The 22-year-old was taking part in the competition in Sanremo for the first time, which began in 1951 as a hit festival. The musical spectrum is now considerably broader. Mango’s parents were also there in Sanremo: She is the daughter of the musician Pino Mango, who died in 2014, and the singer of the group Matia Bazar, Laura Valente. On the last evening she was clearly ahead with “La Noia” after five and a half hours. At the awards ceremony around 2:30 a.m. she fought back tears, but then celebrated with lots of jumping and barely fewer calls of “grazie” to the audience.
The Italo rapper Geolier from Naples came second with the song “I’ p’ me, Tu p’ te” (“I for me, you for you”), which he sang in the dialect of his hometown – something that used to not be allowed in Sanremo would have been. Annalisa landed in third place with “Sinceramente” (“Certainly”). Sanremo also celebrated itself ahead of next year’s 75th anniversary edition. On the final evening, Gigliola Cinquetti, who had taken part in the competition twelve times and won twice, also performed. With her winning title from 1964, “Non ho l’èta” (“I don’t have the age”), she later also won the Grand Prix d’Eurovision, the forerunner of the ESC. She is now 76 years old.
For the state television station Rai, the broadcast of the oldest national song competition meant the best ratings for a week, with an average of more than ten million viewers. At some times, more than two-thirds of the televisions turned on in Italy were showing Sanremo. The German contribution for the ESC in Malmö will be determined on Friday evening between eight candidates on ARD.