Perché Sanremo è Sanremo! After weeks of anxious waiting, on February 4 the Sanremo Music Festival 2020 has finally kicked off.

This year, Sanremo is giving audiences a glamorous atmosphere, tons of glitter and sequins and bombastic dynamic staging. With the use of augmented reality, the graphic aspect of the Festival has never been so modern and avant-garde!

The most loved and talked-about Italian program of the year delivered another amazing endless show. But it’s always worth it to watch.

The first live show — hosted by Amadeus with the support of Rosario Fiorello, Diletta Leotta and Rula Jebreal — started with the performances of half of the Nuove Proposte, the category dedicated to newcomers, judged by the demoscopic poll.

And these are the results: Tecla with “8 Marzo” and Leo Gassmann with “Vai bene così” will go to the semi-final on Friday night, while the band Eugenio in Via di Gioia with “Tsunami” and Fadi with “Due noi” have been eliminated.

During the first episode, we enjoyed special guest appearances from popstar Tiziano Ferro — who sang his personal rendition of Italian classics “Nel blu dipinto di blu” by Domenico Modugno and “Almeno tu nell’universo” by Mia Martini and his recent single “Accetto miracoli” — and Eurovision 2014 act Emma Marrone.

Emma performed her latest single “Stupida allegria” and a medley of her hits including Sanremo entries “Non è l’inferno” and “Arriverà”.

Sanremo veterans and Eurovision 1976 and 1985 acts Al Bano & Romina Power also took the stage. They sang a medley of their successes and a brand new song called “Raccogli l’attimo”.

Anyway, all of our attention has been focused on the main event for Eurovision fans: the original numbers. Half of the 24 contestants — the big names from which Italy’s Eurovision 2020 artist will be chosen — performed their entries to the viewers for the first time.

After almost five hours of songs, the provisional ranking based on the results of the demoscopic poll were revealed.

Sanremo 2020 first night

Demoscopic poll ranking

Click on song titles to watch the performance.

  1. Le Vibrazioni with “Dov’è
  2. Elodie with “Andromeda
  3. Diodato with “Fai rumore
  4. Irene Grandi with “Finalmente io
  5. Marco Masini with “Il confronto
  6. Alberto Urso with “Il sole ad Est
  7. Raphael Gualazzi with “Carioca
  8. Anastasio with “Rosso di rabbia
  9. Achille Lauro with “Me ne frego
  10. Rita Pavone with “Niente (Resilienza 74)
  11. Riki with “Lo sappiamo entrambi
  12. Bugo e Morgan with “Sincero

How will the Sanremo winner be picked?

Voting during the five evenings will occur through different combinations of four methods:

  • Public televoting, carried out via landline, mobile phone, the contest’s official mobile app, and online voting.
  • Press jury voting, expressed by accredited journalists that followed the competition from the Roof Hall at the Ariston Theatre.
  • demoscopic poll, composed by 300 music fans who voted from their homes via an electronic voting system managed by global market research and a consulting firm Ipsos.
  • Orchestra voting, resulting from points assigned by musicians and singers of the Sanremo Music Festival Orchestra.

The four voting systems will have a percentage weight so distributed:

  • First and Second Evening: 100% demoscopic poll
  • Third Evening: 100% orchestra voting
  • Fourth Evening: 100% press jury voting
  • Fifth Evening: 34% public televoting; 33% press jury voting; 33% demoscopic poll

In the final part of the fifth evening, a new rank indicating the first three acts — determined by the percentage of votes obtained in this evening’s vote and those obtained in previous evenings — will be drawn up.

What do you think of the songs of Sanremo 2020? Who are you most excited for? Share your thoughts below!

Keep up to date with all our Sanremo news

162 Comments
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Ashton Schier
Ashton Schier
4 years ago

oh my god Elodie’s song is so layered and good, it needs to win

Marcelo
Marcelo
4 years ago

I known her for participating in the Latin American/Mexican version of Jersey Shore who had spin-offs in Europe. Elettra was in one of those spin-offs. She wanted to be known as Italy’s matadora. It was so funny!

Marcelo
Marcelo
4 years ago

10 million viewers for night one! Incredible! Joping the best for Italy!

Lourdes
Lourdes
4 years ago

I’m a but late with Sanremo this year, but I just listened to all the songs and I’d say that my winners are Diodato and Elodie. I also really liked the Pinguini Tattici Nucleari for some reason. Francesco Gabbani was great, but I loved his performance more than the song itself (although it was good, but I didn’t like it as much as the others I just mentioned).

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Lourdes

Your avatar is different, but I’m pretty sure you’re the same Lourdes, because we keep agreeing a lot. 😀 If you liked Pinguini, you should check a song called “Tsunami”, that was competing in the “nuova propposta” section. Many people were here suggesting they should have a chance in the main contest and I agree.

Lourdes
Lourdes
4 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Yes, it’s me! I made a mistake when I wrote my email address, so my avatar changed 😛 I’m glad that we agree again Sabrina and I can’t wait to read more of your thoughtful reviews this season. I’ll definitely listen to ‘Tsunami’! Thanks for the suggestion 🙂

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

So far I’m rooting for a Gabbani or Gualazzi comeback (they’re so charming!), but I agree with the people cheering on Elodie and Eden as well. It’s almost as though Sanremo has a stupidly strong selection and any number of songs could work for Eurovision. Never seen that before!

Frisian esc
4 years ago

Just listened to eden. And i feel like i just heard the winner of eurovision 2020.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

Yes,he’d be an option too.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

For Sanremo, she gets to perform it twice more, though, so I think it will get better and better – but for Rotterdam, yeah, you’re probably right – still, now having heard all the songs once, I think she’s gonna be my number one.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago

I think Elodie and Diodato are the two acts that could keep Italy in the top 10 in Rotterdam. Andromeda is a hit, and her performance was piping hot. Fai rumore would also be a great choice. I’ll give a better try to the other entries tomorrow.

Michèle
Michèle
4 years ago

Really loved Francesco’s song tonight despite the endless wait! Well done from an Irish fan.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

Side question – what time do Italians go to bed at?

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

I hope they give Tiziano Ferro a ride home, the guy is really devoted!

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

I was in the sanremo tag on tumblr and there were a lot of italians complaining about how difficult it was to continue staying up to watch the show. Everyone was so tired.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

Lovely performance from Francesco Gabbani. He always seems to give his best at Sanremo.
The song might not be as interesting as some of the competition this year, but I still like it nevertheless. Definitely a contender.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

It’s a cute song, Gabbani’s charisma does the heavy lifting.

Alex
Alex
4 years ago

Rancore winner
Bye

Egyptian Spaghetti
Egyptian Spaghetti
4 years ago
Reply to  Alex

Finaly! Song with anti-American sentiment in Eurovision. 24 poits from Russia!!

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

Viceversa – I liked it. I wasn’t expecting another surefire winner like 2017, and we didn’t get one – but I definitely expect it to do very well. It’s not for Rotterdam, though.

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Yeah I had a feeling when I heard the leak last night that he’s not in it to win it this time, but more so just trying to promote his upcoming album.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago

yep, I don’t think Esc is in sight either

Thanos
Thanos
4 years ago

Guys I am waiting for Gabbani!! But I am getting extremely tired!! Why is it so long every day???

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago
Reply to  Thanos

Shouldn’t Thanos just be able to snap his finger and bring Gabbani on early? 😀 (N.B. That’s a superhero reference. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it.)

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago

Gabbani is next. So far, I liked Levante and Pinguini Tattici Nucleari. Though I still prefer Elodie and Diodato.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Yep. Also, Matteo Faustini was cute, erm, I mean, skilful. 🙂 It’s not easy to keep alternating from untuned rap to tuned rap to singing.

Eduardo
Eduardo
4 years ago

Nothing catchy until now. Yesterday was great show and today I’m a little bit bored.

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago

I know the second night’s not over yet, but Pinguini Tattici Nucleari is the most impressive to me so far tbh. I think they’ve got the full package already.

Artyill
Artyill
4 years ago

Actually she is famous for twerking in autotune-pumped songs.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Artyill

What if I tell you she was a coach in the Italian The Voice? She got famous for participating in a lot of reality shows. Having all that in mind, I think it was somehow cute. She was clearly very happy to be there and even if she can’t really sing, she kept things simple. Plus she probably was the first person to twerk in Sanremo. 😀

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Twerk it til you make it!

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

Levante did not disappoint. She has such star quality. I think maybe my new favourite, along with Andromeda. The audience could have applauded a bit more, c’mon, she gave her all in that performance.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

I liked the beginning of it, but then it became boring…

Leanne
Leanne
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

I loved it and I love Levante, but unfortunately I can’t see it making an impact. Hopefully I will be proven wrong, it’s either her or Pinguini Tattici Nucleari for me so far.

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago

oh boy, I got Andromeda stuck in my head the whole day :S

Jo.
Jo.
4 years ago
Reply to  Jo.

she and Diodato were the best last night

SunkistRayne
SunkistRayne
4 years ago

Okay, so many favs as I love the Italian language but my main favs are: Riki, Elodie, Anastasio, Achille, Rita, and Bugo e Morgan. The guy doing the sign language in “Dov’e” was awesome as well. I didn’t hate any song but these were my favorite ones of the first night.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

The running order for tonight, for anyone interested…

PIERO PELÙ
ELETTRA LAMBORGHINI
ENRICO NIGIOTTI
LEVANTE
PINGUINI TATTICI NUCLEARI
TOSCA
FRANCESCO GABBANI
PAOLO JANNACCI
RANCORE
JUNIOR CALLY
GIORDANA ANGI
MICHELLEZARRILLO

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

Levante and PTN are on fourth and fifth tonight, so you should be able to go to bed early…

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

Andromeda video (UK access):
https://youtu.be/esgGK28jKVk
Note: There were issues accessing it earlier, but it seems fine now.

MisterMister
MisterMister
4 years ago

Diodato definitely got the best song, hope Italy will send him to Rotterdam!

Patrick
Patrick
4 years ago

Guys, Mahmood “only” provided the lyrics to Andromeda not the music!!!

Patrick
Patrick
4 years ago
Reply to  Patrick

Fair enough!

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

I love Carioca, but I don’t really want it for Rotterdam. The live element is what makes it, would it really be the same with all those backing musicians miming, not to mention Raphael banging away at a piano that makes no noise? It would lose its dignity.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

If Eurovision was a live music contest, I would hands down pick him. But yeah, it wouldn’t be the same with playback. Anyway, still one of my favorites of the first night.

dani
dani
4 years ago

use the browser extention and set it to italy: Hola Free VPN Proxy Unblocker

Pierre
Pierre
4 years ago

How nice to see a pro setup without the generic crap coming out of Scandinavia. Originial and worth watching.

Tektek
Tektek
4 years ago
Reply to  Pierre

100% agree. Be careful to be downvoted to the pit by “them” though lol

Kris
Kris
4 years ago
Reply to  Pierre

Well why does one need to pull down some other thing to praise something ?

Pierre
Pierre
4 years ago
Reply to  Kris

Because its destroying the contest in my opinion. And unfortunately it’s beeing exported to the baltics and other countries. When i look back on scandinavian entries the past 10 years I can’t find a single example of an original tune with good lyrics. But perhaps I missed one. Ps I consider Robin, Sade, Rosso, Alexander, Måns as examples of what I mean. Strangely the juries should compensate for that but they only made it worse.

Kris
Kris
4 years ago
Reply to  Pierre

Well , I don’t know what you mean by original
Cause there are only so many chords

But I do consider “Spirit in the sky” , “,love is forever ” , “Hatrid mun Sigra” , “Too late for love ” to be musically diverse yes.

Their entries may be lacking character generally but not always .

Orchestra: I agree should be made optional for the country to choose if they want it or no.

That said I still don’t agree with pulling down one country/region to praise the other.

Pierre
Pierre
4 years ago
Reply to  Kris

If we only post positive comments nothing will change. And i do think its time to remove the scandinavian footmark on the competition. Wouldn’t you love to see fresh talents with a message instead of all these plastic songs.

Pierre
Pierre
4 years ago
Reply to  Kris

Ps. The icelandic song is original but Iceland does not belong to Scandinavia (Sw,No,De)
The rest are in my opinion forgetable and primitive songs with a single purpose of profit. Entertaining like Disney on ice but should never be revisited.

Johan
Johan
4 years ago
Reply to  Pierre

The orchestra gives a very old sound to new songs and all the songs in Italy are EXTREMELY long. So i cant agree. They are not bad but not great either. Average like your favourites in Scandinavia.

Wiwo
Wiwo
4 years ago
Reply to  Pierre

Rasmus is coming to get ya

Johan
Johan
4 years ago
Reply to  Wiwo

who?

Pierre
Pierre
4 years ago
Reply to  Johan

Its a vicious swedish dogbreed that is very loyal to its owner and attacks all non swedes.
😉

Pierre
Pierre
4 years ago
Reply to  Wiwo

I believe he is in day care until 5 pm. So hopefully he wont notice 🙂

MaxHightower
MaxHightower
4 years ago

My god, Italy, words cannot express how much I LOVE the Festival de San Remo, it’s just amazing.
My favs are Elodie, Raphael Gualazzi and Diodato.

Sucof
Sucof
4 years ago
Reply to  MaxHightower

The Great Openig of SANREMO 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWNsBtqlGkQ&t=114s

Alex
Alex
4 years ago

I was re-watching some performances and need to mention how great camera work was. Very effective.
And artists and songs always the focus as it should be

Mia
Mia
4 years ago
Reply to  Alex

True, watching and listening was pleasure.

Sabrina
Sabrina
4 years ago
Reply to  Alex

I second that. And they were able to make it work for very different songs, from ballads to rap. The shot of the conductor vibing with Anastasio’s song was awesome.

Alex
Alex
4 years ago
Reply to  Sabrina

Yep. The whole camera work in Anastasio’s performance was amazing. It felt electric and magnetic

Mia
Mia
4 years ago

Elodie channelling Mahmood, you can tell he wrote the song, even his facial expressions and movements. That’s fine, but I wanna watch Elodie. It’s nice song tho.
I liked also Achille Lauro, Anastasio and classic San Remo – Le Vibrazioni, Diodato… Many good songs here as usual 🙂

Alex
Alex
4 years ago

Anastasio and Diodato were my favourites.
Elodie was good but I’m still not sure. It might grow on me.
I also really liked and enjoyed Gualazzi. He is always a pleasure.

Alain
Alain
4 years ago

I don’t think this is Italy’s year in ESC.

Dani.dan
Dani.dan
4 years ago

My favorite>>> Alberto Urso + Elodie

KESC
KESC
4 years ago

Elodie should win and go to Eurovision!!

Thomas
Thomas
4 years ago

Can someone explain why everyone is saying Elodie won’t win? Yall know something we don’t? Lol

Jeydelrey
Jeydelrey
4 years ago
Reply to  Thomas

Well I might be completely wrong but considering the controversy caused by Mahmood’s victory last year in Italy, they might go for something more traditional this year. And I’m pretty sure another guy will win this year again.

Thomas
Thomas
4 years ago
Reply to  Jeydelrey

Ah the controversy brought on by a xenophobic politician. Honestly its time for Italy to send a woman.

Nadors
Nadors
4 years ago
Reply to  Thomas

that happens roughly every other year 🙂

Bart
Bart
4 years ago

My favorite is Alberto Urso. What a great opera song and with strong emotionals feelings on the face of Alberto, love it!
Also love Tiziano Ferro, that song tells something, a story.
Edodie has also a great song, but i think she has not the voice to deliver it the best it can. I personally don’t prefer raw voices that sound bit like a smoking voice, raw. I like woman sing high, not that low. What do you think?

Tektek
Tektek
4 years ago

As always Sanremo is serving. Andromeda is way better in live orchestra form, the studio version is rather sparse and too-clean(?) but still 10/12, ready to go

Kris
Kris
4 years ago

I don’t get this !!
If this is the exact ranking doesn’t it mean some of them can’t win now ???

GIOLO
GIOLO
4 years ago
Reply to  Kris

Last year, Mahmood placed 21st in the public vote in the first evening… so everything can happen…
Last night only demoscopic juries had their say, the other groups of voters will express their opinions in other evenings

Kris
Kris
4 years ago
Reply to  GIOLO

I know that but last year only the scores on the final night counted to decide the final winner and the earlier scorers were used for qualifiers ??? Isn’t it ???

This year they have decided to use a cumulative score

Johan
Johan
4 years ago
Reply to  GIOLO

21st. wow. That was very rare. I guess the italians vote diffrerent every night.

Fan
Fan
4 years ago

Mahmood has written Elodie’s song.

Jeydelrey
Jeydelrey
4 years ago

I really enjoyed Diodato but my favorite from last night has to be Andromeda. Maybe it is because it was so different from the rest and it stood out in the middle of a couple similar songs. I’m pretty sure Elodie won’t win unfortunately but I can still listen to Andromeda so thank you for that! Fingers crossed a miracle happens and I can see her in Rotterdam. ?

Bob
Bob
4 years ago

Ciao Italia! It was a great first night for Sanremo 2020! So many beautiful songs! Marco Masini was my favourite, his song is incredibly beautiful but he as a performer is perhaps not for Eurovision. Raphael Gualazzi looked crazy but the performance was enjoyable! It made me so happy to see Raphael again, he is one of my favourite runner-ups at Eurovision ever. Elodie’s song sounded so much like Mahmood could have kept it for himself, I got major Mahmood-vibes which is a good thing 😉 I think she and Anastasio are probably the safest choices for Eurovision out of… Read more »

close
close
4 years ago

Elodie and Mahmood can send a … f ar t and people will say it’s eurovision ready. Please send Andromeda, it seems big 5 likes last place in grand final.

Andrea
Andrea
4 years ago
Reply to  close

“Big 5 likes last place in grand final” when talking about Italy… LOL

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago

I liked Achille Lauro’s song and I think it was the best sounding I’ve heard tonight….but the problem is though he’s not that good at singing….which is important…

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago

I understand it’s about attitude first and foremost. But I feel most people would not understand that. If this somehow won though, I would not be mad. Whatever wins will likely grow on me regardless.

Mia
Mia
4 years ago

Tbh I would be happy if Achille Lauro (“Achile idol immortale”, name of his album lol) win with his excellent pop-punk performance, people often forget that Eurovision is not The Voice. But we will see others.

Sucof
Sucof
4 years ago

RECORD best share result since 2005 ( and it’s only the first evening!) : The TV ratings and Auditel data of the first evening of the Sanremo 2020 Festival see Amadeus, Fiorello and their adventure companions Rula Jebreal and Diletta Leotta conquering 52.2% of share, beating the previous edition conducted by Claudio Baglioni. In detail, the debut of the seventieth edition of the Festival attracted 10,058,000 spectators, with 12,480,000 individuals listening and 51.24% in the first part and 5.698.000 and 56.22% in the second.

Milla
Milla
4 years ago

What to people see in Andromeda? Complete mess of a song. Oh!It’s different! It will win Esc because of that. But is it listenable and for everyone? Hardly. Soldi was much better. Shame

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago
Reply to  Milla

Nothing has been as good as Soldi so far. But it placed 2nd last year. That is a VERY high bar.

Thanos
Thanos
4 years ago

Amazing first night of Sanremo!! My favourites were (in no particular order):
Achille Lauro
Marco Masini
Le Vibrazioni
Alberto Urso
Diodato
I also kinda liked Elodie but not as much as Soldi. It probably needs some time to grow on me.
Okay songs for me were Irene Grandi, Riki, Raphael Gualazzi, Bugo and Morgan.
On the other hand, I didn’t like Anastasio and Rita Pavone.

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago

The odds are going absolutely wild now! They can’t go even ten minutes without being different. Been checking them all night and performers keep bouncing back and forth between top and bottom. And right now as I type this, for some reason not all of the performers aren’t even showing up in the odds. They’re only displaying 14 of them.

No One
No One
4 years ago

She’s a fascist. Please forget her. We’re all trying to.

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  No One

Every other contestant gets accused of that, it seems to me. What did she do or say, exactly?

No One
No One
4 years ago

Lel, she just doesn’t even try to hide it. She is well known for being friends with the very (very) far right party which shouldn’t even exist cause it’s fking illegal but hey it’s Italy we don’t don’t know apology of fascism. She is a complete embarrassment, she body shamed Greta Thunberg, insulted Pearl Jam over immigration issues, moved to Switzerland cause she hates Italy but still feels “iTaLiAn”.
Gtfo b*tch

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  No One

I found her so sweet in that performance. She even shouted ‘I love you’ during singing. 🙂

No One
No One
4 years ago

You asking for explanations but looks like you don’t give much s*it to what people has to answer you.
I’m certainly sure you’re better informed than a local then. You must be God… so you must be Achille Lauro.
Or maybe you’re a fascist yourself.
Btw, what she did is called “ass kissing”

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  No One

Ah yes, an emigrant who complains about immigration.

No One
No One
4 years ago

And about the “every other contestant gets accused” part, try asking anyone if they think Diodato, Elodie, Levante, Pinguini, Gabbani, Gualazzi (etc) are fascist.
Answer is NO, cause they’re respectable persons well known for their way of thinking.
Anastasio? Well, that I don’t know, he kinda has a record.

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  No One

Anastasio is awesome.

No One
No One
4 years ago

Whatever you want, you’re god after all.