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 2018 The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's victory at the with the song " Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European Broa ...

. 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 October 2017 that the winning performer(s) of the ''Big Artists'' section of the

Sanremo Music Festival 2018 The Sanremo Music Festival 2018 ( it, 68º Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo 2018) was the 68th annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held in the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo and organised and broadcast by RAI. Format Pre ...

would earn the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal.

Background

Prior to the 2018 contest, Italy had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-three 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. In

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Francesco Gabbani Francesco Gabbani (born 9 September 1982) is an Italian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He rose to fame after winning the newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2016 with the song "Amen". The next year, he went on to win the ...

represented the nation with the song "

Occidentali's Karma "Occidentali's Karma" () is a song performed by Italian singer Francesco Gabbani. The song was released as a digital download on 10 February 2017 through BMG Rights Management as the lead single from his third studio album ''Magellano'' (2017). T ...

", placing sixth with 334 points. The Italian national broadcaster,

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), broadcasts the event within Italy and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RAI confirmed Italy's participation in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 15 September 2017. 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. Since 2015, the winning artist of the Sanremo Music Festival is rewarded with the opportunity to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, although in 2016 the winner declined and the broadcaster appointed the runner-up as the Italian entrant.

Before Eurovision

''Sanremo 2018''

On 12 October 2017, Italian broadcaster RAI confirmed that the performer that would represent Italy at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the competing artists at the

. According to the rules of Sanremo 2018, 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 6–10 February 2018 with the winner being selected on the last day of the festival. Twenty artists competed in the ''Big Artists'' category of Sanremo 2017. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants who all represented Italy.

Riccardo Fogli Riccardo Fogli (born 21 October 1947 in Pontedera, Province of Pisa, Italy) is an Italian singer. Biography Early career Riccardo Fogli was born on 21 October 1947 in Pontedera. He was fond of music since his childhood and taught himself to pla ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Luca Barbarossa Luca Barbarossa (born 15 April 1961, Rome) is an Italian singer-songwriter who has released 12 albums since 1981, and is known for his participation in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Early career In 1980, Barbarossa won the Castrocaro Music ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Enrico Ruggeri Enrico Ruggeri (born 5 June 1957) is an Italian singer-songwriter. Biography A native of Milan, Ruggeri made his debut in the 1970s with the punk band Decibel. In 1981 he began his solo career and established himself as a songwriter: his most ...

, frontman of

Decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a po ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, and Nina Zilli 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 ...

. The performers in the "Big Artists" category were:

Final

During the final evening of the Sanremo Music Festival 2018,

Ermal Meta Ermal Meta (; born 20 April 1981) is an Italian singer, songwriter, composer, and writer of Albanian origin (he holds double citizenship). Born in Fier and raised in Bari, Meta rose to prominence as one of the lead singers of Ameba 4 and . After ...

and

Fabrizio Moro Fabrizio Mobrici (born 9 April 1975), known by his stage name Fabrizio Moro, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He released his debut album in 2000 and he achieved commercial success in 2007, after winning the Newcomers' Section of the Sanremo Musi ...

were selected as the winners with the song "Non mi avete fatto niente". RAI later confirmed during the closing press conference for the Sanremo Music Festival on 10 February 2018 that Meta and Moro had accepted to participate at Eurovision and would perform their Sanremo song "Non mi avete fatto niente" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 took place at the

Altice Arena Altice Arena (formerly MEO Arena; also referred to by its original name, Pavilhão Atlântico) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Lisbon, Portugal. The arena is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe and the largest in Portugal with a capacit ...

, Portugal and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and the final on 12 May 2018. 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. As a member of the "Big Five", Italy automatically qualified to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, Italy was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals.

Voting

Points awarded to Italy

Points awarded by Italy

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Italian jury: * Silvia Gavarotti (jury chairperson)singer * Antonella Nesijournalist * Sandro Cominiconductor * Matteo Catalanoauthor * Barbara Mosconijournalist

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

RAI's official Eurovision website
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2018

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

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 ...