The Sanremo Music Festival 1981 ( it, Festival di Sanremo 1981), officially the 31st Italian Song Festival (), was the 31st 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

Teatro Ariston The Ariston Theatre ( it, Teatro Ariston) is a cinema in Sanremo, Italy. It has been the venue of the annual Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the ...

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 5 and 7 February 1981 and broadcast by

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

. The show was hosted by

Claudio Cecchetto Claudio Cecchetto (born 19 April 1952) is an Italian record producer and talent scout. Life and career Cecchetto was born in Ceggia, (metropolitan city of Venice). He has hosted several Italian music festivals, from Festival di Sanremo to ...

, assisted by the actress Eleonora Vallone and by the singer

Nilla Pizzi Nilla Pizzi, stage name of Adionilla Pizzi (; 16 April 1919 – 12 March 2011), was an Italian singer and actress. Born in Sant'Agata Bolognese, she was particularly famous in Italy during the 1950s and 1960s. She won the first edition of the ...

(two times winner of the Festival). The winner of the Festival was

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

with the song "

Per Elisa ''Alice'' (also known as ''Per Elisa'') is the fourth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Alice (Italian singer), Alice, released in 1981 on EMI Music. The album includes Alice's winning entry in the 1981 Sanremo Music Festival, "Per Elis ...

". This was the first edition to be entirely broadcast on

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 ...

, after eight years in which the live broadcast was restricted only to the final night of the festival.

Massimo Troisi Massimo Troisi (; 19 February 1953 – 4 June 1994) was an Italian actor, cabaret performer, screenwriter, and film director. He is best known for his works in the films '' I'm Starting from Three'' (1981) and '' Il Postino: The Postman'' (1994) ...

should have participated in the final night of the festival with three segments as a comedian, but just before he took the stage, he decided not to appear because of the cuts to his monologues that were required by RAI executives.

Participants and results

Guests

References

{{Sanremo Music Festival Sanremo Music Festival by year 1981 in Italian music 1981 music festivals