The designers of the stage for Eurovision 2022 have been confirmed — and it’s going to be an Italian job. The PalaOlimpico stage will be designed by Atelier Francesca Montinaro, who have previously designed stages for the Sanremo Music Festival.
Atelier Francesca Montinaro shared the good news on social media, writing:
“It’s official!
“Atelier Francesca Montinaro will create the scenography of the Eurovision Song Contest Torino 2022 stage!
“It was a very demanding race in which we participated with enthusiasm and strong emotions. A race against time that kept us awake until the small hours. But it was worth it, because in the end #Rai chose us. We receive this assignment with honour and we will work to deliver to the whole of Italy a stage that shows the soul of Italians to Europe and to the world.
“We would like to say a lot, to tell more, but we cannot reveal any details. From now on, months of intense but beautiful work begin for us to reach the opening of this third Italian edition of Eurovision.
“See you in May!”
The selection of Atelier Francesca Montinaro is a change from the Eurovision stage designers of the past decade. In that period, seven of the stages have been designed by the experienced German designer Florian Wieder. Swedish duo Frida Arvidsson and Viktor Brattström designed the stages in 2013 and 2016, while Danish designer Claus Zier created the stage in 2014.
The involvement of Francesca Montinaro also marks the first time a woman has designed the Eurovision stage since 2016.
Atelier Francesca Montinaro’s stage design history
Atelier Francesca Montinaro is an established Italian design house specialising in sceneography, art and interior design. As well as designing stages for numerous large theatrical productions, Atelier Francesca Montinaro has twice created the stage for Italy’s iconic Sanremo Music Festival.
They designed the stage for Sanremo 2013, with its baroque-inspired themes. The stage included many moving parts that could be moved to change the feel of the stage — even including the iconic staircase.
Most recently, the atelier designed the stage for Sanremo 2019. They described the stage as “A dance between lights and spectacular kinetic effects” that also involved moving parts via a “motorised and avant-garde theatre machine”.
While Atelier Francesca Montinaro aren’t dropping any clues about their design for the Turin stage, it’s clear that their artistic approach will bring something different to the typical Eurovision stages of recent years.
What do you think? What would you like to see in the PalaOlimpico stage design? Tell us your thoughts below!
Finally!!!! Some home-grown talent, for a change!
Great. Be yourself and put the Swedes aside.
You mean the germans 😉
The swedes mentioned in this article only designed the stages in their own country. Don’t work yourself up, hon.
I’m so happy they’re ditching the Swedish know-how for the next edition of Eurovision. Sanremo is 1000 times better than Melfest any day. I hope this trend of not requiring Björkman and co. continues.
And think swedish television has proposed to help RAI to produce this ESC 2022. Also german television. They had two ESCs in a decade and still they cannot leave space to other broadcasters to produce the ESC using their creativity and local ressources. Thank you Sweden, you are very kind. We will let you know. 🙂
northern european television really comes off as stiff and lifeless from an italian pov. we’re more used to improvisation and just trusting in the hosts overall, less scripts and more spontaneity.
You just described the whole of Southern Europe. We really do like to live the life, not be robots.
I do agree and I do think that ESC has lacked spontaneity. However, I doubt it very much that ESC 2022 will be any different, as the EBU insists that the whole texts of the presentations have to be fixed beforehand… No room for improv… But let’s see… (2018 with Filomena in the green room and among the public, was a bit of an exception, but very controlled)
I’m curious if they will use the transparent flying screen again. I think that was a good addition.
Surely not lifted and dropped from the ceiling as in Rotterdam to be used as backdrop for the secondary stage. The height of the ceiling of PalaOlimpico is only 18 meters, the minimum required by EBU, while the one of Ahoj Arena is 30 or 35 meters, so there was enough space for the lighting rig, plus the transparent LEDwall. Additionally, the rental cost of such transparent LEDwall is very high. So, unless they use it as main LEDwall at the back of the main stage, in order to have a background additional lighting behind the LEDwall, I don’t think… Read more »
Sorry for bad english. Teleobjective = telephoto lens.
Thank you for your detailed answer. How was your Pala Olimpico experience? Many initially thought that Ahoy’s space and stage design were also small, but with good camera direction you can solve a lot.
Just returned (at 3:30 am) at home. I live close to Milan and Pala Alpitour is in Turin. Italy got kicked out from Davis cup by Croatia, by the way, after 3 matches and 8 hours. Well, the Arena is very nice and modern. Both outside and inside. I have taken lots of pics, but I don’t know how to post them here. I will make a more in depth analysis after some sleep. Tomorrow (or it’s today)? Time (and sleep) will tell.
I’m glad you had a chance to visit the auditorium to scope it out. We can’t wait to see your more detailed report tomorrow About what it’s like and how suitable it is for Eurovision.
Well, here is my report. The space outside the arena is big. There is a lot of free space to build the conference room, press room, etc. Everything will be built in the Piazza d’Armi, which is a mixed grass and concrete field in front of the PalaOlimpico. The arena’s external look, seen during the daylight and also the night, is very sleek and nice. The metallic stainless steel plates covering the building shine in the light. It has a wonderful shape. The space inside the arena is not huge. Unfortunately I’ve seen it in the tennis configuration with the… Read more »
Barry, thank you. The Pala Olimpico, as I wrote below, is incredibly nice aesthetically. Also the arena area is nice. Probably not big in the seating area as I expected. From my experience, I remember the Forum di Assago in Milan, seems to me greater, but if you look the info on their respective website, the Pala Olimpico clearly spots an higher seating capacity. All will depend on the size of the stage, the fact the green room will be built inside or outside, etc. Anyway the Davis Cup was an anticipation of the Eurovision Song Contest. There was lighting… Read more »
Thank you for your enthusiastic report. I don’t think size is the most important. As long as the atmosphere is intimate and cosy. After all, it’s a party. And hopefully without too many Covid measures.
It is possible to upload photos. You must first put your photos on an imagestore site such as Imgur and then place the BBcode in your message.
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There is a page on Instagram with nice pictures of the Palasport Olimpico in the concert configuration.
Just follow the account eurovision_turin
Here is the link to the pictures:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWYDK3WNKmv/?utm_medium=copy_link
whew their portfolio is very interesting. i confide we won’t have a basic stage at all next year. it’s great rai is letting italian talent shine.
I didn’t notice that but on the photo of the designers at the beginning of this post between the man in yellow and the man in grey there’s an intriguing drawing on the wall with a sort of a little central stage with catwalks in a big space and a big circular stage too, could it be the stage design of the esc 2022? Maybe….maybe not but I found this interesting.
Their approach seeing the San Remo’s stages in 2013 and 2019 is rather minimalist but really effective and modern, imo the Eurovision stage of this year was minimalist, effective and modern too, so let’s see what they have in their bag for us and what the italian touch will bring to this eurovision stage 2022.
Finally, new faces! That will be refreshing!
They are a good architectural firm, they are very original and elegant in their projects.
very well!
The stages, remember that the stage of the Ariston Theater is small, make the right proportions!
Sanremo 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fIX6xmSGEw&ab_channel=ChiccoBello
Sanremo 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyXELlTthWk&ab_channel=Rai
Interesting… no LEDs, right?!? 😀
Sanremo stage designs are always very unique. I don’t think they will replicate the elements exactly considering the many requirements of stage design for Eurovision. But I’m really looking forward to what they will come up with!
As nice as the stages have been in previous years it’s good to have a different designer once in a while, we will never get new names if we keep going for the same one year after year.
These are amazing news. You just can’t have the biggest show in Europe to have a stage designed by the same uninspired person. Arrivederci Floriannnn
Thanks god, finally we are taking a break from Florian Wieder. I’m not a hater of his work, in the last two editions the stages looked really good. What I don’t like about his designs is an unrealistic presentation of a stage. Just compare the images of these stages before they were built and the actual implementation.
The render of the 2020/21 stage looks exactly like what we got though.
Good to have more variety apart of Florian Wieder. He is not bad but I always have a American Idol/Got Talent feeling about his stages. He is doing well for these shows but ESC should be more unique.
An Italian affair! Just as it should be.
Great to see the host country showcasing what they have and not outsourcing it.
Hosting Eurovision shouldn’t just be about the songs. It should be about showcasing the host country, culturally and artistically for tourism and commerce.
Well done Italy
I agree with all of that except the money part. Culture is reason enough.
The Swedish mafia in the past decade made it all like a clone show, year after year, just like Melodifestivalen. Enough.
They’ve changed and shortened the voting system, and it’s so much better and exciting that way. Voting before was way too long and boring to wait for it to end — knowing that the winner mathematically won several votes before the revealing of all the votes was weird. So I’m glad they were part of some changes with the ESC format.
That part is like…10% of the whole show accross the nights. The whole show’s essence was damaged. If the show is in Italy, they better show me Italy…and not randomness like in Ukraine.
Israel made it wondeful in 2019. Thank God there were many ideas of theirs that were implemented.
Glad it won’t be Florian Wieder again. Some change and brand new ideas will be nice !
Just for info Francesca Montinaro is the lady on the right side of the picture. The other men are architect and designer working for her who probably contributed and helped her in the task.
Did they win with their design (that’s already done) or did they win the right to design it?
They won and they have been selected. So the stage design for ESC2022 will be Francesca Montinaro’s one. I believe the rendering will be revealed by end of december, together with the logo of the ESC.
Cooll, curious for the italian influences.
Thank God, it’s not Florian Wieder again!!!
For those who are curious, they have a portfolio on their website: https://www.francescamontinaro.com/portfolio/
Their style is very different from Wieder’s, I believe it will be an interesting change of pace.
We might be in for a treat and from a homegrown talent. Eurovision 2022 is shaping up to be good one.
Nothing against Wieder, he got the gig so many times because he’s very good on it. But I like when the host country uses local talent. And considering Italy’s influence on design and fashion, it couldn’t be different for 2022.
Indeed. The closer we got from this kind of approach recently was in Lisbon with those bridges, but the stage itself was a big award show one, I guess they can take it to a different level. Some may fear about the lack of leds, but their portfolio actually shows they use them regularly.
I hate how they do everything so late and slowly, but at least we’ll have 3 ESC 2022 songs in 1 month.
Yeah it’s great! And we’ll know all the candidates for EL
Please remember RAI is also preparing Sanremo 2022 which is also a complicate production to do. So I believe EBU is supervising the schedules and timeframe. In december we will have additional info. Regarding the multicam director, there was a rumour RAI has selected Duccio Forzano (who directed 4 Sanremo festivals in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2019) and Christian Biondani, who has directed Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The both are experienced multicam directors for music shows and the best in Italy. Forzano has already used Cue Pilot for Sanremo 2018 and 2019 and has a very musical touch to his… Read more »
To let everybody know Duccio Forzano,y here is a wonderful instagram live (yes, he likes to do live instagram videos even when he is directing a very complicate show like Sanremo, so be prepared to have instagram lives from the OBVAN truck also during the live broadcast of ESC2022) of the opening sequence and song from Claudio Baglioni in 2018. Here there is no Cue Pilot. He is directing live. The Cue Pilot was only for the performances. I was wrong before, he directed 6 Sanremos, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2019 (these last two with Cue Pilot). PS:… Read more »
… But that’s actually earlier than usual. Stages are usually revealed between December and February. The Facebook post claims that RAI chose them through a selection, and the Atelier hints at the fact that they already had to design the stage in order to be selected. I guess the render is going to be revealed soon, but that’s up to EBU now. The project of the stage is already there.
Really what does it matter? As long as the show is good to go come May who can ask for more?
Seriously if you were a Eurovision fan in the 90s very little information was known before the contest. Let the broadcaster do their job in peace.
omg lol
So did they already design the stage ?
RAI has already presented the first draft of Stage Design to EBU. The fact Francesca Montinaro writes the 22nd of november on Facebook they have been selected means the stage has been presented also to EBU and it has been approuved. So that’s a good news. Francesca Montinaro, like Riccardo Bocchini, like to add moving elements to their stages (such as stairs, etc) . Just look at Sanremo 2013 and 2019 for Francesca Montinaro and Sanremo 2015, 2016 and 2017 for Riccardo Bocchini. I believe it will be an innovative design and I still hope there will be a large… Read more »
Yes. This time is 100% the work of a lady. I also posted a comment before, replying to someone else, with a link to the opening sequence of Sanremo 2018. At the minute 1:00 there is the wonderful moving stairs designed by another italian stage designer, Emanuela Trixie Zitkowsky, daughter of a renown stage designer, Tullio Zitkowsky, who worked for Italian distinctive TV shows of the seventies and eighties. So there are at least two great women doing great stage designs in Italy. I am confident Francesca will introduce some moving element in the design. It’s the trademark of all… Read more »
I wonder how many women there have been in the 65 years. I know Paula Farrell did 1988, 1994 and 1997, which would be my favourite twentieth century stages.
She is brilliant designer who did her 1st one at the ESC 1981 in Dublin
The stage is already been done..the renderings will be shown soon..??
Well, usually stage design is something we know two or three months before the event. But I am confident either the Atelier, or EBU or RAI will show us something before.