Although the summer season might be the quiet time for Eurovision fans, behind the scenes preparations have already begun for next year’s contest in Italy. A big one of these is deciding which city will host Eurovision 2022.
A total of 17 cities expressed an initial interest in becoming the host city of Eurovision 2022. We asked you to vote for which of these cities you wanted to be named as the host of the 2022 contest.
After counting a total of 5,128 votes, we can reveal that your preferred city of choice is…
Turin is the city you want to host Eurovision 2022
Coming out on top is Turin, the capital city of the Piedmont region of northern Italy. In the end, 1,093 votes were cast in the city’s favour – that’s 21.31% of the total.
Upon announcing that the city would be bidding to host Eurovision 2022, Turin’s mayor, Chiara Appendino, was very enthusiastic:
“We’re running because our city has all the cards in order and we think it’s the best option on the field to make your choice. We have spaces with suitable capabilities, with the full city and region within easy reach.”
Indeed, the city boasts the Pala Alpitour indoor arena. Built to host ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, it has vast experience welcoming the world. With a maximum capacity of 16,600, it routinely hosts large-scale concerts for Italian stars (Il Volo, Elisa, Marco Mengoni), but also their international counterparts (Madonna, Rihanna, Bob Dylan, 5 Seconds of Summer and U2).
It seems y’all are in agreement with mayor Appendino and want to see Europe descend on the Pala Alpitour next May.
?? Turin’s mayor says she has signed its bid to become #Eurovision 2022 host city.
? Its Pala Alpitour hosted ice hockey at the 2006 Olympics and has held concerts for Madonna, Rihanna, 5 Seconds of Summer and more.
?? – @willyleeadams https://t.co/gNN4OIDMKW pic.twitter.com/VErDafS0gJ
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) July 10, 2021
It was a tight race for second place, but picking up the silver medal in this poll is Milan. Another major city in northern Italy, Milan is the capital of the Lombardy region. The city earned 999 votes (19.48% of the total).
Just behind in third place is Italy’s capital city Rome. The host city of Eurovision 1991, Rome has experience in hosting the contest – albeit when the show was done on a slightly smaller scale. Rome picked up 963 votes (18.78%).
These are the two cities that Måneskin’s lead singer Damiano David has a preference for. When the Eurovision 2021 champions recently met up with Dutch make-up star and Eurovision 2021 host NikkieTutorials, Damiano noted: “My heart says Rome because it’s my home city. But Milan is the city of music in Italy, and it would be really clever to host it there.”
Internationally renowned Italian singer @LauraPausini wants #Eurovision 2022 to take place in Bologna. What about you?https://t.co/4aEfe16VHl pic.twitter.com/7R7rf7PBwe
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) August 4, 2021
In fourth place is Bologna. Yet another city in northern Italy, Bologna has garnered support from world renowned Italian singer Laura Pausini. Officials from the city have also stated that they would wish to use Eurovision 2022 in order to honour Italian icon Raffaella Carrà, who recently passed away.
Fifth place in the poll goes to Florence, capital of Italy’s Tuscany region. Then in sixth place is Sanremo, the host of the prestigious Festival di Sanremo that was the initial inspiration for Eurovision.
View the full poll results below.
Poll results: Which city should host Eurovision 2022 in Italy?
- Turin – 21.31% (1,093 votes)
- Milan – 19.48% (999 votes)
- Rome – 18.78% (963 votes)
- Bologna – 11.33% (581 votes)
- Florence – 7.22% (370 votes)
- Sanremo (Imperia) – 5.25% (269 votes)
- Trieste – 2.96% (152 votes)
- Rimini – 2.55% (131 votes)
- Jesolo (Venice) – 2.48% (127 votes)
- Genoa – 2.11% (108 votes)
- Pesaro – 1.76% (90 votes)
- Palazzolo Acreide (Syracuse) – 1.29% (66 votes)
- Acireale (Catania) – 1.03% (53 votes)
- Matera – 0.68% (35 votes)
- Bertinoro di Romagna (Forlì – Cesena) – 0.66% (34 votes)
- Alessandria – 0.57% (29 votes)
- Viterbo – 0.54% (28 votes)
Total Votes: 5,128
Eurovision 2022 host city bidding process
Each of the cities interested in hosting were tasked with submitting a bid book outlining their proposal to Italian broadcaster RAI by Wednesday 4 August. Italian newspaper La Stampa reports that eleven of the above 17 cities were able to submit a suitable proposal. The cities reportedly still in contention are: Acireale, Alessandria, Bologna, Genoa, Milan, Palazzolo Acreide, Pesaro, Rimini, Rome, Sanremo and Turin.
RAI will now review the submitted proposals. The final decision on which city will host Eurovision 2022 will be made by RAI in conjunction with the EBU by the end of August.
Do you agree with these poll results? Would you like Turin to be the Eurovision 2022 host city, or does your vote go somewhere else? Let us know in the comments below!
Turin sounds to be be the best choice, it’s a beautiful city if Wikipedia is to be believed and Pala Alpitour would be a suitable venue
Why would people vote for Turin or Milan (or both?)
Rome was the best choice but thye have no venue so Bologna sounds interesting but it will be challenging.
Turin, of course.
what do even mean with anglicised name? almost all cities in the world have their names changed in one or other language. Bologna is named Bolonia in Spanish and Bolonha in Portuguese.. why would this even matter?
Lisbon is anglicized from Lisboa, Vienna from Wien, Copenhagen from København, and Kyiv and Tel Aviv are in countries that use different alphabets 😉
And that matters because?
And then there were 11. I’m surprised that’s not its own article but we’ll see it whittle down further as the month goes on.
well, even if the C thing still continues, it won’t be as bad as it was in 2020, obviously. the worst case scenario for next year is similar to what has happened earlier this year (reduced capacity, distanced greenroom).
I’m rooting for Turin, but somehow, part of me wishes Sanremo had a suitable venue as it would be so special to host it in the city that started it all
I hope they at least pay homage to Sanremo at Eurovision
This is the first year I’m not stressed about the host city. All Italian cities capable of hosting Eurovision are equally beautiful.
However, I am stressed about the stage design – as I doubt the Italians will let Florian Wieder or any other non-Italian do the job. The last international music event held in Italy was the 2015 EMA awards in Milan, and the staging was VERY lacklustre in comparison to previous EMA stages. Fingers crossed the Italians have some decent staging ideas!
Well, at least we could see something different…
Should be Pesaro
Give it to a city who hasn’t hosted before
The three cities in the running–Turin, Milan and Bologna–have never hosted Eurovision before so it’s a high chance one of them will be the host country.
Yeah ok, Turin won and stuff, but I personally cannot get over the unsatisfying 999 votes for Milan…
Rome’s current situation is similar to that of Copenhagen in 2014 (when Copenhagen was about to host Eurovision): not having a suitable indoor venue, because of technical reason. Copenhagen had to use an ex-industrial hub as their venue because other venues are either too small (Brøndby Hall and Ballerup Super Arena) or too large (Parken Stadium) and there was not enough time to build a new venue (but that new venue finally came in 2017 as Royal Arena). On the other hand, Rome’s main indoor venue, PalaLottomatica, has unusual interior shape (circular instead of U-shaped; making it look more like… Read more »
Of course hosting ESC in Rome would be a strong message of Italy’s involvement but let’s be honest, Italy as a country has so much to offer, both musically and touristically, that they can host it wherever they want, even in a small village in Tuscany, and I am sure it will be epic and menorable!
I also want Rome to be honest, but their venue still lacks something. maybe in later years if they have a new, slightly bigger, better indoor venue.