Italy: Måneskin triumph in Sanremo Festival 2021 and are heading to Eurovision 2021

Italy: Måneskin triumph in Sanremo Festival 2021 and are heading to Eurovision 2021
Sunday, 07 March 2021

  • Måneskin are the the big winners of Sanremo Festival 2021 with their song "Zitti e buoni" and have secured the right to represent Italy at Eurovision 2021. 

    The iconic Italian music festival has completed its 71st edition in Teatro Ariston which saw Måneskin triumph with their song "Zitti e buoni" and have now the right to represent the country at Eurovision 2021. Amedeus hosted the final show along with Rosario Fiorello  Serena Rossi (RAI's ESC 2018 commentator) , Tecla Insolia (2nd  in the “Nuove Proposte Category” in 2020) and the journalist Giovanna Botteri. 

    Several ex-winners of the Festival and  former Eurovision representatives returned as guests: Francesco Gabbani (2017), who peerformed a duet with Ornella Vanoni , Umberto Tozzi (1987) and Riccardo Fogli (1983) who sang together with Michele Zarrillo and Paolo Vallesi. Alongside Amadeus appreared Milan's striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic whilst Achille Lauro performed again tonight on stage. 

     

    The 26 acts competing in the Campioni Category performed for the last time their entries on stage. Specifically they performed in the following:

    1. Ghemon – "Momento perfetto"
    2. Gaia – "Cuore amaro"
    3. Irama – "La genesi del tuo colore"
    4. Gio Evan – "Arnica"
    5. Ermal Meta – "Un milione di cose da dirti"
    6. Fulminacci – "Santa Marinella"
    7. Francesco Renga – "Quando trovo te"
    8. Extraliscio feat. Davide Toffolo – "Bianca luce nera"
    9. Colapesce & Dimartino – "Musica leggerissima"
    10. Malika Ayane – "Ti piaci così"
    11. Francesca Michielin & Fedez – "Chiamami per nome"
    12. Willie Peyote – "Mai dire mai (La locura)"
    13. Orietta Berti – "Quando ti sei innamorato"
    14. Arisa – "Potevi fare di più"
    15. Bugo – "E invece sì"
    16. Måneskin – "Zitti e buoni"
    17. Madame – "Voce"
    18. La Rappresentante di Lista – "Amare"
    19. Annalisa – "Dieci"
    20. Coma_Cose – "Fiamme negli occhi"
    21. Lo Stato Sociale – "Combat Pop"
    22. Random – "Torno a te"
    23. Max Gazzè & La Trifluoperazina Monstery Band – "Il farmacista"
    24. Noemi – "Glicine"
    25. Fasma – "Parlami"
    26. Aiello – "Ora"

     You can watch all evening's performance  here

     

    The Voting Process

    Once all 26 acts completed their performances the votes exclusively came from televoting. The public's verdict wiss added to the overall score that from the previous four nights and the three first acts with the higher ranking qualified to a superfinal round. 

    During the Superfinal round all points were reset and the final score was determined  34% by televoting, 33% by the press jury and 33% by the demoscopic jury. The winner will have the right to accept or refuse to represent the country at Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam next May. In case of a refusal the Sanremo 2021 organising committee will determine which act will represent the country in Rotterdam. However this year the artistic director announced during the show that all 26 acts had signed their consent to represent the nation in case of a victory.

     

    The results

    Once the first round of voting had been completed the ranking for places 26 to 4 were revealed: 

    4. Colapesce e Dimartino
    5. Irama
    6. Willie Peyote
    7. Annalisa
    8. Madame
    9. Orietta Berti
    10. Arisa
    11. La Rappresentante di Lista
    12. Extraliscio
    13. lo Stato Sociale
    14. Noemi
    15. Malika Ayane
    16. Fulminacci
    17. Max Gazzé
    18. Fasma
    19, Gaia
    20. Coma_Cose
    21. Ghemon
    22. Francesco Renga
    23. Gio Evan
    24. Bugo
    25. Aiello
    26. Random

    Thus the three acts that made it to the next superfinal round were: 

    treis protoi

     

    The final round of voting saw the group Måneskin crowned winners followed by Francesca Michielin & Fedez in second place and Ermal Meta finishing in third place. 

     

    A few words for Maneskin 

    The group, made up of four young Romans, was born in 2015 by bassist Victoria De Angelis and guitarist Thomas Raggi, who was later joined by singer Damiano David and finally drummer Ethan Torchio.

    They rose to prominence in 2017 thanks to second place at X-Factor, and since then they have strung together one success after another. The meaning of the group's name means "Moonlight" in Danish, a nation of which bassist and founder Victoria is a native. The goups itself has many time talked warmly of Eurovision and a potential participation in the world largest televised music contest.

    As young as they may be, Måneskin have already trod several European stages in “The dance of life Tour” performing in Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom.

    Beginners in Sanremo, they won as outsiders with their "Zitti e buoni" which met with the favor of the press and televoting inaugurating the first victory of an alternative rock song at the Festival.

    If we exclude the various duo who carried the Italian flag high at the event, they are the fifth group to represent the beautiful country at the international event, after the Ricchi e Poveri, Matia Bazar, Jalisse and  Il Volo. In particular, they are the second group since Italy returned  to competition in 2011.

     

    Italy in Eurovision 

    Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 45 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956.  After a 14-year absence from 1998 and on, the country returned to the contest in 2011. Italy has won the contest twice  in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti and her song “Non ho l’età”.  Italy’s second victory in the contest came in 1990 with Toto Cutugno and the song “Insieme: 1992”.

    Italy’s come back to the contest has proved to be very successful, the country having finished in the top ten in seven times of the last eight contests (2011–2019), with Raphael Gualazzi second in 2011, Nina Zilli ninth in 2012, Marco Mengoni seventh in 2013 and Il Volo third in 2015, Francesco Ghabbani 6th in Kiev. In 2018  the winners of Sanremo 2018 ,Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro, represented Italy in Eurovision in Lisbon with their song “Non mi avete fatto niente”. The Italian duo achieved an honorable 5th place in the Grand final with 308 points and a remarkable 3rd placing in the public voting.

    In 2019 , Mahmood, winner of Sanremo 2019 represented the country in Tel Aviv with his entry Soldi. The Italian representative kept the good results for Italy achieving a 2nd place in the Grand Final in Tel Aviv.

    Last year Diodato might have won the Sanremo festival with 'Fai Rumore' but unfortunately didn't have the chance to perform in Rotterdam as the contest was cancelled de to the coronavirus pandemic.  

     

     

    News Source/Images: RAI1/Sanremo festival