Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
participated in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...
with the song "
Grande amore
"Grande amore" (; English: Great love) is a song performed by Italian operatic pop trio Il Volo, and written by Francesco Boccia and Ciro "Tommy" Esposito. The song won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015 and represented Italy in the Eurovision S ...
", written by Ciro Esposito and Francesco Boccia. The song was performed by the male
operatic pop
Operatic pop or popera is a subgenre of pop music that is performed in an operatic singing style or a song, theme or motif from classical music stylized as pop. The subgenre is often performed by classical crossover singers and acts, although that ...
trio
Il Volo
Il Volo (; Italian for "The Flight") is an Italian operatic pop trio, consisting of baritone Gianluca Ginoble, and tenors Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto. They describe their music as "popera". Having won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, the ...
. Italian broadcaster
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
announced in September 2014 that the winning performer(s) of the
Sanremo Music Festival 2015
The Sanremo Music Festival 2015 (''65° Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo 2015'') was the 65th annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, between 10 and 14 February 2015 and b ...
would have the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, timezone_DST ...
, Austria. The selected performer would also be given the right to choose their own song to compete with at Eurovision. In February 2015, Il Volo emerged as the winners of Sanremo with the song "Grande amore". The trio accepted the invitation to represent Italy at Eurovision and decided that "Grande amore" would be their contest entry.
As a member of the "
Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), Italy competed directly in the final on 23 May 2015 and did not have to qualify from one of two semi-finals held on 19 May and 21 May. However, Italy was obligated to vote in the second semi-final. In Italy's
forty-second Eurovision appearance on 23 May, "Grande amore" finished in third place out of 27 competing songs, receiving 292 points and full marks from nine countries.
Background
Prior to the 2015 contest,
Italy had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-one times since its first entry during the inaugural contest in 1956. Since then, Italy has won the contest on two occasions: in
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
with the song "
Non ho l'età
"Non ho l'età (per amarti)" (Italian for "I'm not old enough (to love you)"), usually given as just "Non ho l'età" (), was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, held in Copenhagen. It was performed in Italian by Gigliola Cinquet ...
" performed by
Gigliola Cinquetti
Gigliola Cinquetti (; born Giliola Cinquetti on 20 December 1947) is an Italian singer, songwriter, and television presenter.
Life and career
Gigliola Cinquetti was born into a wealthy family in Verona. From the ages of 9 to 13, she studied and ...
and in
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
with the song "
Insieme: 1992" performed by
Toto Cutugno
Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno (; born 7 July 1943) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano", released on his 1983 album of the same title. Cutugno also won the Eurovision Song Conte ...
. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. Their return in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
with the song "
Madness of Love
''Madness of Love'' (Spanish: ''Amor de locura'') is a 1953 Mexican comedy film directed by Rafael Baledón and starring Niní Marshall, Óscar Pulido and Yolanda Montes.Amador p.117
Cast
* Niní Marshall as Juana / Juana La Loca / Catalina
* ...
", performed by
Raphael Gualazzi
Raffaele Gualazzi (born 11 November 1981), better known as Raphael Gualazzi, is an Italian singer and pianist. He was born in Urbino.
Biography ''Love Outside the Window''
On 16 September 2005, Gualazzi released his first studio album, titled '' ...
, placed second—their highest result, to this point, since their victory in 1990. The nation saw further success in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
and
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
, placing ninth and seventh, respectively. In 2014,
Emma represented Italy with the song "La mia città", finishing in 21st place.
The Italian broadcaster for the 2015 Contest, who broadcast the event in Italy and organised the selection process for its entry, was
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
.
Italy has previously organised national finals and internal selections to select their Eurovision entry. Between 2011 and 2013, the broadcaster used the
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 ...
as an artist selection pool where a special committee would select one of the competing artist, independent of the results in the competition, as the Eurovision entrant. The selected entrant was then responsible for selecting the song they would compete with. For 2014, RAI forwent using the Sanremo Music Festival artist lineup and internally selected their entry. In 2015, the Italian broadcaster announced that the winning artist of the 2015 Sanremo Music Festival would be rewarded with the opportunity to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest.
[
]
Before Eurovision
Artist selection
On 29 September 2014, Italian broadcaster RAI confirmed that the performer that would represent Italy at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the competing artists at the Sanremo Music Festival 2015
The Sanremo Music Festival 2015 (''65° Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo 2015'') was the 65th annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, between 10 and 14 February 2015 and b ...
.[ According to the rules of Sanremo 2015, the winner of the ''Campioni'' or ''Big Artists'' category earns the right to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, but in case the artist is not available or refuses the offer, the organisers of the event reserve the right to choose another participant via their own criteria.] The competition took place between 10–14 February 2015 with the winner being selected on the last day of the festival.
Twenty artists competed in the ''Big Artists'' category of Sanremo 2015. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants Raf
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
who represented Italy in 1987 together with Umberto Tozzi
Umberto Antonio Tozzi (; born 4 March 1952) is an Italian pop and rock singer and composer. Over the course of his career, he has sold over 70 million records in different languages internationally, and his biggest international hits are:
"Stel ...
, Lara Fabian
Lara Sophie Katy Crokaert (born January 9, 1970), better known as Lara Fabian, is a Belgian-Canadian pop singer and songwriter. She has sold over 20 million records worldwide as of 2021Broadway World (2017)"Lara Fabian annule finalement sa tourn ...
who represented Luxembourg in 1988, and Nina Zilli who represented Italy in 2012. The performers in the "Big Artists" category were:
Final
During the final evening of the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, Il Volo
Il Volo (; Italian for "The Flight") is an Italian operatic pop trio, consisting of baritone Gianluca Ginoble, and tenors Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto. They describe their music as "popera". Having won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, the ...
was selected as the winner with the song "Grande amore". RAI later confirmed during the closing press conference for the Sanremo Music Festival on 14 February 2015 that Il Volo had accepted to participate at Eurovision.
Song selection
On 19 February 2015, RAI announced that Il Volo would perform their Sanremo song "Grande amore" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the " Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. As a member of the "Big Five", Italy automatically qualified to compete in the final on 23 May 2015. In addition to their participation in the final, Italy was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 26 January 2015, Italy was assigned to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final on 21 May 2015.
In Italy, the first semi-final was broadcast delayed and the second semi-final was broadcast live on Rai 4
Rai 4 (pronounced ''Rai Quattro'') is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. Launched on 14 July 2008 with the film ''Elephant'', Rai 4 targets youths with ...
with commentary by Marco Ardemagni and Filippo Solibello. The final was broadcast on Rai 2
Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting ''TG2'' news bulletins, tal ...
with commentary by Federico Russo Federico Russo may refer to:
* Federico Russo (presenter)
Federico Russo (born 22 December 1980) is an Italian radio and television presenter. He is known for presenting '' The Voice of Italy'' on Rai 2 (seasons 2 to 4), and for being the mai ...
and Valentina Correani. All shows were also broadcast via radio on Rai Radio 2
Rai Radio 2 (''radio due'') is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organization RAI and specializing in talk programmes and popular music from Italy and China.
History
The origins of the channel can be tr ...
with commentary by Marco Ardemagni and Filippo Solibello. The Italian spokesperson, who announced the Italian votes during the final, was Federico Russo.
Final
Il Volo took part in technical rehearsals on 17 and 20 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries. After technical rehearsals were held on 20 May, the "Big 5" countries, host nation Austria and special guest Australia held a press conference. As part of this press conference, the artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. Italy was drawn to compete in the second half. Following the conclusion of the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final. The running order for the semi-finals and final was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Italy was subsequently placed to perform last in position 27, following the entry from Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
.
The stage show featured the three members of Il Volo on stage dressed in dark suits. Il Volo's staging was kept simple, focusing attention onto the song and the performers. The background LED screens projected images of Roman columns, statues and busts with large billowing clouds of smoke displayed during the chorus. The stage lighting and colours were darker at the start of the song and intensified as the performance progressed.
At the conclusion of the voting, Italy finished in third place with 292 points behind Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, which placed first and second respectively. Italy received 12 points, the maximum number of points a country can give to another country, from nine countries.
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honouring
the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman ( Sweden's representative in the Eurovision Song Contes ...
, first awarded during the 2002 contest, are awards honouring the best competing songs in the final each year. Named after the creator of the annual contest, Marcel Bezençon
Marcel Bezençon (; 1 May 1907 – 17 February 1981) was a Swiss journalist, media executive and the director of the European Broadcasting Union between 1954 and 1970. In 1955, he conceived the idea of the Eurovision Song Contest, based on the fa ...
, the awards are divided into 3 categories: the Press Award, given to the best entry as voted on by the accredited media and press during the event; the Artistic Award, presented to the best artist as voted on by the shows' commentators; and the Composer Award, given to the best and most original composition as voted by the participating composers. "Grande amore" was awarded the Press Award, which was accepted at the awards ceremony by the three members of Il Volo: Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble.
Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Italy had won the public televote and placed sixth with the jury vote. In the public vote, Italy scored 366 points—an 80-point lead over Russia in second place with 286 points. The eventual winner Sweden placed third in the public televote with 279 points but was placed first by the juries with 353 points. Italy scored 171 points with the juries to finish sixth.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Italy and awarded by Italy in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
Points awarded to Italy
Points awarded by Italy
Detailed voting results
The following members comprised the Italian jury:
* Franco Zanetti (jury chairperson)director of the music information website ''rockoll.it''
* Valerio Paolinico-founder and software architect of musixmatch
* Nicolò Cerioniart director, stylist, videomaker
* Barbara Mosconijournalist
* radio and TV host
References
{{Il Volo
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Eurovision
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 ...
Eurovision
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 ...