Just a week ago we were convinced that there would only be 22 artists competing at the Sanremo 2020 Festival.

On the last day of 2019, Amadeus — host and artistic director of the Italian kermesse — surprisingly revealed the cast of the contest in an exclusive interview to newspaper La Repubblica, including former Eurovision acts Francesco Gabbani and Raphael Gualazzi.

But there were more surprises in store! During a special episode of I Soliti Ignoti — a popular game show hosted by Amadeus since 2017 — that aired tonight, the host unexpectedly announced two more names competing in the Big Artists category.

Rumours spread in the last 24 hours talked about two other Eurovision stars — Al Bano & Romina Power and Massimo Ranieri. Instead, the two additions are Tosca and Rita Pavone, both with a long career and already seen on the Ariston stage.

The titles of all the artists competing songs have also been revealed.

Sanremo Music Festival 2020 – Competing artists and song titles

Let’s find out the 24 artists competing in Sanremo and the titles of their songs.

Anastasio – “Rosso di rabbia”

Marco Anastasio is a rapper who won the 12th edition of X Factor Italy. He gained the double platinum certification with the number one record “La fine del mondo“. In 2019 he was a guest in Sanremo presenting the song “Correre“.

Giordana Angi – “Come mia madre”

She’s an Italian-French singer-songwriter who became famous coming second in the 18th edition of the talent show Amici di Maria De Filippi. Giordana’s first experience dates back to 2012, when she participated in the Newcomers section of Sanremo with “Incognita poesia“. In 2019 she released the number one album Voglio essere tua, anticipated by the gold single “Stringimi più forte“.

Bugo & Morgan – “Sincero”

An unpredictable couple formed by two artists on the music scene for more than 20 years. Cristian “Bugo” Bugatti is considered one of the most interesting and controversial artists to emerge from the Italian independent scene of the 1990s. Marco “Morgan” Castoldi is the founding member of Bluvertigo, a new wave band twice in Sanremo, in 2001 with “L’assenzio” and in 2016 with “Semplicemente“. He has also been a judge for seven seasons of X Factor Italy, winning five of them through acts he mentored such as Marco Mengoni, Chiara Galiazzo and Michele Bravi.

Diodato – “Fai rumore”

Antonio Diodato took part twice in Sanremo. He was the runner-up of the Newcomers section in 2014 with “Babilonia” and also participated in the main category together with Roy Paci with the song “Adesso” in 2018. In the last few weeks he has released the single “Che vita meravigliosa“.

Elodie – “Andromeda”

Elodie Di Patrizi is the runner-up from the 15th series of Amici di Maria De Filippi. In 2017 she sang the song “Tutta colpa mia” at the Ariston Theatre. In the past two years she has conquered the charts with the singles “Nero Bali” together with Michele Bravi and Guè Pequeno, “Pensare male” featuring The Kolors, and “Margarita” with her boyfriend Marracash.

Francesco Gabbani – “Viceversa”

Irene Grandi – “Finalmente io”

She is a very successful singer who debuted in 1994 in the Newcomers section of Sanremo with “Fuori“. She has participated three more times in the Festival — in 2000 with “La tua ragazza sempre“, in 2010 with “La cometa di Halley” and in 2015 with “Un vento senza nome“. In 2007 her song “Bruci la città” was excluded from Sanremo but became one of the most successful songs of the same year.

Raphael Gualazzi – “Carioca”

Jazz singer Raffaele “Raphael” Gualazzi represented Italy at Eurovision 2011 with “Madness of Love“, reaching second place, after winning the Newcomers category in Sanremo the same year with “Follia d’amore”. He has participated two more times at the Festival, in 2013 with “Sai (Ci basta un sogno)” and in 2014 with “Liberi o no“.

Paolo Jannacci – “Voglio parlarti adesso”

Son of the late singer Enzo Jannacci, Paolo Maria is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and jazz musician active since 1988. He plays piano, accordion and bass. His contribution is present in projects of different nature — musical productions, composition of soundtracks for films and documentaries, theatrical writing, acting. His latest album is titled Canterò.

Junior Cally – “No grazie”

Antonio Signore, aka Junior Cally, is a rapper from Rome who topped the FIMI Italian Albums chart in 2019 with “Ricercato”. He started his career wearing a gas mask. In the video of the single “Tutti con me” he revealed his face to the public for the first time.

Elettra Lamborghini – “Musica (E il resto scompare)”

Elettra Miura Lamborghini is a TV personality who made her debut in music collaborating with Guè Pequeno and Sfera Ebbasta in the remix of the single “Lamborghini“. She then successfully launched her solo career with the singles “Pem Pem“, “Mala” and “Tócame” featuring Pitbull, all certified and included in the debut album Twerking Queen.

Achille Lauro – “Me ne frego”

Lauro De Marinis, aka Achille Lauro was one of the most talked-about singers in Italy in 2019 after his debut in Sanremo with “Rolls Royce“. After the Festival he released the gold-certified album 1969. His upcoming album will be inspired by the ’90s, as demonstrated by the first single “1990“, released in October 2019.

Le Vibrazioni – “Dov’è”

A four-piece band that made its breakthrough in 2003 with “Dedicato a te“, now considered a cult song of Italian pop music. They’ve been in the competition two times before — in 2005 with “Ovunque andrò” and in 2018 with “Così sbagliato“.

Levante – “Tiki Bom Bom”

Claudia “Levante” Lagona is a Sicilian singer-songwriter who achieved success in 2013 with the gold-certified earworm “Alfonso“. She released four albums. In 2017 she sung the hit “Pezzo di me” together with Max Gazzè, which was followed by the experience as judge in the eleventh edition of X Factor Italy.

Marco Masini – “Il confronto”

Marco Masini is an emblem of the ’90s thanks to the outspoken lyrics of his hits like “Vaffanculo” and “Bella stronza“. He’s recorded eight participations in Sanremo with two gold medals: in 1990 with “Disperato” among the Newcomers and in 2004 with “L’uomo volante“.

Enrico Nigiotti – “Baciami adesso”

He’s a singer-songwriter who made himself known in 2009 by taking part in Amici di Maria De Filippi, and then joining the Newcomers of Sanremo 2015 with “Qualcosa da decidere“. In 2017 he came third in the 11th series of X Factor Italy, publishing the platinum-certified hit “L’amore è” the same year. He then took part in Sanremo 2019 with “Nonno Hollywood“.

Rita Pavone – “Niente (Resilienza 74)”

She experienced great success in the 1960 thanks to songs like “Datemi un martello“, “Il ballo del mattone” and “La partita di pallone“. His name also entered the charts of the United States and Spain. Rita took part in three editions of Sanremo: in 1969, 1970 and 1972.

Piero Pelù – “Gigante”

Historical co-founder of Litfiba, Pietro Pelù has been active since 1980. With the group, he indelibly marked the Italian rock scene of the ’90s thanks to the success of singles such as “Il mio corpo che cambia” e “Regina di cuori“. Since 1999 Pelù has been pursuing a solo career, continuing to win public acclaim. In recent years he served as a coach in three editions of The Voice of Italy.

Pinguini Tattici Nucleari – “Ringo Starr”

Six-piece indie-rock band, led by Riccardo Zanotti, formed in Bergamo in 2010. An EP and four albums to date. Their most known singles are “Tetris“, “Verdura” and the gold-certified single “Irene“.

Rancore – “Eden”

With a Croatian father and Egyptian mother, Tarek Iurcich, aka Rancore, is a rapper from Rome. He started making himself known by participating in lots of freestyle battles. His style is defined by himself as “hermetic rap”. He took part in Sanremo 2019 with Daniele Silvestri with the entry “Argentovivo“, awarded with the Critics’ prize.

Riki – “Lo sappiamo entrambi”

Runner-up in the sixteenth edition of Amici di Maria De Filippi, Riccardo “Riki” Marcuzzo’s career reached its peak in the months following his participation in the talent with the EP Perdo le parole, awarded with three platinum records, and the album Mania, double platinum. He also attempted the launch in the Latin American market with the duets “Dolor de cabeza” with the American boyband CNCO and “Resulta” with the Mexican band Reik.

Tosca – “Ho amato tutto”

Tiziana Tosca Donati is a singer and actress who debuted in the Newcomers of Sanremo 1992. In 1996 she came back in the main category, winning the Festival with “Vorrei incontrarti fra cent’anni“, a duet with Ron. Two other appearances at the Ariston Theatre in 1997 with “Nel respiro più grande” and 2007 with “Il terzo fuochista“.

Alberto Urso – “Il sole ad Est”

He is the winner of the latest edition of Amici di Maria De Filippi. His first television experience was at a very young age, in 2010, when he entered the singing show Ti lascio una canzone. He released two albums in 2019. With the first one, Solo, he topped the FIMI Italian Albums chart, getting a gold record.

Michele Zarrillo – “Nell’estasi o nel fango”

This singer-songwriter from Rome has participated in Sanremo 12 times prior. He won the Newcomers section in 1987 with “La notte dei pensieri“. In Sanremo he presented many fundamental songs of his repertoire: “Una rosa blu“, “Cinque giorni“, “L’elefante e la farfalla“, “L’acrobata” and “L’alfabeto degli amanti“.

Who is your favourite on the Sanremo 2020 lineup? Who do you think will win the contest? Tell us your thoughts below.

40 Comments
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Hyunwoo
Hyunwoo
4 years ago

The next Eurovision 2021 will be held in Turin! in the Pala Alpitour
I guess!

Hyunwoo
Hyunwoo
4 years ago

Hope Anastasio or Alberto Urso, will win!!

Tom
Tom
4 years ago

Italy know what is good, i am done, they can send Happy Birthday song and i will be like it lol ….
Personally i am ready for almost everyone but mainly for Miss Lamborghini

Dawid
Dawid
4 years ago

For me Italian entries are either amazing or terrible. Nothing in between. Hopefully it’s first case.

La Signora
La Signora
4 years ago

If Elettra wins I’m definitely going to have a higher respect for my connationals. I just hope that she’s working hard on her vocals before the festival

Mark
Mark
4 years ago
Reply to  La Signora

There are a lot of artists with a longer and more respectable carrier there.

Fer
Fer
4 years ago
Reply to  La Signora

Ooohohoh, so your acid reply to my comment where I said I’m rooting for Levante was implying that the “potential eurovision winner” is actually Elettra? Loool I even have the feeling she’s going to be a huge disappointment, forget about winning esc

Colin
Colin
4 years ago

Two questions for those who followed Sanremo in the last few years:
1. It is possible to hear the songs outside of the live stream at any point before the winner is announced?
2. Is it really true that it lasts for hours and hours with a lot of filler between the acts?

Mark
Mark
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

1) Yes. On you tube and every streaming platform since the very first night (04/02/2020).
2) Yes, it lasts at least 4 hours.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

The artists release the songs after their first live performance.

Colin
Colin
4 years ago
Reply to  Jo.

@Mark and @Jo – Thank you both for the info. 🙂 I would always be happy about the Sanremo winner, but I haven’t followed it yet.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

I’ll tell you how I follow it, Colin: on the first nights, I watch the performances in Youtube. Since the show is quite long, the presentations pop up here and there (also the interval acts), I just leave a tab open and keep refreshing it. On Saturday, when the other national finals are over, I start streaming RAI. It should be enough to catch the announcement of the results of the other acts and who are the “superfinalists” (and the enthusiastic positive and negative reactions from the VERY outspoken audience). And then it still takes a while until we get… Read more »

Mandy
Mandy
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Unfortunately Italian broadcaster offers full episodes and performances only on RAIPlay. In 2018, the network even released the first night’s performances at YT, but they were excluded. Usually they release the videos within 4 hours or the next day depending on the program. About the songs, they can only be released the day after the performance.

Fer
Fer
4 years ago

Any chanche to see Anastasio replaced by Liberato? Impossible, huh?
Rooting for Levante btw. We need a female sanremo winner

La Signora
La Signora
4 years ago
Reply to  Fer

We need an interesting and potential eurovision winner as a sanremo winner

Fer
Fer
4 years ago
Reply to  La Signora

Potential esc winner like Rita Pavone or Marco Masini okay
I gave up on esc, everyone keep saying they feel like italy is gonna win soon but it never happens SO i’m just rooting for the artist i like. Italy doesn’t give a s about esc anyways.

Mark
Mark
4 years ago
Reply to  Fer

I really want to see Liberato in ESC but this is not the year…

Nico deMask
Nico deMask
4 years ago

So no Nina Zilli? Sad…

o@gmail.com
4 years ago

only know that elettra is famous in Spain…

Mark
Mark
4 years ago

Andromeda or Tiki Bom Bom for ESC.

Sanremo2020
Sanremo2020
4 years ago

Elodie’s song is written by Mahmood and Dardust (who worked with Mahmood to create Soldi). DREAM TEAM!

Talentina Monetta
Talentina Monetta
4 years ago
Reply to  Sanremo2020

Kirkorov/Kontopoulos WHO?

Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
4 years ago

So I thought I’ll check out Elettra, as I like a bit of controversy, and her music is dreadful. The videos are even worse. Pretty sure she will crash out of the festival. Hard.

Alybloggs
Alybloggs
4 years ago

Morgan also had a duet with Achille Lauro in the fourth evening of Sanremo last year

Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
4 years ago

Mostly men. Very diverse…

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
4 years ago
Reply to  Ricky Gervais

I don’t hear those complaints when it’s mostly women or all women
So stop focusing on genders and focus on the music for god’s sake

Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
4 years ago
Reply to  Roy Moreno

I can’t help it. I like a good Eurovision diva. And the only living male singer that I like listening to is Adam Lambert.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  Roy Moreno

Maybe you don’t hear those complaints because (speaking generally) men and women have had very different histories? When are you even referring to?

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

When it’s all men – it’s not diversive enough
When it’s all women – it’s all good

Colin
Colin
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Historically speaking, women have had a more difficult history than men on average. Fact! However, ESC-wise, not as much. From the get-go, the first winner was a woman, most early participants were women, women tend to form at least half of line-up of most NFs (except A-dal) and about half of participants are women. When we take this microcosmos in the focus, women have never been in disadvantage regarding exposure on ESC stage. This has always been an equal grounds for artists.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

That’s one side of the coin, Colin. How many of the winning songwriters have been women? It is a song contest, after all. Equal ground?

Colin
Colin
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

I rarely remember who songwriters are. You might be onto something in that regard. I don’t have enough info to say either way. But regarding singers, yes, I stand by what I said. Its absolutely equal. Has been since 1956. Some NFs have more men, some have more women. Sometimes, all fan favorites from several NFs turn out to be songs by female vocalists. Overall, it’s about 50/50. And the issue presented here was with Sanremo performers, not songwriters.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

I don’t disagree with anything you’ve written, I was just saying it’s not the full story – but like you said, the issue being discussed here was Sanremo…a distinguished contest in its own right, so we’ve both probably strayed a little from the topic at hand.

Colin
Colin
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

I guess we have, yeah. I hope I didn’t come off as annoying. Due to it’s lengthy time span and the fact that it doesn’t release it’s songs early, I haven’t actually watched it. I was asking people in the upper post on what is their advice on watching Sanremo. Now when I think about it, most recent Sanremo winners were men indeed. I have no idea whether they have a bias. I would hope not, but I have no idea. I was talking in general (for example, Greece, Albania, Serbia, Ukraine, ect. most often send women, while most countries… Read more »

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Nina Zilli has never won Sanremo. The last female winner was Arisa back in 2014. It’s a shame she never made it to the Eurovision stage, as she has said it’s her dream to participate – the actual entrant for Italy that year was Emma Marrone, who won Sanremo in 2012. These were the only female Sanremo winners of the 2010s. Maybe the 2020s will be different, time will tell. As far as watching the show, my advice is to just tune in on the final night, and watch from start to finish – sure it goes on forever, but… Read more »

Colin
Colin
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

That info is very interesting. Two female winners in a whole decade is a low number. In that regard, I would hope for more women from Italy. I will watch Sanremo finals this year. As I hear, all songs are at least okay.

JustARandomUser
JustARandomUser
4 years ago
Reply to  Ricky Gervais

This is going to sound weird, but I’m not that mad about the lack of women. Sanremo’s selection is thankfully based on songs, not artists. If the women bring weaker acts, then be it. Looking back at previous editions I almost always find the female acts to be lacking something. There are exceptions but it’s mostly true. I guess that in my particular taste I just like when an artist is into the song, and thing is, women usually don’t have songs written by themselves, most of them are just interpreters. Good voices, but you can see it’s not personal… Read more »

Mandy
Mandy
4 years ago

It was noticeable calling Tosca and Pavone was their strategy to minimize criticism and the war waged between the Italian press and Amadeus over the release of the cast beyond what is stipulated in the festival rules. (I also add the lack of over-60 singers and female artists). Italian press has already announced, however, the cast is not particularly encouraging, with artists who stepped on that stage just a few years ago, full of exaggeration and incomprehensibility for talents that in recent months have not been what marked the radios and charts, and “vecchia gloria” artists that could undoubtedly give… Read more »

Lel
Lel
4 years ago

Never expected Bugo to participate in sanremo, ahah! Suprise
Looking forward to Pinguini Tattici Nucleari, Levante, Gualazzi and many more. With a couple exception, i think im satisfied with this line up.
Can’t wait to see what Achille Lauro has in store for us this time.

(Rita Pavone is cancelled cause FASCIST, probably Anastasio as well. F off)

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago

Datemi un martello, what an anthem. Rooting for Rita already ^^

ps. Francesco was 6th place, not 7th, in 2017.