You may be Red Carpet ready. But are you ready for the Turquoise Carpet? You better be on Sunday the 8th of May 2022. That’s when the stars of Eurovision 2022 and their delegations will stomp down the carpet in the gardens of Reggia di Venaria Reale — the former royal residence of the House of Savoy.
Turquoise — which shouts out to the official Eurovision sponsor Moroccanoil — will be the colour of the night as people make their way inside the palace, where they will sip on that sweet stuff and indulge in the finest canapés inside the Galleria Grande.
The gallery showcases exquisite Baroque interiors by Filippo Juvarra. It’s instantly recognisable from its black and white tiled floor, 44 arched windows and stucco decorations.
Eurovision 2022 Opening Ceremony set for Reggia di Venaria Reale
Guido Curto, the director of the Consorzio Residenze Reali Sabaude, revealed details of the location to TG back in February. Speaking during a visit to the Royal Palace of Venaria Reale, he said “and then on May 8th we will also have Eurovision, but this is a secret, the red carpet.”
The palace was designed in 1675 and was used by Charles Emmanuel II as a base for hunting expeditions. But by the start of the 18th century it had fallen into disuse. From then until the late 1970s it was used almost exclusively by the military. Thankfully it soon underwent one of the largest restoration projects in the history of Europe and re-opened to the public at the end of 2007.
Turquoise carpet at Eurovision 2022
But now we’ve got some new info.
We bumped into some officials working with the production team during Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam and they shared some extra tea. While not confirmed publicly, we can reveal that the Turquoise Carpet and Opening Ceremony will involve four hosts split across two separate stages.
The main hosts on Stage A will be Gabriele Corsi and Carolina Di Domenico, who you’ll remember from the semi-final allocation draw back in January.
Gabriele, a well-known actor, has hosted Ninja Warrior Italia and Il contadino cerca moglie (The Farmer Seeks a Wife) on Discovery+. He was originally meant to co-host the semi-final allocation draw in January but had to pull out.
Carolina started her career presenting the Italian version of Disney Club. She’s gone on to present shows including MTV’s TRL and Dancefloor chart.
There will also be two co-hosts on Stage B. They are Laura Carusino, TV host and former backing vocalist of Le Vibrazioni, and Mario Acampa, the TV presenter who replaced Gabriele at the semi-final allocation draw.
Is it open to the public?
Can we go there and watch it? I mean is it allowed?
I never really like these, they always feel the same no matter what country the contest is in. It never feels like an actual welcome from the host, more just people being forced to do what the EBU tells them to. A carpet that goes nowhere. That’s not really how red carpets should work, they are usually just the entrance to an occasion, not the occasion themselves.