Italy will be participating in the Eurovision Song Contest for the 49th time. The concept of the ESC originated from the Italian music festival “Sanremo Festival,” which was first held in 1951 and remains popular to this day, attracting numerous popular Italian singers and international stars. The winners of the festival are often chosen to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest, as the music from Sanremo is known for producing evergreen songs. The idea for an international contest similar to Sanremo was realized in 1956, and since then, the Italian representative for the ESC is typically chosen from the winner or runner-up of the festival.

Despite having many popular Italian evergreens and top hits, Italy has only won the Eurovision Song Contest three times, with “Non Ho L’età” by Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964, “Insieme: 1992” by Toto Cutugno in 1990, and most recently in 2021 with Måneskin and “Zitti E Buoni”

However, Italy has consistently performed well in the competition, particularly after their comeback in 2011. Many of the Italian entries have become worldwide hits or even evergreens, such as “Per Lucia” by Riccardo Fogli in 1983 (11th), “Gente di Mare” by Umberto Tozzi & Raff in 1987 (3rd), and “Fiumi di Parole” by Jalisse in 1997 (4th), as well as the tenor trio Il Volo with “Grande Amore” (3rd). Italy has also achieved many Top 10 rankings, with five 2nd place finishes and five 3rd place finishes, making it one of the most successful countries in Eurovision. With Italian music being popular worldwide, the Italian entries showcase the best of Italian music, making their chances of a Top 10 placing very high, at 75%.

Italy has paused for twelve years (1998 – 2010) until the Italian broadcaster RAI has decided to return in 2011, this has been highly appreciated internationally, as Italy is known for high quality music. Luckily, Italy shaped up very well in Düsseldorf with “Follia D’Amore” by Raphael Gualazzi who came 2nd. One year later with “L’Amore E Femina” by Nina Zilli a 9th rank could be reached. Another year later Marco Mengoni could even make a respectable 7th place in Malmö, while the 2014 entry “La Mia Città” by Emma Marrone reached the 21st place in Copenhagen only, but therefore Il Volo could make the Italians proud again with “Grande Amore” and a 3rd place! In 2017 Franceco Gabbani, who was one of the big favourites to win with “Occidentali’s Karma” and came 6th, Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro with “Non mi avete fatto niente” made a brilliant 5th place in Lisbon in Lisbon! In Tel Aviv 2019 Mahmood was not exception, with “Soldi”, he came 2nd. And 2021 Måneskin could achieve the third victory for Italy in the ESC history.

Last year in Turin, Mahmood and Blanco had a very emotional duet called “Brividi” and they made a respectable 6^th place on home ground.