Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in October 2017 that the winning performer(s) of the Big Artists section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2018 would earn the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal.

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country Italy
National selection
Selection processSanremo Music Festival 2018
Selection date(s)10 February 2018
Selected artist(s)Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro
Selected song"Non mi avete fatto niente"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Ermal Meta
  • Fabrizio Moro
  • Andrea Febo
Finals performance
Final result5th, 308 points
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 2018 2019►

Background

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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.[1] Since then, Italy has won the contest on two occasions: in 1964 with the song "Non ho l'età" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti and in 1990 with the song "Insieme: 1992" performed by Toto Cutugno. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010.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 with the song "Madness of Love", performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placed second—their highest result, to this point, since their victory in 1990. In 2017, Francesco Gabbani represented the nation with the song "Occidentali's Karma", placing sixth with 334 points.

The Italian national broadcaster, Radiotelevisione italiana (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.[2] Between 2011 and 2013, the broadcaster used the Sanremo Music Festival 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

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Sanremo Music Festival 2018

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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 Sanremo Music Festival 2018. 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.[3]

Twenty artists competed in the Big Artists category of Sanremo 2018. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants who represented Italy: Riccardo Fogli in 1983, Luca Barbarossa in 1988, Enrico Ruggeri, frontman of Decibel in 1993, and Nina Zilli in 2012.[4] The performers in the "Big Artists" category were:

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Annalisa "Il mondo prima di te" Annalisa Scarrone, Davide Simonetta, Alessandro Raina
Decibel "Lettera dal Duca" Silvio Capeccia, Enrico Ruggeri, Fulvio Muzio
Diodato and Roy Paci "Adesso" Antonio Diodato
Elio e le Storie Tese "Arrivedorci" Sergio Conforti, Stefano Belisari, Davide Luca Civaschi, Nicola Fasani
Enzo Avitabile feat. Peppe Servillo "Il coraggio di ogni giorno" Pacifico, Enzo Avitabile, Peppe Servillo
Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro "Non mi avete fatto niente" Ermal Meta, Fabrizio Moro, Andrea Febo
Giovanni Caccamo "Eterno" Cheope, Giovanni Caccamo
The Kolors "Frida (mai, mai, mai)" Davide Petrella, Dario Faini, Alessandro Raina, Antonio "Stash" Fiordispino
Le Vibrazioni "Così sbagliato" Francesco Sarcina, Andrea Bonomo, Luca Chiaravalli, Davide Simonetta
Lo Stato Sociale "Una vita in vacanza" Lodovico Guenzi, Alberto Gazzola, Francesco Draicchio, Matteo Romagnoli, Alberto Guidetti, Enrico Roberto
Luca Barbarossa "Passame er sale" Luca Barbarossa
Mario Biondi "Rivederti" Mario Biondi, Giuseppe Furnari, Fisicaro
Max Gazzè "La leggenda di Cristalda e Pizzomunno" Francesco Gazzè, Max Gazzè, Francesco De Benedettis
Nina Zilli "Senza appartenere" Giordana Angi, Antonio Iammarino, Nina Zilli
Noemi "Non smettere mai di cercarmi" Diego Calvetti, Massimiliano Pelan, Veronica Scopelliti, Fabio De Martino
Ornella Vanoni feat. Bungaro and Pacifico "Imparare ad amarsi" Bungaro, Pacifico, Cesare Chiodo, Antonio Fresa
Red Canzian "Ognuno ha il suo racconto" Red Canzian, Michele Porru
Renzo Rubino "Custodire" Renzo Rubino
Roby Facchinetti and Riccardo Fogli "Il segreto del tempo" Pacifico, Roby Facchinetti
Ron "Almeno pensami" Lucio Dalla

Final

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During the final evening of the Sanremo Music Festival 2018, Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro 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 agreed to participate in Eurovision and would perform their Sanremo song "Non mi avete fatto niente" at the contest in Lisbon.[5]

First Round – 10 February 2018
Draw Artist Song Expert Jury
(20%)
Press Jury
(30%)
Televote
(50%)
Total Place
1 Luca Barbarossa "Passame er sale" 3 11 4 6.83% 7
2 Red Canzian "Ognuno ha il suo racconto" 13 16 13 2.06% 15
3 The Kolors "Frida (mai, mai, mai)" 10 8 5 5.99% 9
4 Elio e le Storie Tese "Arrivedorci" 16 19 19 1.14% 20
5 Ron "Almeno pensami" 1 7 7 7.13% 4
6 Max Gazzè "La leggenda di Cristalda e Pizzomunno" 5 4 6 6.93% 6
7 Annalisa "Il mondo prima di te" 6 6 3 8.31% 3
8 Renzo Rubino "Custodire" 17 12 11 2.69% 13
9 Decibel "Lettera dal Duca" 17 15 15 1.99% 16
10 Ornella Vanoni feat. Bungaro and Pacifico "Imparare ad amarsi" 2 4 8 7.07% 5
11 Giovanni Caccamo "Eterno" 11 13 10 2.99% 10
12 Lo Stato Sociale "Una vita in vacanza" 8 1 2 10.50% 2
13 Roby Facchinetti and Riccardo Fogli "Il segreto del tempo" 17 19 12 1.70% 18
14 Diodato and Roy Paci "Adesso" 6 2 9 6.78% 8
15 Nina Zilli "Senza appartenere" 11 17 18 1.94% 17
16 Noemi "Non smettere mai di cercarmi" 17 14 16 2.09% 14
17 Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro "Non mi avete fatto niente" 4 3 1 16.56% 1
18 Mario Biondi "Rivederti" 9 17 20 1.69% 19
19 Le Vibrazioni "Così sbagliato" 13 8 17 2.82% 11
20 Enzo Avitabile feat. Peppe Servillo "Il coraggio di ogni giorno" 13 10 14 2.79% 12
Second Round – 10 February 2018
Draw Artist Song Jury
(50%)
Televote
(50%)
Total Place
1 Annalisa "Il mondo prima di te" 23.69% 23.49% 26.94% 3
2 Lo Stato Sociale "Una vita in vacanza" 38.00% 22.10% 28.40% 2
3 Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro "Non mi avete fatto niente" 38.31% 54.41% 44.66% 1

At Eurovision

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The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 took place at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and the final on 12 May 2018.[6] 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

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Points awarded to Italy

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Points awarded to Italy (Final)[7]
Score Televote Jury
12 points   Albania
10 points   Malta
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points   Belarus
3 points   Armenia   Spain
2 points   Czech Republic
1 point

Points awarded by Italy

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Detailed voting results

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The following members comprised the Italian jury:[9]

  • Silvia Gavarotti (jury chairperson) – singer
  • Antonella Nesi – journalist
  • Sandro Comini – conductor
  • Matteo Catalano – author
  • Barbara Mosconi – journalist
Detailed voting results from Italy (Semi-final 2)[8]
Draw Country Jury Televote
A. Nesi S. Comini S. Gavarotti M. Catalano B. Mosconi Rank Points Rank Points
01   Norway 1 3 2 1 2 1 12 10 1
02   Romania 12 11 14 17 13 16 1 12
03   Serbia 13 9 6 14 7 10 1 7 4
04   San Marino 5 6 9 3 11 6 5 15
05   Denmark 2 1 1 4 3 2 10 4 7
06   Russia 6 12 12 18 18 14 9 2
07   Moldova 3 10 5 8 17 7 4 2 10
08   Netherlands 14 18 4 12 4 8 3 11
09   Australia 7 2 8 6 5 4 7 12
10   Georgia 15 7 7 11 9 11 17
11   Poland 11 17 10 15 6 12 8 3
12   Malta 8 4 3 2 8 3 8 13
13   Hungary 9 15 18 10 10 15 5 6
14   Latvia 16 8 13 7 14 13 16
15   Sweden 4 13 15 9 1 5 6 14
16   Montenegro 18 16 17 13 16 18 18
17   Slovenia 17 5 11 5 12 9 2 6 5
18   Ukraine 10 14 16 16 15 17 3 8
Detailed voting results from Italy (Final)[7]
Draw Country Jury Televote
A. Nesi S. Comini S. Gavarotti M. Catalano B. Mosconi Rank Points Rank Points
01   Ukraine 24 24 20 25 24 25 3 8
02   Spain 16 17 10 13 12 16 17
03   Slovenia 23 18 21 22 23 24 22
04   Lithuania 9 15 9 15 15 14 13
05   Austria 22 10 3 1 6 4 7 15
06   Estonia 11 2 4 16 22 7 4 5 6
07   Norway 2 3 2 3 3 1 12 19
08   Portugal 21 21 23 14 21 23 25
09   United Kingdom 10 9 5 2 4 5 6 21
10   Serbia 20 13 15 23 18 19 10 1
11   Germany 1 7 16 4 1 2 10 8 3
12   Albania 19 12 6 17 25 15 1 12
13   France 4 16 17 6 7 11 16
14   Czech Republic 12 20 18 18 17 18 12
15   Denmark 8 1 1 10 8 3 8 7 4
16   Australia 7 6 19 12 11 12 23
17   Finland 15 22 22 20 13 21 20
18   Bulgaria 14 23 13 24 19 20 11
19   Moldova 13 19 14 11 20 17 2 10
20   Sweden 5 14 24 21 2 10 1 24
21   Hungary 18 25 25 19 14 22 9 2
22   Israel 3 8 11 9 10 9 2 4 7
23   Netherlands 17 11 8 8 9 13 18
24   Ireland 25 4 7 7 5 6 5 14
25   Cyprus 6 5 12 5 16 8 3 6 5
26   Italy

Notes and references

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "Italy Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Italy: RAI confirms participation in Eurovision 2017". esctoday.com. Esctoday.com. 15 September 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  3. ^ Weaver, Jessica (12 October 2017). "Italy: Changes introduced as Sanremo 2018 rules released". esctoday.com. Esctoday.com. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  4. ^ Lombardini, Emanuele (16 December 2017). "Sanremo 2018, ecco i 20 big: fra loro il rappresentante italiano all'Eurovision". eurofestivalnews.com. Eurofestival NEWS. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  5. ^ Farren, Neil (11 February 2018). "Italy: Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro Confirmed for Eurovision 2018". eurovoix.tv. Eurovoix. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  6. ^ Jordan, Paul (25 July 2017). "Lisbon revealed as Host City of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  9. ^ Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
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