The Sanremo Music Festival 2019 ( it, 69º Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo 2019) was the 69th 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 ...

, a television song contest held in 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 ...

and organised and broadcast by

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 ...

. The show was held between 5 February 2019 and 9 February 2019.

Claudio Baglioni Claudio Baglioni (; born 16 May 1951) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician. His career has been going on for over 50 years. Some songs from the 70s are part of Italian culture such as ''E tu come stai?''. In the 80s he released the ...

was the artistic director of the contest, and co-hosted it with

Virginia Raffaele Virginia Raffaele (born 27 September 1980) is an Italian comedian, actress, impersonator and presenter. Life and career Born in Rome, the daughter of two circus performers, Raffaele studied classical and modern dance at the and in 1999 grad ...

and

Claudio Bisio Claudio Bisio (; born 19 March 1957) is an Italian actor, presenter, voice actor, comedian, and writer. Early life Bisio was born in Novi Ligure, Piedmont, and raised in Milan, Lombardy. He attended '' scientific lyceum Luigi Cremona'' of Mil ...

. 24 entries competed in one section only.

Mahmood Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''. Siam Mahmud *Mahmood (singer) (born 19 ...

emerged as the winner of the festival with his song "

Soldi "Soldi" (; ) is a song recorded by Italian singer Mahmood. It was released on 6 February 2019, as the fifth single from his debut studio album, ''Gioventù bruciata'' (2019). Mahmood co-wrote the song with Dario "Dardust" Faini and Charlie Cha ...

Format

Presenters

Singer-songwriter and musician,

, who was also the competition's artistic director, hosted the Sanremo Music Festival for the second consecutive year, alongside co-hosts

and

Voting

Voting during the five evenings occurred through different combinations of four methods: * Public televoting, carried out via landline, mobile phone, the contest's official mobile app, and online voting. * Press jury voting, expressed by accredited journalists that followed the competition from the Roof Hall at the

. * A demoscopic poll, composed of a sample of 300 music fans, which voted from their homes via an electronic voting system managed by

Ipsos Ipsos Group S.A. () (an acronym of ) is a multinational market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, Chairman of the company, and has been publicly traded on the P ...

. * Expert jury voting, resulting from points assigned by personalities from the world of music, entertainment and culture. The jury was composed by

Mauro Pagani Mauro Pagani (born 5 February 1946) is an Italian musician and singer. Pagani was born in Chiari, Lombardy. A multi-instrumentalist, he made his debut in the music world in 1970 as violinist and founding member of the progressive rock band Pre ...

(''president''),

Ferzan Özpetek Ferzan Özpetek (born 3 February 1959) is a Turkish-Italian film director and screenwriter, residing in Italy. Biography Ferzan Özpetek was born in Istanbul in 1959. In 1976, he decided to move to Italy to study Cinema History at Sapienza Unive ...

Camila Raznovich Camila is the Portuguese and Spanish form of the given name ''Camilla'' and may refer to: Film and television * ''Camila'' (TV series), a Mexican telenovela from 1998 * ''Camila'' (film), a 1984 Argentine film by María Luisa Bemberg Music * ...

Claudia Pandolfi Claudia Pandolfi (born 17 November 1974) is an Italian actress. Life and career Claudia Pandolfi was born in Rome, the daughter of the CEO of the Laura Biagiotti Fashion House.Giorgio Dell’Arti, Massimo Parrini. ''Catalogo dei viventi''. Mars ...

Elena Sofia Ricci Elena Sofia Barucchieri (born 29 March 1962), known by the stage name Elena Sofia Ricci (), is an Italian actress. She is known, among other things, for playing Sister Angela in the Italian television series . Biography Born in Florence, afte ...

Beppe Severgnini Giuseppe "Beppe" Severgnini (; born 26 December 1956) is an Italian journalist, essayist and columnist. Biography Born in Crema, Severgnini graduated in law at the University of Pavia. His father was a public notary. His career in journal ...

Serena Dandini Serena Dandini is an Italian television host, writer and author. Life She was born in Rome. She studied at Giulio Cesare school and Sapienza University of Rome. From the early 1980s, she collaborated with RAI on television and radio program ...

and

Joe Bastianich Joseph Bastianich (born September 17, 1968) is an American restaurateur, winemaker, author, television personality, and musician. He, along with his mother and business partner Lidia Bastianich, co-owns thirty restaurants in four countries, inclu ...

. The three voting systems were distributed in the following percentages: * First, Second and Third Evening: 40% Public televoting; 30% Demoscopic poll; 30% Press jury voting * Fourth and Fifth Evening: 50% Public televoting; 30% Press jury voting; 20% Expert jury voting In the final part of the fifth evening, a new rank indicating the first three acts -determined by the percentage of votes obtained in this evening's vote and those obtained in previous evenings- was drawn up.

Selections

''Ecco Sanremo Giovani''

Unlike previous editions, the Newcomers' section was not included in the Festival, but a similar selection was held to decree the two places reserved in the Big Artist section. The artists competing in the new format were selected through two separate contests: Standard section and Area Sanremo. The selection was preceded by four afternoon shows, conducted by

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 ...

and Andrea Perroni, where the artists and their entries were presented.

Standard selection

On October 19, 2018, Rai Commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2019 announced a list of 677 acts, but only 69 artists coming from all Italian regions -excluding

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

and

Valle d'Aosta , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...

- and from abroad were selected in the first phase. On November 27, 2018, Rai Commission announced the eighteen finalists. * Angelucci - "L'uomo che verrà" * Andrea Biagioni - "Alba piena" * Cannella - "Nei miei ricordi" * Cordio - "La nostra vita" * Diego Conti - "3 gradi" * Einar - "Centomila Volte" * Federica Abbate - "Finalmente" * Fosco17 - "Dicembre" * Giulia Mutti - "Almeno tre" * La Rua - "Alla mia età si vola" * La Zero - "Nina è brava" * Le Ore - "La mia felpa è come me" * Mahmood - "Gioventù bruciata" * Marte Marasco - "Nella mia testa" * Nyvinne – "Io ti penso" * Ros - "Incendio" * Symo - "Paura d'amare" * Wepro - "Stop/Replay"

Area Sanremo

After the auditions, RAI Commission - composed by

, Claudio Fasulo, Duccio Forzano, Massimo Giuliano, Massimo Martelli and Geoff Westley- identified 6 finalists for the competition among the 225 acts: * Deschema - "Cristallo" * Fedrix & Flaw - "L'impresa" * Francesca Miola - "Amarsi non serve" * Mescalina - "Chiamami amore adesso" * Saita – "Niwrad" * Sisma - "Slow motion"

''Sanremo Giovani 2018''

On December 20 and 21, 2018, the twenty four finalists performed their songs at

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 ...

in Sanremo, with the show ''Sanremo Giovani 2018'' broadcast on

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 ...

presented by

Pippo Baudo Giuseppe Vittorio Raimondo Baudo (born 7 June 1936), known as Pippo Baudo, is one of the most famous Italian television presenters, with a career spanning six decades. He is often nicknamed "Superpippo" (referencing the Italian name of Super Go ...

and

Fabio Rovazzi Fabio Piccolrovazzi, known as Fabio Rovazzi, (born 18 January 1994) is an Italian entertainer, who is most notable for his songs "Andiamo a comandare", "Tutto molto interessante" (both of which were certified platinum five times, and two times i ...

. The two winners of the nights participated in Sanremo 2019 with a new entry. Einar and Mahmood were selected as the winners.

Big Artists section

The Big Artists section of the contest reverted to 24 artists, after briefly going up to 22 the previous year. Like the previous year, there were no eliminations during the four weeknight shows. All the artists performed several times and were scored during the week, but every competing artist advanced to the final night.

Competing entries

Shows

First evening

The 24 Big Artists each performed their song for the first time. * * *

Second evening

The first twelve Big Artists each performed their song again. * * *

Third evening

The other twelve Big Artists each performed their song for the second time. * * *

Fourth evening

The 24 Big Artists performed their songs in a duet with a guest artist.

Fifth evening

The 24 Big Artists each performed their entry again for a final time. The top three faced a superfinal vote, then the winner of Sanremo 2019 was decided. *

Superfinal

* * *

Special guests

The special guests of Sanremo Music Festival 2019 were: *singers / musicians:

Alessandra Amoroso Alessandra Amoroso (; born 12 August 1986 in Galatina, Province of Lecce) is an Italian pop/soul singer, songwriter, producer and TV personality. She was the winner of the 2009 edition of the Italian talent show ''Amici di Maria De Filippi''. S ...

, Anastastio,

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fro ...

Antonello Venditti Antonio "Antonello" Venditti (born 8 March 1949) is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist who became famous in the 1970s for the social themes of his songs. Biography Antonello Venditti was born in Rome, the son of Vincenzino Italo Venditti f ...

, Elisa Toffoli,

Eros Ramazzotti Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti (; born 28 October 1963) is an Italian pop singer, musician and songwriter. He is popular in Italy and most European countries, and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, as he has released most of his albums in bo ...

Fiorella Mannoia Fiorella Mannoia (; born 4 April 1954) is an Italian singer and songwriter. Biography The Beginning Fiorella Mannoia's father Luigi was an Italian film stuntman, and Fiorella, her brother Maurizio and sister Patrizia began work in this area a ...

, Giorgia, Ligabue,

Luis Fonsi Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero (born April 15, 1978), known by his stage name Luis Fonsi (), is a Puerto Rican singer. He is known for multiple songs, one of them being "Despacito" featuring rapper Daddy Yankee. Fonsi received his first ...

Marco Mengoni Marco Mengoni (; born 25 December 1988) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter who rose to fame in 2009, after winning the third season of Italian talent show ''X Factor''. Since that he has sold over 2.8 million records in Italy, peaking the I ...

, Matteo Bocelli,

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 ...

Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the U.S. as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian singer, composer, theatre man and musician. He acquired French citizenship. Personal life Cocciante was b ...

, Tom Walker,

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 ...

. *actors / comedians / directors / models:

Claudio Santamaria Claudio Santamaria is an Italian actor; in 2016 he was awarded the David di Donatello for Best Actor award for portraying the superhero Enzo 'Jeeg' Ceccotti in ''They Call Me Jeeg''. Career His cinema debut came in 1997, with Leonardo Pieracci ...

Laura Chiatti Laura Chiatti (born 15 July 1982, Castiglione del Lago, Italy) is an Italian actress and singer. She is the leading lady in two successful films: ''Ho voglia di te'', alongside Riccardo Scamarcio, and Paolo Sorrentino's third film ''The Family ...

, Mago Forest,

Michelle Hunziker Michelle Yvonne Hunziker (Swiss , ; born 24 January 1977) is a Swiss-Italian television presenter and former model. Early life Hunziker was born in Sorengo, Lugano, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Her mother Ineke is Dutch and ...

Michele Riondino Michele Riondino (born 14 March 1979) is an Italian actor. Born in Taranto, Riondino enrolled at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2000. In 2006, he acted in ''The Black Arrow'', a TV series broadcast by Canale ...

Pio e Amedeo Pio D'Antini (August 20, 1983) and Amedeo Grieco (August 25, 1983) are an Italian double act, comedy duo who work on stage, film, television and books as Pio e Amedeo. Filmography * ''Amici come noi'' (2014) * ''Ma tu di che segno sei?'' (2014 ...

Pierfrancesco Favino Pierfrancesco Favino (; August 24, 1969) is an Italian actor, voice actor and producer. He has appeared in more than fifty European and American movies and television series since the early 1990s, including '' The Prince of Homburg'' (1997), '' T ...

Serena Rossi Serena Rossi (born 31 August 1985) is an Italian actress, singer and television personality. She has acted in films and on stage, but is best known for her performance in the long-running Rai 3 soap opera ''Un Posto al Sole''. Biography Born ...

. *other notable figures:

Simona Ventura Simona Ventura (born 1 April 1965) is an Italian television presenter. Television career Ventura was born in Bentivoglio. She started in TV on "Domani Sposi" with Giancarlo Magalli on Rai Uno. Her love for sport took her into sports reportin ...

Related shows

Prima Festival

Simone Montedoro Simone may refer to: * Simone (given name), a feminine (or Italian masculine) given name of Hebrew origin * Simone (surname), an Italian surname Simone may also refer to: * ''Simone'' (1918 film), a French silent drama film * ''Simone'' (1926 fi ...

e Anna Ferzetti hosted ''PrimaFestival'', a side-show that aired on

immediately after

TG1 ''TG1'' (''Telegiornale 1'') is the flagship television newscast produced by Rai 1, the main channel of state-owned Italian public broadcaster RAI. It is the longest running program in the history of television in Italy as it has been broadcast ...

. The show featured details, curiosities and news relating to Sanremo Music Festival 2019.

Dopo Festival

Rocco Papaleo Rocco Antonio Papaleo (born 16 August 1958) is an Italian actor, film director and singer. Born in Lauria ( Basilicata), he moved to Rome to study math at university but left soon to attend the theatre school. He made his theatrical debut in 19 ...

, with the participation of

Anna Foglietta Anna Foglietta (born 3 April 1979) is an Italian actress. She has appeared in the films '' Escort in Love'' and '' Ex – Amici come prima!''. She has also appeared in several television series such as '' Distretto di Polizia'' and '' The Mafia ...

and Melissa Greta Marchetto and a group of journalists of Italian press, hosted ''Dopofestival - The Dark Side of Sanremo'' a talk show that aired on

immediately after Sanremo Music Festival. The show featured comments about the Festival as well as interviews to the singers competing in the song contest.

Broadcast and ratings

Local broadcast

Rai Premium Rai Premium is an Italian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts reruns of popular fiction and films that were produced by State-owned broadcaster RAI. Logos References Premium Premium may refer to: Marketing * Premium (marketi ...

and

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 ...

are the official broadcasters of the festival in

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 ...

. The show is also available in streaming via website o
Rai Play

Ratings Sanremo Music Festival 2019

The audience is referred to the one of

Ratings Prima Festival 2019

Ratings Dopo Festival 2019

International broadcast

The international television service

Rai Italia Rai Italia is the international English language television service of Rai Internazionale, a subsidiary of RAI, Italy's public national broadcaster. Rai Italia operates a television network that broadcasts around the world via 3 localized feeds. ...

broadcast the competition in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The contest was also streamed via the official

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 ...

website ''eurovision.tv''.

Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest

The winners of the Big Artists category received the right to represent

at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 contest with the song " Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broad ...

. However, winners are not obliged to take part in Eurovision, as seen in 2016 when Stadio declined to participate in the contest. In the event that the winner decides not to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest,

and the organisers of

usually reserve the right to select the Italian entrant to themselves, in the case of 2016 selecting runner-up

Francesca Michielin Francesca Michielin (, ; born 25 February 1995) is an Italian singer and songwriter. She rose to fame after winning the fifth season of the Italian talent show ''X Factor''. Her first single, " Distratto", debuted atop the Italian FIMI Top Digi ...

. There was a former Italian Eurovision representative competing in the Big Artists category this year. Il Volo came 3rd in 2015 with ''

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 ...

''.

References

{{Sanremo Music Festival 2019 in Italian television 2019 song contests February 2019 events in Italy Sanremo Music Festival by year