Gianluca Grignani – Quando ti manca il fiato
• 13th place: Coma_Cose – L’addio
• 14th place: Ariete – Mare di guai
• 15th place: LDA – Se poi domani
• 16th place: Articolo 31 – Un bel viaggio
• 17th place: Paola & Chiara – Furore
• 18th place: Leo Gassmann – Terzo cuore
• 19th place: Mara Sattei – Duemilaminuti
• 20th place: Colla Zio – Non mi va
• 21st place: Cugini di Campagna – Lettera 22
• 22nd place: gIANMARIA– Mostro
• 23rd place: Levante – Vivo
• 24th place: Olly – Polvere
• 25th place: Anna Oxa – Sali (Canto dell’anima)
• 26th place: Will – Stupido
• 27th place: Shari – Egoista
• 28th place: Sethu – Cause perse

This left us with a short-list of five big finalists:

• Ultimo– Alba
• Tananai – Tango
• Lazza – Cenere
• Marco Mengoni – Due vite
• Mr. Rain – Supereroi

We have a winner!

The televote was then reopened, this time together with the vote of the press and of the demoscopic jury. The three entities had the last word for this edition of the Festival of Sanremo. The top 5 performed once again.

Since suspense is the word, before revealing the final top 5 Amadeus and Gianni Morandi delivered the following awards:

• Critics award “Mia Martini” to Colapesce Dimartino – Splash
• Press award “Lucio Dalla” to Colapesce Dimartino – Splash
• “Sergio Bardotti” award to the best lyrics to Coma_Cose – L’addio
• “Giancarlo Bigazzi” award to the best musical composition to Marco Mengoni – Due vite

Friday night Marco Mengoni had already won the Cover award for his performance of Let it be with Kingdom Choir.

Finally, close to 3am and after more than 6 hours of live show, Amadeus announced the winner of the 73rd Festival of Sanremo. It was Marco Mengoni with Due vite! He dedicated his victory to all the female artists competing with him in this year’s contest. The singer is due to represent Italy at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final on Saturday 13 May 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Marco Mengoni confirmed his intention in representing his home country during the press conference following the proclamation of the results. Furthermore, the artists had declared in different interviews prior to the festival that he would accept the invite should he come first at Sanremo. It will therefore be yet another comeback for the second year in a row for an Italian artist on the Eurovision stage after last year’s second appearance for Mahmood in Turin.

This the final ranking with the share of votes:

• 1st placed Marco Mengoni – Due vite (45,53%)
• 2nd placed Lazza – Cenere (16,64%)
• 3rd placed Mr. Rain – Supereroi (14,43%)
• 4th placed Ultimo– Alba (12,25%)
• 5th placed Tananai – Tango (11,15%)

About Marco Mengoni

The 34 year-old singer from Ronciglione (Latium, central Italy) continues his honeymoon with the most famous Italian music festival and with televised shows in general. He rose to fame in 2009 when he won the X Factor in Italy and topped national charts with his first single Dove si vola. The following year he enters Sanremo and reaches a honourable third place with Credimi ancora.

He comes back to Sanremo in 2013, this time winning with L’essenziale. Thank to this victory he is given the honour to represent his home country to the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, placing 7th. Also in 2013 he wins the MTV Europe Music Awards as Best Italian Act.

In 14 years of musical career he has released 11 EPs, won ten Wind Music Awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards and three nominations to the World Music Award.

Italy in Eurovision

Italy is one of the founder members of the Eurovision Song Contest having debuted in the very first contest in 1956. The country has won the event three times with Gigliola Cinquetti (1964), Toto Cutugno (1990) and Maneskin (2021).

Italy withdrew from the competition in 1998 and returned to Eurovision in 2011 after a 13 year hiatus. Since their return to the contest the Italians have enjoyed great success in the event placing 9 times in the top 10 of the scoreboard including a victory in 2021. The southern European country has taken part 47 times in Europe’s favourite television show.

In 2022 Mahmood and Blanco represented Italy at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin with their entry Brividi coming 6th in the Grand Final.