We’ve had over three weeks to familiarise ourselves with the 25 finalists of Italy’s Festival di Sanremo 2022.
So while we count down the days until the iconic festival kicks off on 1 February, we want to know which of the artists you are most excited for.
Yes, the songs are yet to be released, but that hasn’t stopped us from checking out the vast back catalogues of all the competitors.
Scroll down to vote in our poll
Sanremo 2022: Line-up
There are several names that will be instantly recognisably to international Eurovision fans: Mahmood, Fabrizio Moro, Emma Marrone, Massimo Ranieri, Gianni Morandi and Iva Zanicchi.
Mahmood returns to the festival three years after winning with “Soldi”, which took second place at Eurovision 2019. For Sanremo 2022, he will take the stage paired with Blanco, last year’s revelation singer in Italy.
Fabrizio Moro, on the other hand, returns as a soloist this time, four years after winning with “Non mi avete fatto niente” alongside Ermal Meta. Together, they finished fifth at Eurovision 2018.
In 2012, Emma Marrone won Sanremo with “Non è l’inferno”. We would then see her at Eurovision in 2014, where she sang “La mia città”. Emma comes back to the festival to celebrate ten years since her Sanremo victory.
Italian icons Gianni Morandi, Massimo Ranieri and Iva Zanicchi took to the Eurovision stage in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between them, they have scored five Sanremo victories.
Those mentioned above are the singers with Eurovision experience, but the list of Sanremo returnees is much longer. Achille Lauro, Rettore, Elisa, Giusy Ferreri, Irama, La Rappresentante di Lista, Le Vibrazioni, Michele Bravi and Noemi are all back after varying amounts of time away.
Matteo Romano, Tananai and Yuman gained access to the main show by winning the Sanremo Giovani contest a few weeks ago, which is dedicated solely for emerging talents.
The remaining 2022 candidates are Aka7even, Ana Mena, Dargen D’Amico, Ditonellapiaga, Giovanni Truppi, Highsnob & Hu, Rkomi and Sangiovanni.
Poll: Which Sanremo 2022 act are you most excited for?
And now it’s time for you to cast your vote. You can vote for as many acts as you wish, but you can only vote once.
Who did you vote for? Whose song are you most looking forward to hearing? Let us know in the comments below.
I would love to see Ana Mena rep the italian flag but I know since shes from Spain it will be hard…
tasty lineup tbh~
I’m a Mahmood fan for life so my vote is always on him ??
I’ll never understand why the fandom never says anything about Italy only sending men for the last 5 years (and being most excited over a man who already went to Eurovision) but relentlessly criticize Sweden over never sending a woman. If I were a Swede, I’d be very annoyed by the double standard.
That’s just a symptom of the Italian music industry being absolutely dominated by men, if you look at the top 10 singles and albums sales of 2021 there is only 1 woman, Madame, the rest are all men. It’s a matter of promoting the music industry of the country as it is vs forcing gender equality in what we are sending. While I agree there’s an underlying problem beneath, I think we are doing what’s right.
The problem is more complex and I think you put the question in a wrong way, mentioning without logic Melodifestivalen, which is a contest mainly to select a Swedish entry for Eurovision. It is true that in the last years more men were selected for Sanremo. I have been highly disappointed by that. The last artistic directors of the festival Baglioni and Amadeus are responsible for this decision, which reflects also the influence of the musical industry. But on the other side, you can’t have quotas on music. The Sanremo Festival tries to select the best quality song every year,… Read more »
Still, from 2011-2016, Italy alternated selecting a man and a woman. I’m getting sick of them only sending males, but the more annoying thing is that hardly anyone says anything about the lack of women representing Italy, while Sweden gets memed to death about not selecting women. It’s frustrating
Call Eurovision and tell them to put gender quotas for the contestants! Let us know their answer! Your argument doesn’t make sense at all, like your anguish about the criticism towards Sweden and not Italy. Ridiculous!
It’s actually something that’s heavily criticised here in Italy, the last time Sanremo was won by a woman was 2014 and in recent years the disparity between men and women in the festival has been big. One of the reasons why Sanremo is often won by men in recent years though is that the juries tend to prefer singer-songwriters and most women in the Italian music scene don’t write their own songs whereas it’s more common among men.
maybe men r more talented after all 😀 *oops*
Achille Lauro, without any doubt! He’s the best, and he’ll slay at San Remo. Like he did in 2019 & 2020, and as an invited artist every night in 2021. Achille is a true artist in the right definition of the word. I would love to see him win San Remo and represent Italy on Home soil. Eurovision fans will love him, I promise!
he was so moody & godly in 2021; love him! :3
Go Giusy!!
Is it known when the songs will be released?
They will be heard for the first time during the show itself, and released immediately after the show when the song is in (first or second one) ends.
it’s time for irama to win imo!
I agree with you! But this is Sanremo and anyone can win, all contestants serve quality
Ana Meeenaaaaaaaaaa
I’m really excited for Sanremo! This is an awesome line up. Just wished Pinguini Tattici Nucleari or Eugenio In Via di Gioia would be there… Anyway, this year I want a female singer to win, it’s literally been almost eight years since we’ve had a female winner, which was Arisa. I think Mahmood & Blanco are gonna be strong contenders for the win. I also hope that Sangiovanni would get a good place!
I mean, there’s so many excellent and iconic acts that it’s impossible to be excited for only one of them! Personally, I chose Irama, Elisa and Mahmood & Blanco, but I’m sure someone under the radar will surprise this year too.
Why wouldn’t you be excited by someone in this line-up, though?
I’m excited for almost all the acts I’ve heard of and because it’s San Remo, also the ones I haven’t. So much potential here for a 2 in a row. I’m being a bit hyperbolic here but Italy could also have been going for 4 in a row if 2020 had not been cancelled and Netherlands didn’t select Duncan in 2019! Either way I’d be surprised if there isn’t at least one more win this decade
Because if you’re not excited for anyone, you don’t vote in the poll, it ain’t rocket science
I am detecting a gnawing mood.
Would be nice for a woman to win for once, but I guessing there is zero chance of that happening.
I am the most excited for Mahmood & Blanco, but knowing previous Sanremo years they will end up being 2nd, 3rd or 4th. Winning Sanremo twice is hard.
I’ll vote for just Mahmood, saying the N word shouldn’t be a reason to boycot him.
I really like Noemi as an artist, she should’ve won Sanremo 2012 with ‘Sono solo parole’. She has participated many times in the festival, and the reason why she doesn’t win is because her songs are just ‘good’. But to win the festival you need an ‘excellent’ song, a song that stands out … I am rooting for her!
Voted for Achille Lauro, Elisa, Irama, La Rappresentante di Lista and Mahmood & Blanco. But I’m sure someone still out of my radar will find a way to impress me just like LRDL did last year.
Definitely, there’s always such surprising act in Sanremo
check out new “CIAO, 2021” on youtube. There’re Manizha song in italian style also reference for Maneskin
Could Italy just cancel Sanremo and select Justin Bieber internally?
tf…
ª
so happy Mahmood will be participating again. I hope he & Blanco will get the win. <3
Really excited for tananai!?
La Rappresentante di Lista had my favorite song last year, so I’m gonna have to go with them. 🙂 Also hyped for Emma!
Elisa, the Quenn!
mahmood & blanco for the song, achille lauro for the aesthetics
Achille lauro, irama, blanco x mahmood, tananai,emma,la Rappresentante de la lista.
So many contenders this year
As a Spaniard, I am very curious to see what Ana Mena is bringing to San Remo.
For me Emma, Elisa, Giusy Ferreri, Mahmood & Blanco, Achille Lauro, Irama, Fabrizio Moro, Noemi, Michele Bravi.
Mahmood & Blanco, Blanco is very hot guy i love him
Wow, I’m really excited to hear Massimo Ranieri’s song. I suppose many new ESC fans won’t know his name from his epic 1971 ballad ‘L’amore e un attimo’ for Italy which was the best that year in my opinion! I hope his voice still holds up after all these years considering he is 70 now!
I totaly agree with you !! I am also excited to hear Massimo Ranieri’s song. I love his beautiful voice and special his winning San Remo song from 1988 “Perdere L’amore”
I love that songggg
Rooting for Italy to make the only double win of the 21st century. They are the only country who can do it.
It’s time for the ladies to shine! I’m starting to think this festival is a sausage fest.
the entire music industry is a sausage fest unfortunately, just look at the charts, but may the best song win regardless of the singer’s gender
From looking at the list and some of the information we have about songs I think it is probably gonna be a guy again.
I have high hopes for Mahmood and Blanco, they could bring something incredible, they are definitely the act I’m the most hyped about
elisa, mamhood x blanco, ana mena and irama all for different reasons. elisa is pretty much the most universally loved and respected act in the lineup and everyone expects excellence from her; mahmood x blanco and irama will bring something modern and sonically interesting; and ana mena will have a super catchy song i’ll surely be keeping on replay haha
I am excitied about everyone except racist Mahmood who said the N word
i didn’t know that
What are you talking about?
he lip synced to a song that had the n word in it in his ig story i’m pretty sure
(anyone who downvoted this is embarrassing btw)
He singed to a song with a N word in a Insta story
I’ve done so too but I didn’t write those songs, and as a child there was this Panamanian guy whose artistic name was the N word (later changed his name to Flex) who had many hits I still cherish. That doesn’t make me racizz
I hope this will be a great edition. I am certainly intrigued to find out what the returning artists have in store for us: I’ve always liked Mahmood, Fabrizio Moro, Noemi, Irama and Le Vibrazioni. Elisa is a legend in the Italian music business so I am also excited for her entry and Achille Lauro is always bringing something interesting and avant-garde as well. Finally I am curious what Giusy Ferreri has in store for us, since it’s been a while since I’ve heard a song of hers. Of course a lot of the newcomers can surprise us as well… Read more »
This year’s San Remo (and of course, Italy was this year’s Eurovision host) had unfortunately my two faves Francesco Gabbani and Fedez wasn’t there. 🙁 Better luck next year, hopefully.
Now, I am so excited to pick 23 out of 25 finalists…
Elisa.
I’m most exited for (in random order) : Giusy Ferreri, Emma Marrone, Mahmood & Blanco, Achille Lauro, Elisa, Fabrizio Moro, Noemi, Michele Bravi, Irama.
Oml i am sooo excited for Iva Zanicchi