Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest

History

Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It has participated in the contest representing Italy since its in 1956.

Absences

Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times. The first withdrawal was in , when RAI stated that interest had diminished in the country. This absence continued through , before Italy returned in . Italy again withdrew in when RAI decided not to enter the contest. From to , Italy withdrew again, with RAI citing a lack of interest in participating. Italy returned in , before withdrawing again without explanation, and the country did not participate again until .

None of the 20th century Eurovision-winning songs were particularly successful in the Italian charts. "Non ho l'età" by Gigliola Cinquetti was a hit in February 1964 when the song won the 1964 contest, but according to the official "Hit Parade Italia" website, "Waterloo", "Ding-a-dong", "Puppet on a String", "Save Your Kisses for Me" and even Italy's own winning entry of 1990, "Insieme: 1992", all failed to enter the top ten of the records sales charts. A notable exception to this rule was the 1984 entry "I treni di Tozeur" by Alice and Franco Battiato, which shared fifth place in the final, but still became a #3 hit in Italy and also placed at #20 on the chart of the best-selling Italian singles in 1984.

TV censorship of the 1974 contest

RAI refused to broadcast the live because their competing song, sung by Gigliola Cinquetti, coincided with the intense political campaigning for the 1974 Italian divorce referendum which was to be held a month later in May. Despite the Eurovision Song Contest taking place more than a month before the planned vote, Italian censors refused to allow the contest and song to be shown or heard. RAI censors felt that the song, titled "Sì" (Yes), and contained lyrics constantly repeating the aforementioned word could be subject to accusation of being subliminal messaging and a form of propaganda to influence the Italian voting public to vote 'yes' in the referendum (thus to repeal the law that allowed divorce). The song thus remained censored on most Italian state TV and radio stations for over a month. At the contest in Brighton, Cinquetti finished second, losing to ABBA. "Sì" went on to be a UK top ten hit, peaking at number eight. It also reached the German top 20. The contest was broadcast in June.

The 2008–2010 period

In 2008, two notable Italian musicians, Vince Tempera (who was the conductor for Malta in 1975 and had helped San Marino take part in the ESC in 2008) and Eurovision winner Toto Cutugno expressed their sorrow at Italy's non-participation and called for the country to return to the contest.

Contestants from the , starting with the winner Dima Bilan appeared on the Italian show Carramba! Che fortuna, hosted by Raffaella Carrà on Rai Uno. Whether this was an initiative by Carrà (who presented in spring three shows in TVE concerning the event, including the national final) to try to bring Eurovision back to Italy is not clear, but Sietse Bakker, then-Manager Communications & PR of the Eurovision Song Contest, reiterated that "Italy is still very much welcome to take part in the competition."

Shortly after revealing the list of participants for the , the EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Italy back into the contest, along with former participants Monaco and Austria.

Return (2011–present)

At a press conference presenting the fourth edition of the Italian X Factor, Rai 2 director Massimo Liofredi announced that the winner of the competition might advance to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest, rather than participate in the Sanremo Festival, as in previous years. On 2 December 2010, it was officially announced by the EBU that Italy had applied to compete in the 2011 contest. Their participation was further confirmed on 31 December with the announcement of the official participant list.

In 2011, Raphael Gualazzi finished second, then Italy's best result since 1990. Italy came first with the jury vote, but only 11th in the televote to place second overall. Nina Zilli in 2012 and Marco Mengoni in 2013 placed in the top ten (ninth and seventh, respectively); the latter scored 126 points, exactly doubling the points total of the other "Big Five" countries that year.

This trend came to a stop in 2014, when internally-selected Emma Marrone finished in 21st place. In 2015, Il Volo finished third with 292 points placing first in the televote but sixth in the jury vote. Since the introduction of the 50/50 split voting system, this was the first time that the televote winner did not win the contest overall. Francesca Michielin, selected among the competitors of Sanremo 2016 after the waiver of the winners Stadio, ended in 16th place. Francesco Gabbani came in sixth place in 2017. In 2018, although not initially a big favourite with the bookmakers, Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro returned Italy to the top five, aided significantly by finishing third in the televote, which heavily counterbalanced the 17th place by the jury, finishing fifth overall.

Italy's best result since returning to the competition to that point came in 2019, when Mahmood placed second with 472 points. It was followed up, after the 2020 cancellation, by Måneskin's victory in the 2021 contest with 524 points, marking Italy's third win as well as breaking the band onto the international music scene. Mahmood returned in 2022 as the host entrant alongside Blanco, placing sixth, followed by Mengoni returning in 2023, placing fourth, Angelina Mango placing seventh in 2024, and Lucio Corsi (selected among the competitors of Sanremo 2025 after the waiver of the winner Olly), placing fifth.

Sanremo Music Festival

Main article: Sanremo Music Festival

The Sanremo Music Festival is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. First held in 1951 and itself the basis and inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest, the festival has often been used as a method of choosing the Italian entry for the European contest, with some exceptions over the years. Since 2015, the winner of the festival has been given the right of first refusal to represent Italy in the contest.

Italy and the "Big Five"

Since 1999, four countries – , , , and the – have automatically qualified for the Eurovision final regardless of their results in previous contests. The participating broadcasters from these countries earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU, and subsequently became known as the "Big Four". In a meeting with OGAE Serbia in 2007, then-executive supervisor of the contest Svante Stockselius stated that, if Italy were to return to the contest in the future, the country would also automatically qualify for the final, becoming part of a "Big Five". However, with the official announcement of the return of Italy, it was not confirmed whether the country would compete in one of the two semi-finals or be part of the "Big Five", as RAI, third largest contributor to the EBU, had not applied for "Big Five" membership. On 31 December 2010, it was announced that Italy would take part in the and confirmed that the country would automatically qualify for the final as part of the "Big Five".

Italy is currently the most successful Big Five country in the Eurovision Song Contest following the introduction of the rule, finishing in the top ten in 12 of the last 14 contests (2011–25), including a victory for Måneskin (), second places for Raphael Gualazzi () and Mahmood (), and third place for Il Volo (). It is one of the only two countries of the Big Five – since it was introduced – to have won, the other being Germany in .

Participation overview

''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest''

Hostings

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Winner by OGAE members

Related involvement

Conductors

Heads of delegation

Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.

Commentators and spokespersons

Other shows

Photo gallery

File:Eurovision Song Contest 1958 - Domenico Modugno.png|Domenico Modugno in Hilversum () File:Eurovision Song Contest 1965 - Bobby Solo.jpg|Bobby Solo in Naples () File:Gianni Morandi (Italie), Bestanddeelnr 923-3708.jpg|Gianni Morandi in Amsterdam () File:Eurovision Song Contest 1976 rehearsals - Italy - Al Bano & Romina Power 4.png|Al Bano and Romina Power in The Hague () File:Raphael Gualazzi cropped.jpg|Raphael Gualazzi in Düsseldorf () File:ESC2013 - Italy 07.jpg|Marco Mengoni in Malmö () File:Emma Marrone, ESC2014 Meet & Greet 12 (crop).jpg|Emma in Copenhagen () File:20150520 ESC 2015 Il Volo 8866.jpg|Il Volo in Vienna () File:ESC2016 - Italy 13.jpg|Francesca Michielin in Stockholm () File:Francesco Gabbani Eurovision 2017.jpg|Francesco Gabbani in Kyiv () File:Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro (Italy 2018).jpg|Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro in Lisbon () File:Mahmood at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final Dress Rehearsal (3).jpg|Mahmood in Tel Aviv () File:ESC 2021 Rotterdam 1st Semi Jury Show Italy2.jpg|Måneskin in Rotterdam () File:Eurovision 2023 - Jury Semi-final 1 - Italy - Marco Mengoni (03).jpg|Marco Mengoni in Liverpool () File:Angelina Mango Eurovision Song Contest 2024 dress rehearsal semi 2 03.jpg|Angelina Mango in Malmö () File:Lucio Corsi at ESC2025 for Italy 7.jpg|Lucio Corsi in Basel ()

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