Only last Monday I wrote that I had blocked my agenda every single night for the past week to watch the five (!) Sanremo live shows. However, something unexpected came up that completely changed my schedule. That Monday evening late, I received a phone call asking me whether I could go to Turin. Of course! So, on Tuesday I quickly made all the arrangements and on Wednesday, I boarded the plane. That meant that I got to spend most of the “Sanremo week” in Italy. In Turin to be precise, where in less than a hundred days the winner of Sanremo will make their appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was already palpable in the air. The song festival is alive and well in the city, even if it was still quiet now, like the calm before a huge storm that will soon rage over Italy’s most elegant city with a lot of glitter and glamour.
It’s a well-known fact that Italians can talk forever, but when it comes to Sanremo, they literally never stop
No matter which bar I walked into for a quick coffee between appointments, one thing was for sure: the TV was switched on, and on every channel the Sanremo Festival was discussed. They spoke about the songs itself of course, and about who had sung their song so incredibly well. But it was probably even more about the outfits, the co-presenters of Amadeus, presenter of the show and basically the protagonist of Sanremo, and the most remarkable comments on social media. Candidates appeared on videocalls in the plenty morning and afternoon shows and were subjected to many questions. How did they feel? How did they prepare themselves for that night’s show? Was there anything else they wanted to tell the Italians? What were they going to wear? It went on all day long. It’s a well-known fact that Italians can talk forever, but when it comes to Sanremo, they literally never stop. And me? I couldn’t get enough either.
I would like to argue that every country should have its own Sanremo festival
Because it is truly something unique, this festival of Sanremo. For a week, it connects north and south, and in every bar it’s the talk of the town, from Palermo to Turin. I would like to argue that every country should have its own Sanremo festival. If you think it’s a simple song contest – something like any of the popular talent shows – where candidates compete to become the number one, you have only captured part of the festival. It’s so much more. It’s that one week in the year with five nights of live shows that start at a quarter to nine and go on well – and I mean really well – past midnight. For the show to end after 2 am is completely normal, and social media is full of jokes about how it’s a true sport to stay awake every night. And believe me, you do want to stay awake. But what actually happens during all those hours?
And as Martina spoke on the Sanremo stage, a whole nation sat and listened to her story with tears in its eyes
The answer? More than I could describe here. It’s a kind of year in review of Italy where everything comes together. One of my favourite parts of the show is when an ordinary Italian enters the stage as a guest of honour for an extraordinary deed done in the past year. Last year, it was the Bergamo nurse who went viral with her selfie taken in the hospital during the first corona wave. The photo clearly showed the wounds on her face caused by wearing protective mouth masks for days in a row. She received a standing ovation from the entire country. This year, Amadeus had invited the 26-year-old policewoman Martina Pigliapoco. As fate would have it, on 4 October 2021 she arrived at the scene of a woman who was about to take her own life by jumping from an 80-metre-high bridge. Martina sat down next to her and began to talk quietly to her, trying to get her to change her mind. The conversation would last for more than three hours, during which Martina tried to put the worst thoughts aside. The woman had three children, and after the young carabiniera told her that she would rather have a mother with many problems than no mother at all, and that she was sure that this was also true for her own children, the woman decided not to proceed with what she was planning to do. And as Martina spoke on the Sanremo stage, a whole nation sat and listened to her story with tears in its eyes.
On Thursday, he was accompanied by Drusilla Foer, the female alter ego of the actor Gianluca Gori, who has made herself immortal. Not only with her constantly changing outfits and her hilarious Zorro performance, but especially because of her speech at the end of the evening that was quoted word for word in just about every Italian newspaper the following morning
For any Italian artist, whether just starting out or already enjoying a successful career, it remains an honour to participate in Sanremo. New, up-and-coming talent was alternated also this year with established names such as Gianni Morandi (77) and Donatella Rettore (66) who also competed for the win with their new song. On Friday night, the night of the covers, the candidates do not sing their own song but a big hit from the sixties, seventies, eighties or nineties, whether or not in duet with the biggest stars. Every year, it’s a surprise who will accompany them on stage, with Jovanotti as the biggest surprise this year. There’s hardly any Italian to be found who manages to stay seated at their couch. And then there are the co-presenters who are carefully selected and invited by Amadeus itself. On Thursday, he was accompanied by Drusilla Foer, the female alter ego of the actor Gianluca Gori, who has made herself immortal. Not only with her constantly changing outfits and her hilarious Zorro performance, but especially because of her speech at the end of the evening that was quoted word for word in just about every Italian newspaper the following morning. Her message? “Diversity is a word I don’t like because it creates an idea of distance. I prefer uniqueness”. Needless to say, Sanremo is so much more than 25 candidates coming to sing a song.
My personal top three matched this year’s trio on the podium. My advice? Add all three of them to your Spotify list
On Saturday, the moment everyone had eagerly been waiting for finally arrived: the grand finale. During the week, it had become clear who the big favourites were, but who would eventually be crowned the winner? My personal top three matched this year’s trio on the podium. Gianni Morandi with his catchy song “Apri tutte le porte” eventually came in third, Elisa – with her voice of an angel and gorgeous lyrics – came in second with the beautiful “Ma forse sei tu”, and Mahmood & Blanco won with the song “Brividi”. My advice? Add all three of them to your Spotify list.
Will the Italian Eurovision fairytale go on and will the song contest go to Italy for the second year in a row?
And the best news of all? After it was officially confirmed that Mahmood and Blanco will represent Italy at the song contest in Turin, the rest of Europe immediately realised that a very formidable opponent had emerged. And rightly so, as “Brividi” immediately rose to first position with the notorious bookmakers. Will the Italian Eurovision fairytale go on and will the song contest go to Italy for the second year in a row? We will find out on Saturday the 14th of May. But one thing’s for sure: even if not, the Italians will not mourn for long because no matter what, at the very first signs of spring next year, the Sanremo festival will be back holding the whole country in its grip for an entire week once again.
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