Ever since Rai announced the 11 shortlisted Italian cities that could potentially host Eurovision in 2022, the internet has been mainly focused on the “Big Three”: Milan, Turin and Bologna.
The next edition of Eurovision will most likely be held in one of these cities, but that hasn’t deterred the mayor of Sanremo, Alberto Biancheri, from submitting his project to Rai.
In a recent interview with La Stampa, Biancheri disclosed several details of the dossier that the well-known “city of flowers”, which already hosts the Italian Song Festival (Festival di Sanremo), has prepared in collaboration with engineer Mario Petrella.
According to Biancheri, Sanremo presented a “preliminary project” with the intent of making the most out of the city’s existing spaces and resources:
“We had to try, and we did it in a serious way, with technical evaluations and contacting the firefighters, starting from the possibility of obtaining a capacity of 6/8 thousand seats.”
Even though he knows the chances are slim, Biancheri thought that Sanremo couldn’t miss such a big opportunity:
“I think they will exclude us from the race, taking into account the strength of other competitors, because it is easier and (perhaps) less expensive to organize the contest in a big city. But we would have made a mistake if we didn’t give it a try, even if we started with objectively no more than 10% chances. After all, if we have this chance it’s because Måneskin won in Sanremo.”
The city suffered a substantial decline in annual earnings during the 2021 Sanremo Festival, due to the fact that the event was aired without an audience in observance of anti Covid measures.
Rai had promised a summer event in the city to compensate for the losses suffered during the week of the festival. This event never took place, and the frustration is crystal clear in Biancheri’s words:
“They can’t exclude us from everything.”
Regarding the venue, the only feasible option for the city would be the Flower Market (Mercato dei Fiori), where Sanremo Festival was also held back in 1990.
The structure could accommodate up to 8,000 spectators, thus managing to reach the minimum limit imposed by the EBU.
City council member Giuseppe Faraldi added further details:
“Of course, we have different characteristics compared to larger cities, starting with a lack of structures that can be adapted to an event of this magnitude, but we have an important musical and tourist history. The accommodation capacity meets the required criteria, including neighboring hotels, and we can take advantage of two airports less than 150 km away, those of Nice and Genoa.”
Would you like to see Sanremo host Eurovision 2022? Do you believe the city of flowers stands any chance? Let us know in the comments!
fun fact sanremo is a pasta brand in australia
They can use MIKA’s song “Sanremo” as their campaign song.