Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest

Balance sheet

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Broadcasting company

First participation

1956

Number of participations

45 (as of 2019)

Highest ranking

1 ( 1964 , 1990 )

Highest Score

472 ( 2019 )

Lowest Score

0 ( 1966 )

Points average (since first post)

84.48 (as of 2019)

Average points per voting country in the 12-point system

3.81 (as of 2019)

This article deals with the history of Italy as a participant in the Eurovision Song Contest .

Regularity of participation and successes in competition

Domenico Modugno in Hilversum in 1958

Italy took part in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. However, apart from the Swiss victory, the remaining placements were never announced. In 1957 Italy reached sixth place out of ten participants. But in 1958 Italy was able to achieve third place with Domenico Modugno. In the years that followed, the country was at least always able to achieve a place in the top ten. In 1963 the next third place could be achieved. In 1964, Italy achieved its first victory at the ESC with Gigliola Cinquetti and her song Non ho l'età . In 1965 Italy was able to reach fifth place as hosts.

In 1966 Domenico Modugno competed for Italy for the third time. This time, however, he was unsuccessful and ended up with 0 points together with Monaco in last place and thus achieved the worst position in Italy at the ESC until then. In the years that followed, the rankings of 11th in 1967, 10th in 1968 and 13th in 1969 were rather average. It was not until 1970 that the country was once again placed in the top ten. Until 1976, with the exception of 1973, Italy was always in the top ten. In 1974 Gigliola Cinquetti, who won the ESC for Italy in 1964, even achieved a second place, while Wess & Dori Ghezzi took a third place in 1975. From 1977 to 1979 Italy again only achieved average placings. While a sixth place was achieved in 1980, Italy stayed out of the ESC in 1981 and 1982. The reason for this was probably internal quarrels with the EBU .

In 1983 Italy returned, however. The return was then characterized by an average place. In 1984 and 1985, however, they again got two placements among the top ten. While 1986 was suspended due to a lack of interest and low ratings, Italy returned in 1987 and immediately reached third place, which was the fourth third place in Italy's ESC history. In 1988 the country performed again on average. From 1989 to 1992 Italy was very successful. Overall, Italy only achieved placements in the top ten and in 1990 with Toto Cutugno even the second win for Italy. In 1993 this successful period was over. Italy only came in an average of twelfth place. From 1994 to 1996, the country then suspended again due to a lack of interest and low audience ratings.

Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 only came about because the national television Rai had missed the cancellation deadline and otherwise would have had to pay high fines. Even so, Italy finished fourth on their return. From 1998, Italy then completely suspended and stayed away from the ESC every year until 2010. The reasons for this absence were never known.

On December 2, 2010 it was announced that Italy would like to participate in the competition again from 2011. With Italy's return, the Big 4 at that time became the Big 5 we know today , making Italy one of the largest donors of the competition alongside Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Italy's return in Düsseldorf was a complete success. Raphael Gualazzi took second place and thus the best position since the victory in 1990. Italy also won the jury voting in 2011, but was only able to get 11th place in the televoting. Italy was also successful in 2012 and 2013, taking two places in the top ten. In 2014, however, came a brief low point. Emma Marrone achieved Italy's worst result of all time in its history at the ESC in Copenhagen in 2014 with 21st place.

Mahmood achieved the best result for Italy in 2019 since their last win in 1990

However, 2015 was again a complete success. Il Volo won the televoting and took 6th place in the jury voting, making them 3rd overall. With 292 points they got the highest score in Italy at the ESC to date. In 2016, Italy achieved only an average place with position 16. In 2017 Italy was able to achieve a place in the top ten again. In addition, Francesco Gabbani achieved a new point record for Italy at the ESC with 334 points, although Il Volo had only set a new point record two years earlier. In 2018 Italy also achieved a good ranking with 5th place. In 2019 the country achieved its best ranking since 2011 with second place. With 472 points, the singer Mahmood set a new point record for Italy, with which Mahmood achieved the best result since Italy's last victory in 1990. With the exception of 2014 and 2016, Italy has only placed in the top ten since returning in 2011.

With just one last place, two wins, three second places, five third places and many other places in the top ten, Italy is one of the most successful countries in the competition.

List of posts

Color legend: - 1st place. - 2nd place. - 3rd place. - Equal points with last place. - Eliminated in the semifinals / in the qualification / in the Eastern European preliminary decision. - no participation / not qualified. - Cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest.      

year	Interpreter	Title Music (M) and Text (T)	language	translation	final		Semi-final / qualification		National preliminary decision
					space	Points	space	Points
1956	Tonina Torrielli	Amami se vuoi M: Vittorio Mascheroni; T: Mario Panzeri	Italian	Love me if you want	k. A. / 14	k. A.	Direct participation		Sanremo Festival 1956
	Franca Raimondi	Aprite le finestre M: Virgilio Panzuti; T: Pinchi	Italian	Open the window	k. A. / 14	k. A.
1957	Nunzio Gallo	Corde della mia chitarra M: Mario Ruccione; T: Giuseppe Fiorelli	Italian	Strings of my guitar	6/10	7th			Sanremo Festival 1957
1958	Domenico Modugno	Nel blu dipinto di blu M: Domenico Modugno; T: Domenico Modugno, Franco Migliacci	Italian	Blue painted in blue	3/10	13			Sanremo Festival 1958
1959	Domenico Modugno	Piove (ciao, ciao, bambina) M: Domenico Modugno; T: Dino Verde	Italian	It's raining (ciao, ciao, girl)	6/11	9			Sanremo Festival 1959
1960	Renato Rascel	Romantica M: Dino Verde; T: Renato Rascel	Italian	Romantic	8/13	5			Sanremo Festival 1960
1961	Betty Curtis	Al di là M: Carlo Donida ; T: Mogol	Italian	Beyond	5/16	12			Sanremo Festival 1961
1962	Claudio Villa	Addio, addio M: Domenico Modugno; T: Franco Migliacci	Italian	Bye Bye	9/16	3			Sanremo Festival 1962
1963	Emilio Pericoli	Uno per tutte M: Tony Renis ; T: Mogol, Alberto Testa	Italian	One for all	3/16	37			Sanremo Festival 1963
1964	Gigliola Cinquetti	Non ho l'età M: Mario Panzeri, Gene Colonnello; T: Nicola Salerno	Italian	I'm not old enough	1  /16	49			Sanremo Festival 1964
1965	Bobby Solo	Se piangi, se ridi M: Gianni Marchetti, Roberto Satti; T: Mogol, Roberto Satti	Italian	When you cry when you laugh	5/18	15th			Sanremo Festival 1965
1966	Domenico Modugno	Dio, come ti amo M / T: Domenico Modugno	Italian	My god how much i love you	17/18	0			Sanremo Festival 1966
1967	Claudio Villa	Non andare più lontano M: Gino Mescoli; T: Vito Pallavicini	Italian	Don't go any further	11/17	4th			internal selection
1968	Sergio Endrigo	Marianne M / T: Sergio Endrigo	Italian	Marianne	10/17	7th			internal selection
1969	Iva Zanicchi	The large lacrime bianche M: Piero Soffici; T: Carlo Daiano	Italian	Two big white tears	13/16	5			internal selection
1970	Gianni Morandi	Occhi di ragazza M: Lucio Dalla; T: Sergio Bardotti, Gianfranco Baldazzi	Italian	Girl eyes	8/12	5			internal selection
1971	Massimo Ranieri	L'amore è un attimo M: Enrico Polito; T: Giancarlo Bigazzi , Gaetano Savio	Italian	Love is a moment	5/18	91			internal selection
1972	Nicola di Bari	I giorni dell'arcobaleno M: Piero Pintucci, Nicola di Bari; T: Dalmazio Masini	Italian	The days of the rainbow	6/18	92			Sanremo Festival 1972
1973	Massimo Ranieri	Chi sarà M: Enrico Polito, Gaetano Savio; T: Giancarlo Bigazzi	Italian	Who will be	13/17	74			internal selection
1974	Gigliola Cinquetti	Sì M / T: Mario Panzeri, Daniele Pace, Lorenzo Pilat, Corrado Conti	Italian	Yes	2/17	18th			internal selection
1975	Wess & Dori Ghezzi	Era M: Shel Shapiro; T: Andrea Lo Vecchio	Italian	It was	3/19	115			internal selection
1976	Al Bano & Romina Power	We'll Live It All Again M: Detto Mariano; T: Romina Power, Albano Carrisi	English , Italian	We will see everything all over again	7/18	69			internal selection
1977	Mia Martini	Libera M: Salvatore Fabrizio; T: Luigi Albertelli	Italian	Free	13/18	33			internal selection
1978	Ricchi e Poveri	Questo amore M: Dario Farina, Mauro Lusini; T: Sergio Bardotti	Italian	This love	12/20	53			internal selection
1979	Matia Bazaar	Raggio di luna M: Antonella Ruggiero, Piero Cassano, Carlo Marrale; T: Salvatore Stellita, Giancarlo Golzi	Italian	Moonbeam	15/19	27			internal selection
1980	Alan Sorrenti	Not so che darei M / T: Alan Sorrenti	Italian	I don't know what I would give	6/19	87			internal selection
1981 1982	No participation
1983	Riccardo Fogli	Per Lucia M: Maurizio Fabrizio ; T: Riccardo Fogli, Vincenzo Spampinato	Italian	For Lucia	11/20	41	Direct participation		internal selection
1984	Alice & Franco Battiato	I treni di Tozeur M: Franco Battiato; T: Rosario Consentino, Giusto Pio	Italian	Tozeur's trains	5/19	70			internal selection
1985	Al Bano & Romina Power	Magic, Oh Magic M: Dario Farina, Michael Hoffmann; T: Cristiano Minellono	Italian a.	Magical, oh how magical	7/19	78			internal selection
1986	No participation
1987	Umberto Tozzi & Raf	Gente di mare M: Umberto Tozzi, Raf; T: Giancarlo Bigazzi	Italian	People of the sea	3/22	103	Direct participation		internal selection
1988	Luca Barbarossa	Vivo (ti scrivo) M / T: Luca Barbarossa	Italian	I live (i write to you)	12/21	52			internal selection
1989	Anna Oxa & Fausto Leali	Avrei voluto M: Franco Fasano; T: Franco Ciani, Franco Berlincioni	Italian	I would have wanted	9/22	56			internal selection
1990	Toto Cutugno	Insieme: 1992 M / T: Salvatore Cutugno	Italian b.	Together: 1992	1  / 22nd	149			internal selection
1991	Peppino di Capri	Comme è ddoce 'o mare M: Marcello Marocchi; T: Giampiero Artegiani	Neapolitan	How sweet the sea is	7/22	89			internal selection
1992	Mia Martini	Rapsodia M: Giuseppe Dati; T: Giancarlo Bigazzi	Italian	rhapsody	4/23	111			internal selection
1993	Enrico Ruggeri	Sole d'Europa M / T: Enrico Ruggeri	Italian	European sun	12/25	45			internal selection
1994 to 1996	No participation
1997	Jalisse	Fiumi di parole M: Fabio Ricci; T: Carmen Di Domenico, Alessandra Drusi	Italian	Word flows	4/25	114	Qualified directly for the final		Sanremo Festival 1997
1998 to 2010	No participation
2011	Raphael Gualazzi	Madness of Love M / T: Raphael Gualazzi	Italian, English	Love madness	2/25	189	Qualified directly for the final		Sanremo Festival 2011
2012	Nina Zilli	L'amore è femmina (Out of Love) M: Christian Rabb, Kristoffer Sjökvist, Frida Molander, Charlie Mason; T: Nina Zilli , Christian Rabb, Kristoffer Sjökvist, Frida Molander, Charlie Mason	English, Italian	Love is feminine	9/26	101			Sanremo Festival 2012
2013	Marco Mengoni	L'essenziale M: Francesco de Benedittis, Roberto Casalino, Marco Mengoni ; T: Roberto Casalino	Italian	The essentials	7/26	126			Sanremo Festival 2013
2014	Emma	La mia città M / T: Emma Marrone	Italian	My city	21/26	33			internal selection
2015	Il Volo	Grande amore M / T: Francesco Boccia, Ciro Esposito	Italian	Great love	3/27	292			Sanremo Festival 2015
2016	Francesca Michielin	No Degree of Separation M: Fabio Gargiulo, Federica Abbate , Cheope; T: Francesca Michielin , Federica Abbate , Norma Jean Martine	Italian, English	No degree of separation	16/26	124			Sanremo Festival 2016
2017	Francesco Gabbani	Occidentali's Karma M / T: Francesco Gabbani , Filippo Gabbani, Luca Chiaravalli	Italian	Western karma	6/26	334			Sanremo Festival 2017
2018	Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro	Non mi avete fatto niente M / T: Ermal Meta , Fabrizio Moro , Andrea Febo	Italian	You couldn't harm me	5/26	308			Sanremo Festival 2018
2019	Mahmood	Soldi M: Mahmood , Dardust , Charlie Charles ; T: Mahmood , Dardust	Italian, Arabic	money	2 / 26th	472			Sanremo Festival 2019
2020	Diodato	Fai rumore M: Antonio Diodato , Edwyn Roberts; T: Antonio Diodato	Italian	You are loud	Cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the EBU				Sanremo Festival 2020

^a. with English title

^a. with two words in English

National qualifications

Up to and including 1966 and 1972, the winning titles of the Sanremo Festival were automatically the Italian contributions to the Eurovision Song Contest, and the interpreters also generally agreed (most of the songs in Sanremo, however, were presented in two versions by two different interpreters; of these, each one selected for the ESC). In 1956, as two contributions were submitted, the title in second place was also represented. In the years 1967 to 1969 one of the victorious Sanremo interpreters was selected as a representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, but with a new title. Until 1988, the Italian representatives were selected internally, in 1978 and 1985 it was - more by chance - the previous year's winners from Sanremo. In 1989 the winners of the festival were again the Italian representatives at the Grand Prix, but with a new song, also in 1993. In 1997 Jalisse won with Fiumi di Parole and traveled to Dublin with this song. In the remaining years, selection was also made internally.

After Italy returned in 2011, the performers up to and including 2013, including the title until 2012, were selected from among the participants in the Sanremo Festival. In 2014 Emma Marrone (2012 Sanremo winner) was selected internally to represent the country; their title was also determined internally. Since 2015, the winner of the Sanremo Festival has been given the right to represent Italy at the Song Contest with his winning title. However, the interpreter does not have to agree. The Stadio group won the Sanremo Festival 2016, but decided against participating, whereupon the Rai sent the runner-up Francesca Michielin to the ESC. In 2015 and since 2017, the winners agreed to participate.

Commercial success

Regardless of their performance, many Italian contributions were also internationally successful. The best known among them is probably Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare) , which reached first place in the charts in Europe and also in the USA and also won the Grammy for best song in the same year . Other international hits were Piove (Ciao, ciao, bambina) , which was commercially successful in the original version and reached second place in the German charts by Caterina Valente , the first winning title Non ho l'età and Non so che darei aus the year 1980.

languages

Italy has remained very faithful to its national language over the years, with almost all contributions being sung entirely in Italian. The first exception was in 1976 when Romina Power and Al Bano's contribution was sung in English and Italian. In 1984 two lines of the song I treni di Tozeur were sung in German, in fact it was a movement from Mozart's Magic Flute . In 1985 Romina Power and Al Bano's second contribution was sung mainly in Italian, but with the English title line Magic, oh magic . In 1990 every chorus of the song Insieme ended: 1992 with the English words unite, unite, Europe . The Comme è ddoce 'o mare from 1991, performed in the Neapolitan dialect, is also linguistically remarkable .

In 2011 Raphael Gualazzi also brought a bilingual song. Madness of Love was sung around 50% in Italian and in English, as was L'amore è femmina (Out of Love) in 2012. In 2013 and 2014 the performers Marco Mengoni sang with L'essenziale and Emma Marrone with La mia città only in Italian. The contribution from 2015 Grande amore was also presented entirely in Italian. In 2016, however, Francesca Michielin decided to sing the originally Italian contribution Nessun grado di separazione in Stockholm, partly in Italian and in English. The title has been converted to No Degree of Separation in English . In 2017, 2018 and 2020 the Italian contributions were again presented in full in Italian. The 2019 contribution was mostly sung in Italian, but it also contains some words from Arabic . This was the first time the language appeared in an Italian contribution.

Competitions held

year	city	venue	Moderation
1965	Naples	Rai di Napoli auditorium	Renata Mauro
1991	Rome	Studio 15 de Cinecittà	Gigliola Cinquetti & Toto Cutugno

Scoring

The following countries received the most points from or awarded the most points to Italy (as of 2019):

Most of the points awarded in the final space country Points 1  France 147 2  United Kingdom 130 3  Spain 120 4th  Ireland 118 5  Switzerland 102

Most of the points awarded space country Points 1  France 147 2  United Kingdom 130 3  Ireland 128 4th  Spain 120 5  Switzerland 116

Most received points space country Points 1  Spain 232 2  Portugal 219 3  France 184 4th  Switzerland 181 5  Finland 174

Award of the highest rating

Since 1975 Italy has given the highest number of points in the final to 19 different countries, five of which to Ireland. In the semi-finals, on the other hand, Italy awarded the maximum number of points to ten different countries, two of them to Albania, Romania and Ukraine.

Highest rating (final) year country Place (final) 1975  Switzerland 6th 1976  Ireland 10 1977  Monaco 4th 1978  Luxembourg 7th 1979  Spain 2 1980  Germany 2 1981 No participation 1982 No participation 1983  Luxembourg 1 1984  Ireland 2 1985  Ireland 6th 1986 No participation 1987  Ireland 1 1988  United Kingdom 2 1989  Austria 5 1990  Austria 10 1991  France 2 1992  Greece 5 1993  Ireland 1 1994 to 1996 No participation 1997  Estonia 8th 1998 to 2010 No participation 2011  Romania 17th 2012  Albania 5 2013  Denmark 1 2014  Austria 1 2015  Sweden 1 2016  Spain (J) 22nd  Ukraine (T) 1 2017  Azerbaijan (J) 14th  Moldova (T) 3 2018  Norway (J) 15th  Albania (T) 11 2019  Denmark (J) 12  Albania (T) 18th 2020 Competition canceled

Highest rating (semi-finals) year country Place (semifinals) 2004 to 2010 No participation 2011  Romania 4th 2012  Albania 2 2013  Ukraine 3 2014  Austria 1 2015  Israel 3 2016  Australia (J) 1  Ukraine (T) 2 2017  Azerbaijan (J) 8th  Moldova (T) 2 2018  Norway (J) 1  Romania (T) 11 2019  Denmark (J) 10  Albania (T) 9 2020 Competition canceled

various

• Toto Cutugno Insieme: 1992 is the only winning title in the competition with a current political reference at the time: It was about the Schengen Agreement .
• In 1974, the contest was not broadcast by the public radio and television company RAI, as it was feared that the contribution Sì (“Yes”) interpreted by Gigliola Cinquetti could lead to the referendum on the abolition of the old divorce law May should take place towards a positive election result.
• With Italy's return to the competition in 2011, the Big Four Spain , Germany , Great Britain and France were expanded to include Italy in the Big Five . The Italian entry is therefore always qualified for the final.
• If there had been a pure jury vote in 2011 , Italy would have won.
• If there had been a pure televoting vote in 2015 , Italy would have won.
• Italy is the only country in the competition that has achieved over 300 points three times in a row: 334 points (2017), 308 (2018) and 472 (2019).

Impressions

• 

  Raphael Gualazzi 2011

• 

  Nina Zilli 2012

• 

  Marco Mengoni 2013

• 

  Emma Marrone 2014

• 

  Il Volo 2015

• 

  Francesca Michelin 2016

• 

  Francesco Gabbani 2017

• 

  Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro 2018

• 

  Mahmood 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Italy applied for 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on eurovision.tv (accessed on December 2, 2010)
2. ^ San Remo Festival 1951-2006
3. ↑ Sanremo 2016, 5 cose da sapere sugli Stadio - Panorama. Retrieved August 22, 2016 (Italian). 
4. ↑ Charts Surfer: Song Search
5. ^ I treni di Tozeur
6. ↑ Insieme: 1992
7. ^ Song Contest 1990 Eurovision Club Germany e. V .; Retrieved November 19, 2010
8. ^ Song Contest 1974 Eurovision Club Germany e. V .; Retrieved November 19, 2010
9. ↑ EBU reveals split televoting and jury results. In: eurovision.tv. May 26, 2011, accessed May 27, 2015 . 
10. ↑ The audience would have chosen a different winner. In: FAZ.net . May 24, 2015, accessed May 26, 2015 .