Italy participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 which took place on 20 November 2016, in

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

, Malta. The Italian broadcaster

Rai Gulp Rai Gulp is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's television channel for early teenagers, and is known for its programming for childr ...

, which is a channel owned by

Radiotelevisione Italiana 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 terr ...

(RAI) was responsible for organising their entry for the contest. Fiamma Boccia was internally selected to represent Italy with the song "Cara Mamma (Dear Mom)". Italy placed third in the contest with 209 points.

Background

Prior to the 2016 Contest, Italy had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest twice times since its debut in , having won the contest on their first appearance with the song "

Tu primo grande amore "Tu primo grande amore" ("You, first great love") is a song by Italian singer Vincenzo Cantiello. It and was the winning song at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Marsa, Malta Marsa ( mt, Il-Marsa) is a town in the South Eastern Reg ...

", performed by

Vincenzo Cantiello Vincenzo Cantiello (born 25 August 2000) is an Italian singer who at the 12th annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Malta with his song "Tu primo grande amore" and won. Early years Cantiello was born on 25 August 2000 in Sant'Arpino, Campan ...

Before Junior Eurovision

The Italian broadcaster announced on 2 June 2016, that they would be participating at the contest which takes place on 20 November 2016, in

, Malta. The method for selecting their entrant and song was done internally by the national broadcaster, RAI. On 11 October 2016, it was announced that Fiamma Boccia would be representing Italy at the contest with the song "Cara Mamma (Dear Mom)".

Artist and song information

Fiamma Boccia

Fiamma (born 25 November 2003) is an Italian singer. She represented Italy at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, on 20 November 2016 with the song "Cara Mamma", placing third with 209 points.

Cara Mamma (Dear Mom)

"Cara Mamma" is a song by Italian singer Fiamma Boccia. It represented Italy during the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016. It is composed by Marco Iardella, Francesco Spadoni and Alessandro Ghironi, while the lyrics were written by Marco Iardella, Francesco Spadoni and Fiamma Boccia herself.

At Junior Eurovision

During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 14 November 2016, Italy was drawn to perform eleventh on 20 November 2016, following

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and preceding

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Final

Italy came third in the final, with 209 points. This is their second best placing after Vincenzo Cantiello's first place in 2014.

Voting

During the press conference for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016, held in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, the Reference Group announced several changes to the voting format for the 2016 contest. Previously, points had been awarded based on a combination of 50% National juries and 50% televoting, with one more set of points also given out by a 'Kids' Jury'. However, this year, points will be awarded based on a 50/50 combination of each country's Adult and , to be announced by a spokesperson. For the first time since the inauguration of the contest the voting procedure will not include a public televote. Following these results, three expert jurors will also announce their points from 1–8, 10, and 12. These professional jurors are:

Christer Björkman Christer Samuel Björkman (; born 25 August 1957) is a Swedish singer and television producer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "I morgon är en annan dag". From 2002 to 2021, he served as a producer of Me ...

, Mads Grimstad, and

Jedward John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward (a portmanteau of their first names), are an Irish singing and television presenting duo. They are identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in the sixth s ...

References

{{Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016

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 ...

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest (often shortened to JESC, Junior Eurovision or Junior EuroSong) is an international song competition which has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) annually since 2003. It is held in a diff ...