Mark your calendars! Italy’s broadcaster Rai has confirmed that the Sanremo Music Festival‘s 71st edition will take place later than usual. The legendary festival will take place from 2 to 6 March 2021, owing to the situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
In most years, Sanremo typically takes places in the second week of February. Rai’s director, Stefano Coletta, confirmed the new dates on Thursday while introducing the broadcaster’s 2020-2021 season. He described Sanremo 2021 as being “a festival that will reopen our normalcy.”
Coletta also confirmed that Amadeus and Fiorello will host the show again.
The pair are well known in Italy, but Eurovision fans will remember them for a certain iconic performance from their 2020 hosting. The duo’s 20-minute interval act with a autotune microphone at 1am while waiting for Diodato to be announced as the winner of Sanremo 2020 wasn’t easy to forget.
There are still many things unknown about next year’s festival. For example, the venue. Teatro Ariston has hosted Sanremo since 1977, but it can only fit 2,000 people.
With the stage and the orchestra alone taking up a lot of space, will the Ariston be a suitable venue given all the conditions introduced because of the pandemic? While Italy is slowly easing its pandemic precautions, some social restrictions still remain in place.
Will Rai need to book a bigger venue or even host it outdoors? And most importantly: what kind of facemask eleganza will the glamorous audience bring?
Sanremo and Eurovision 2021
Italy is yet to confirm their Eurovision 2021 participation, and there’s no news neither about Diodato’s eventual involvement in the competition.
Rai has used Sanremo to select most of Italy’s acts since their return in 2011, but it’s not always been the case. In 2014, for example, the broadcaster internally picked Emma Marrone.
However, the new dates would fit the EBU’s schedule for 2021. There’s not a deadline yet, but countries usually have to submit their entries by mid-March.
The fact that Sanremo has been moved back to the first weekend in March could make it clash with other big national selection shows. Are we heading to a heavyweight Super Saturday?
While Sweden’s Melodifestivalen has not yet confirmed its dates for 2021, the grand final typically takes place on the second Saturday of March. However, given how late in the evening Sanremo runs, we expect Melodifestivalen would have selected their act, held the afterparty and for everyone to be calling it a night before Italy crowns its champ in the wee small hours of the morning.
There are still many questions regarding Sanremo 2021, but the show is already underway. What do you expect from it? Will Italy use it to select their entrant? Will they invite Diodato back for Rotterdam? Tell us in the comment section below!
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I just know that I love Diodato and I need him on ESC. Thank you.
Wait a minute… The final of Sanremo is on the first Saturday of March, so it will probably NOT clash with the Melfest grand final, but with AC
Sanremo have ditched the orchestra before, even before the Eurovision did. They might do that again.
We want, Diodato and Emma Marrone!
Well, with the final being held on the 6th of March, there’s no problem with the EBU deadlines. However, let’s not forget, that this year the deadline was the 9th of March. If that’s the case in 2021, then, it won’t be easy to have a Eurovision version of the Sanremo winning song, which is usually longer than 3 minutes. So, personally I believe that the 2021 act of Italy won’t be decided via Sanremo. I believe that they will choose internally Diodato, which is fair tbh, and maybe he could present his 2021 song live during the Sanremo festival,… Read more »
I disagree. The deadline is shortly after, but that doesn’t mean it has to be made public. I’m sure the EBU would accept the full version, only for the shorter version to come later. Especially when they’re aware of all that’s been happening. Next year is not a normal year.
As I said, it’s just my opinion. Of course the EBU is not going to be that strict, besides, in the recent years it has been far too lenient on some issues. It is possible that they will accept the final entry a few days later, as it has happened before with other entries, not because of the pandemic. I just said that it is possible that they will choose internally Diodato. As you said, next year is not a normal year, so, maybe they won’t use Sanremo to choose their act, considering this as the normal. Personally, I will… Read more »
Your opinion is just as valid as mine, of course. If we get a contest at all we’re lucky.
sorry
I really hope that Diodato can be selected again. Sanremo has been around long before Eurovision, and offering the winner the chance to represent Italy Is only a secondary benefit that some artists even refuse, showing that that is not the main attraction for the contest. This gives me hope that this year sanremo won’t be organised to select the winner. Here’s hoping for Diodato.
Your reasoning works against you – it shows that Rotterdam was never Diodato’s main goal. He could handle the disappointment. I’d much rather the Sanremo winner, which I would argue has more legitimacy as the “real” entry, because that’s exactly what it would have been had Covid never happened. If it’s another Soldi we all would be imagining how it would have fared. 2020 is the “lost” Eurovision, I don’t really want to see knock-on effects.
sanremo is the ariston theater and the ariston theater is sanremo!
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I don’t even want to imagine the sanremo festival in another location!
I just hope Diodato is selected again, Fai Rumore was (and still is) my 2020 winner
Arisa, please. <3
Diodato first. Arisa 2022
Then Elodie 2023
I’m glad the future is unpredictable. Would be pretty boring to know everything until 2023.
The good thing with Sanremo is that I get to watch the final’s results live at 7 or 8am on a Sunday morning in my timezone.
With that said, I do hope for the best whichever RAI and Diodato decide to do going forward.
I hope Diodato will represent Italy again in 2021 but unfortunately I don’t think it’ll happen.
As Diodato is a singer-songwriter, my guess would be that RAI are going to hold off on making any sort of ESC announcement until Diodato indicates whether or not he’ll have a song that he wants to send for ESC next year.
Could probably go either way re: using it to select their Eurovision act. Makes sense either way at least.