Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 45 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956. It was one of the seven countries that competed at the first contest. Italy competed at the contest frequently until 1997. After a 14-year absence, the country returned to the contest in. Italy has won the contest twice.
In 1958, Domenico Modugno finished third with the song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu". Renamed "Volare", the song became a huge international hit, reaching the US number one spot and winning two Grammy Awards at its first edition. Emilio Pericoli also finished third in 1963, before Italy won for the first time in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti and "Non ho l'età". Cinquetti returned to the contest in 1974 and finished second with the song "Si", losing to ABBA. Italy then finished third in 1975 with Wess and Dori Ghezzi and the song "Era". The country's best result of the 1980s was Umberto Tozzi and Raf finishing third in 1987. Italy's second victory in the contest came in 1990 with Toto Cutugno and the song "". Other good 1990s results were Mia Martini in 1992 and Jalisse in 1997, who both finished fourth. After 1997, Italy withdrew from the competition.
On 31 December 2010, the EBU announced that Italy would be returning to the contest as part of the "Big Five", meaning that it automatically qualified for the final. Italy's return to the contest has proved to be successful, finishing in the top ten in seven of the last nine contests, including second places for Raphael Gualazzi and Mahmood in, and Il Volo finishing third in. Il Volo won the televoting, receiving votes from all countries, but the juries placed them sixth. Since the introduction of the 50/50 voting system in 2009, this was the first time that the winner of the viewers vote did not win the contest.
History
Absences
Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times. The first withdrawal was in 1981, when RAI stated that interest had diminished in the country. This absence continued through the following year, before Italy returned in 1983. Italy again withdrew in 1986 when RAI decided not to enter the contest.From 1994 to 1996 Italy withdrew again, with RAI citing a lack of interest in participating. Italy returned in 1997, before withdrawing again without explanation, and the country did not participate again until 2011.
None of the Eurovision winning songs were particularly successful in the Italian charts. "Non ho l'eta" by Gigliola Cinquetti was a hit in February 1964 when the song won the Sanremo festival, but according to the official "Hit Parade Italia" website, "Waterloo", "Ding-A-Dong", "Puppet on a String", "Save Your Kisses for Me" and even Italy's own winning entry of 1990, "", all failed to enter the top ten of the records sales charts. A notable exception to this rule was, however, the 1984 entry "I treni di Tozeur" by Alice and Franco Battiato which shared 5th position in the final but still became a #3 hit in Italy and was also placed at #20 on the chart of the best-selling singles in Italy of 1984.
TV censorship of the Eurovision Song Contest 1974
Italy refused to broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 on RAI because of a song sung by Gigliola Cinquetti which coincided with the intense political campaigning for the 1974 Italian referendum on divorce which was held a month later in May. Despite the Eurovision contest's taking place more than a month before the planned vote, Italian censors refused to allow the contest and song to be shown or heard. RAI censors felt that the song, which was titled "Sì", and which contained constantly repeating the aforementioned word could be accused of being subliminal messaging and a form of propaganda to influence the Italian voting public to vote 'yes' in the referendum. The song thus remained censored on most Italian state TV and radio stations for over a month. At the contest in Brighton, Cinquetti finished second, losing to ABBA. "Sì" went on to be a UK top ten hit, peaking at number eight. It also reached the German top 20.A new interest?
However, in 2008 two noted Italian musicians, Vince Tempera and Eurovision winner Toto Cutugno expressed their sorrow at Italy's non-participation and called for the country to return to the contest.Contestants from the 2008 contest, starting with the winner Dima Bilan appeared on the Italian show Carramba! Che fortuna, hosted by Raffaella Carrà on Rai Uno. Whether this was an initiative by Carrà to try to bring Eurovision back to Italy is not clear, but Sietse Bakker, Manager Communications & PR of the Eurovision Song Contest, reiterated that "Italy is still very much welcome to take part in the competition."
Shortly after revealing the list of participants for the 2009 Contest the EBU announced that, for the 2010 Contest, they would work harder to bring Italy back into the contest, along with former participants Monaco and Austria.
Successful return to the contest
At a press conference presenting the fourth edition of the Italian X Factor, Rai 2 director Massimo Liofredi announced that the winner of the competition might advance to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest, rather than participate in the Sanremo Festival, as in previous years. On 2 December 2010, it was officially announced by the Eurovision Song Contest official website that Italy had applied to compete in the 2011 Contest. Their participation was further confirmed on 31 December with the announcement of the official participant list.Italy's return to the contest after a 14-year absence has been successful, finishing in the top ten in seven of the last nine contests. In 2011, Raphael Gualazzi finished second, Italy's best result since 1990. Italy actually came first with the jury vote, but only 11th in the televote to place second overall behind winners Azerbaijan. Nina Zilli in 2012 and Marco Mengoni in 2013 were able to achieve a top 10 position ; the latter, gathered 126 points, exactly doubling the sum of the other Big. This trend had a stop when Emma Marrone, selected internally, ended in 21st place, worst position ever of an Italian entry. In 2015, winners of Sanremo Il Volo finished third with 292 points, behind Sweden and Russia. Italy placed first in the televote with 366 points, but sixth in the jury vote. Since the introduction of the 50/50 split vote voting system, this was the first time that the winner of the televote did not win the contest. Francesca Michielin, selected among competitors of 2016 Sanremo Festival after the waiver of the winners Stadio, ended in 16th place. Francesco Gabbani, a fan favourite with "Occidentali's Karma", earned a 6th place in 2017. The year after, although not initially a big favourite with the bookies, Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro returned Italy to the top 5 with "Non mi avete fatto niente" aided significantly by finishing third in the televote which heavily counterbalanced the 17th place of the jury, finishing fifth overall. In 2019 Mahmood placed second with 465 points, Italy's best result since 2011.
The video for "Occidentali's Karma" by Francesco Gabbani has become the first Eurovision song to reach more than 200 million views on YouTube, while "Soldi" by Mahmood is the most-streamed Eurovision song on Spotify.
Italy's return and the "Big Five"
Since 2000, four countries - the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain - have automatically qualified for the final of the Contest regardless of their positions on the scoreboard in previous contests. They earned this status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU. Owing to their untouchable status in the Contest, these countries became known as the "Big Four". Executive Supervisor of the Contest Svante Stockselius told reporters in a meeting with OGAE Serbia that, if Italy were to return to the contest in the future, the country would also qualify automatically for the finals, becoming part of a "Big Five". However, with the official announcement of the return of Italy, it was not confirmed whether the country would compete in one of the two semi-finals or whether it would be part of the "Big Five", as RAI, third largest contributor to the EBU, had not applied to be a member of "Big Five". On December 31, it was announced that Italy would take part in of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and confirmed that the country would thereby automatically qualify for the final in Germany as part of the "Big Five".Contestants
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest
Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
| Naples | Auditorium RAI | Renata Mauro | |
| Rome | Teatro 15 di Cinecittà | Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno |
Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
| Year | Category | Song | Performer | Final | Points | Host city | |
| Press Award | "Grande amore" | Il Volo | 3 | 292 |  Vienna | ||
| Press Award | "Occidentali's Karma" | Francesco Gabbani | 6 | 334 |  Kyiv | ||
| Composer Award | "Soldi" | Mahmood | 2 | 465 |  Tel Aviv |
Winner by OGAE members
| Year | Song | Performer | Final result | Points | Host city | |
| "Grande amore" | Il Volo | 3 | 292 | Vienna | ||
| "Occidentali's Karma" | Francesco Gabbani | 6 | 334 | Kyiv | ||
| "Soldi" | Mahmood | 2 | 465 | Tel Aviv |
Related involvement
Heads of delegation
Commentators and spokespersons
Other shows
| Show | Commentator | Channel | |
| ' | Flavio Insinna, Federico Russo | Rai 1 | |
| ' | Gino Castaldo, Ema Stockholma | Rai 4 Rai Radio 2 |