Sanremo Festival 2024: all you need to know

It was the evening of 29th January 1951. In the hall of the Sanremo Casino set up to host events, host Nunzio Filogamo introduced the rules, the orchestra and the three performers of the first Italian Song Festival to a not particularly interested audience. Yes, there were only three: Achille Togliani, Nilla Pizzi and the Fasano duo. On stage was the orchestra, composed of eight elements and, seated to the side, the singers were each waiting for their turn. The songs in the competition were twenty, all strictly unpublished.

Up to that moment, there was no authentic festival of Italian songs that enjoyed good popularity, but only events dedicated to dialectal songs; so how did the idea of creating this festival come about? After World War II, the municipal administration of the city of Sanremo had appointed a commission to study initiatives to revive the city. Among all the proposals, the idea of a song festival came to the right ears: an event conceived to entertain the Casino's clients and, possibly, to attract new ones.

The three evenings were broadcast on Rete Rossa, one of the two channels of the Italian radio system RAI. The first edition winner was the piece "Grazie dei fiori" sung by Nilla Pizzi, then published in a 78 rpm record that sold 36 thousand copies (a success for the time). Today we know that this was only the first page of a long story.

Hundreds of artists have performed on the Sanremo Music Festival stage over the years, singing thousands of songs. Some have won; others that the jury had ignored have become very famous. Some tacks disappeared soon after; others made history and never left us. Among all these notes and words, there are some that we Italians still sing today after years, sometimes decades. They are pieces that have remained impressed in our hearts and minds and that, in some cases, have crossed national borders, becoming famous in the world as a symbol of our country. An example? First of all "Nel blu dipinto di blu", interpreted by Domenico Modugno and Johnny Dorelli, known as "Volare". In 1958 it won the eighth edition of the festival and became the most successful Sanremo song ever and the most famous Italian song ever. It is not an easy task to say which ones have been the most beautiful Italian songs in over 70 years of festivals, but here we have chosen 15 that you cannot miss:

1. Andrea Bocelli - “Con te partirò” - 1995

2. Bobby Solo - “Una lacrima sul viso” - 1964

3. Domenico Modugno - “Nel blu dipinto di blu” - 1958

4. Domenico Modugno - “Piove” - 1959

5. Elisa - “Luce (tramonti a nord est)” - 2001

6. Giorgia - “Come saprei” -1995

7. Il Volo - “Grande amore” - 2015

8. Laura Pausini - “La solitudine” - 1993

9. Lucio Battisti - “Un’avventura” - 1969

10. Lucio Dalla - “4/3/1943” - 1971

11. Marco Masini - “L’uomo volante” - 2004

12. Mia Martini - “Almeno tu nell’universo” - 1989

13. Mina - “Le mille bolle blu” - 1961

14. Vasco Rossi - “Vita spericolata” - 1983

15. Zucchero - “Donne” - 1985

The New Proposals section of the Sanremo Music Festival has many merits: on its stage, there were unknown artists at the time and then became stars of Italian music known worldwide.

Let's start with the most beloved Italian voice of the last 15 years at an international level: Andrea Bocelli. The tenor participated in 1994 in the Sanremo Festival with "Il mare calmo della sera" (which won a record score) and returned the following year with "Con te partirò": this was the first real beginning of his career. "Con te partirò", added to the sales of its bilingual version recorded for the foreign market in duet with Sarah Brightman ("Time to say goodbye"), is the second best selling single in the history of Italian music after "Nel blu dipinto di blu". In 1984 a very young Eros Ramazzotti participated in the Sanremo Festival in the New Proposals section with "Terra promessa". From here began his success, depopulating in Italy and also in Europe.

In 1993 Laura Pausini started her career taking part in the Newcomers section festival with the song "La solitudine". Subsequently, she reached the record market of many countries in Europe, North America and Latin America. She became the most famous Italian singer from the nineties onwards, also receiving the Europe Award as the best selling Italian artist globally.

Linked to the Sanremo Music Festival is also the beginning of the musical career of another beloved Italian artist: Tiziano Ferro. The young man, after some refusals from record labels, during his second participation in the Accademia della Canzone di Sanremo (Academy of Songs of Sanremo) in 2001, met the producers Alberto Salerno and Mara Maionchi, who convinced EMI to bet on him.

On the Sanremo Music Festival stage, there have been many presenters over the years. Still, two more than all the others have made the event's history and have entered the hearts of Italians who identify them as an integral part of the festival: Pippo Baudo and Mike Buongiorno. Both are two of the most outstanding Italian anchormen of all time, two true lords of television. The former holds the record of 13 conduction of the event (between 1968 and 2008), the latter of 11 times (between 1963 and 1997). In third place was Nunzio Filogamo, conductor of the first four editions of the festival and the seventh (between 1951 and 1957).

Sanremo Music Festival is a complex and wonderful machine. It is not only a music competition, but it is also a little great Italian magic. What makes it possible is a delicate system based on many balances such as an admirable organizational structure, a fabulous location, presenters able to support such an important event, and music. Let's never forget that music is the absolute protagonist: even if many of life's memories fade away over the years, it will be enough to hear a few notes of a song to bring back to our minds many emotions that we thought we had lost over time.