The Sanremo Music Festival 1956 was the sixth annual

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...

, held at the

Sanremo Casino Sanremo Casino, officially named is a gambling and entertainment complex located in Sanremo, on the Italian Riviera. History The Casino's building was designed by French architect Eugène Ferret, opening 12 January 1905. Seven different projec ...

Sanremo Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...

province of Imperia The Province of Imperia ( it, Provincia di Imperia, french: Province d'Imperia, Ligurian: ''Provinsa d’Imperia'') is a mountainous and hilly province, in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the west, and the L ...

between 8 and 10 March 1956. The show was presented by actor

Fausto Tommei Fausto Tommei (29 July 1909 – 23 July 1978) was an Italian actor, voice actor and presenter. Life and career Born in Venice, Tommei began his stage career immediately after graduating in Law. He became first known as a radio personality, wor ...

, assisted by television announcer Maria Teresa Ruta. According to the rules of this edition every song was performed by a newcomer artist in the music scene, selected through the "Voci Nuove" competition among 6.446 participants, with some artists performing multiple songs. The winner of the Festival was "

Aprite le finestre "Aprite le finestre" ("Open the windows") is an Italian song by Franca Raimondi. It won the sixth edition of the Sanremo Music Festival and subsequently was the first entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956 (contest rules allowing two entri ...

", performed by Franca Raimondi. The festival also inspired the international

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, which held its inaugural edition this year, and the two first placed songs of this edition represented Italy at Eurovision.

Participants and results

This Sanremo Music Festival edition included twenty songs performed by six singers, spread over three consecutive evenings, in a format of two semi-finals and a final. The first two semi-final nights were held on 8 and 9 March, and the final on 10 March 1956. Ten songs competed in each semi-final. Five songs from each night advanced to compose again ten songs for the third and final night. The ranking and the points of the final are known while those of the semi finals are not published.

Eurovision Song Contest

The two first places of this Sanremo Music Festival edition, "Aprite le finestre" sung by Franca Raimondi, and "Amami se vuoi" sung by Tonina Torrielli, went on to perform at the international Eurovision Song Contest. There were seven participating countries, and each was drawn to perform two songs in the same order via two rounds, with Italy performing last in each round, following Luxembourg. "Aprite le finestre" was performed seventh, and "Amami se vuoi" fourteenth as the last song of the evening. Only one of Switzerland's songs was declared, as the winner, after the private counting of the votes by the juries, and so the scores and placings of the two Italian songs are unknown. The two songs were succeeded as Italian representative at the 1957 contest by

Nunzio Gallo Nunzio Gallo (25 March 1928 – 22 February 2008) was an Italian singer. He was born in Naples and represented his country in the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest, coming 6th. The song he performed, "Corde Della Mia Chitarra", is famous for being the ...

with "

Corde della mia chitarra "Corde della mia chitarra" ("Strings of my guitar") is an Italian song written by , composed by , and performed by Nunzio Gallo and Claudio Villa. The song is the winner of the Italian national Sanremo Music Festival 1957 where it was performed ...

References

External links

from Diggiloo Thrush - info & lyrics for "Aprite le finestre"

from Diggiloo Thrush - info & lyrics for "Amami se vuoi" {{Authority control Sanremo Music Festival by year 1956 in Italian music 1956 in Italian television 1956 music festivals