The Sanremo Music Festival 2010 (), officially the 60th Italian Song Festival (), was the 60th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo between 16 February 2010 and 20 February 2010 and broadcast by (RAI). The show was presented by Antonella Clerici, while the artistic director was Gianmarco Mazzi.
As in most of the previous years, the competition was divided in two sections. The Big Artists section, including 15 established Italian artists, was won by Valerio Scanu with the song "Per tutte le volte che...", while the Newcomers section was won by Tony Maiello with "Il linguaggio della resa". For the first time, the rules of the festival were modified so that songs with lyrics in an Italian regional language or written by non-Italian writers were allowed to compete in the festival. Moreover, the songs performed by the artists competing in the Newcomers' section were allowed to be released before the festival's first night.
Presenters and personnel
On 2 September 2009, Antonella Clerici was officially announced as the presenter of the Sanremo Music Festival 2010, while Gianmarco Mazzi was confirmed as the artistic and musical director of the show. Rumours about Clerici's involvement in the show started in June 2009. It was the second Sanremo Music Festival presented by Antonella Clerici, after 2005's edition, presented alongside Paolo Bonolis.
The authors of the show were Ivano Balduini, Matteo Catalano, Massimo Cotto, Simona Ercolani, Cesare Lanza, Andrea Lo Vecchio, Luca Parenti and Francesco Valitutti. The Sanremo Festival Orchestra was conducted by Marco Sabiu, while Daniel Ezralow was for the first time the choreographer of the show.
For the seventeenth time, the scenography was created by Gaetano Castelli.
Selections
Newcomers section
SanremoLab The artists competing in the newcomers section were chosen through the contests SanremoLab and Sanremo New Generation. The selection for the contest SanremoLab, organized by the Comune di Sanremo, took place between October and December 2009. 312 artists participated in the selections, and the 8 finalists of the contest—Divario, Davide Fasulo, Giops, Maya, Erika Mineo, Jacopo Ratini, Romeus and Donato Santoianni—were chosen on 12 December 2009 by a jury presided by music journalist Paolo Giordano and including Francesco Mandelli, Bruno Santori, Nicoletta Deponti, Luigi Grasso, Federica Gentile and Elena Di Cioccio. A few hours later, Jacopo Ratini and Romeus, performing "Su questa panchina" and "Come l'autunno" respectively, were chosen by the SanremoAcademy jury and announced as the two winners of the contest, becoming the first two confirmed artists competing in the newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2012.
Sanremo New Generation The contest Sanremo New Generation was organized by RAI, and it was held between December 2009 and January 2010. The 988 songs competing in the contest were published on the Sanremo Music Festival official website on 3 December 2009. A jury, composed of Massimo Cotto, Gigio D'Ambrosio, Andrea Lo Vecchio and Mariolina Simone later selected the 8 winning acts, chosen as the last performers competing in the newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2010. The winners of the contest—Tony Maiello, Nina Zilli, Nicolas Bonazzi, Jessica Brando, Broken Heart College, Mattia De Luca, and Luca Marino—were announced on 12 January 2010, through the Sanremo Music Festival official website.
Big Artists section One of the acts competing in the Big Artists section was selected through the third series of X Factor. The final of the talent show took place on 2 December 2009, and Marco Mengoni was announced the winner, becoming the first confirmed artist competing in the Sanremo Music Festival 2010. The remaining artists were selected through an internal selection. The complete list of the artists participating in the Big Artists section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2010 was announced on 18 December 2009. Alongside Mengoni, the list included Arisa, Malika Ayane, Simone Cristicchi, Toto Cutugno, Nino D'Angelo, Irene Grandi, Morgan, Fabrizio Moro, Irene Fornaciari with Nomadi, Noemi, Povia, the trio composed of Pupo, Emanuele Filiberto and Luca Canonici, Enrico Ruggeri, Valerio Scanu and Sonohra.
However, in early February 2010, Morgan was ejected from the competition, following an interview released to the Italian magazine Max, in which he admitted that he had used drugs as an antidepressant. Morgan was not replaced by any other artist, therefore the number of contestants was reduced to fifteen.
Shows
First night
Big Artists section During the first night, each act in the "Big Artists Section" performed for the first time the competing song. Immediately after the performance, each song was ranked by a jury composed of 300 people between the age of 16 and 85 years, selected by Ipsos among music listeners. At the end of the night, the three songs receiving the lowest points—Toto Cutugno's "Aeroplani", Nino D'Angelo's "Jammo jà" and "Italia amore mio" by Pupo, Emanuele Filiberto and Luca Canonici—were eliminated from the competition.
+Performances of the contestants of the Big Artists section on the first night Artist Song Writer(s) Result 1 Irene Grandi"La cometa di Halley"Francesco Bianconi, Irene Grandi Safe 2 Valerio Scanu"Per tutte le volte che..."Pierdavide Carone Safe 3 Toto Cutugno"Aeroplani"Toto Cutugno, Claudio Romano, Sergio Iodice Eliminated 4 Arisa with Sorelle Marinetti"Malamorenò"Giuseppe Anastasi Safe 5 Nino D'Angelo with Maria Nazionale"Jammo jà"Nino D'Angelo Eliminated 6 Marco Mengoni"Credimi ancora"Marco Mengoni, Stella Fabiani, Piero Calabrese, Massimo Calabrese Safe 7 Simone Cristicchi"Meno male"Simone Cristicchi, Frankie Hi-NRG MC, Elia Marcelli, Alessandro Canini Safe 8 Malika Ayane"Ricomincio da qui"Malika Ayane, Pacifico, Ferdinando Arnò Safe 9Pupo, Emanuele Filiberto and Luca Canonici"Italia amore mio"Pupo, Emanuele Filiberto Eliminated 10 Enrico Ruggeri"La notte delle fate"Enrico Ruggeri Safe 11 Sonohra"Baby"Roberto Tini, Diego Fainello Safe 12 Povia"La verità"Povia Safe 13 Irene Fornaciari with Nomadi"Il mondo piange"Zucchero Fornaciari, Damiano Dattoli, Irene Fornaciari Safe 14Noemi"Per tutta la vita"Diego Calvetti, Marco Ciappelli Safe 15 Fabrizio Moro"Non è una canzone"Fabrizio Moro Safe
Guests and other performances Paolo Bonolis and Luca Laurenti opened the show, presenting the first part of the night and performing a comic piece. Laurenti also performed the song "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". Italian football player Antonio Cassano was interviewed by Antonella Clerici during the first night of the show. British singer Susan Boyle performed the song "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Misérables. American burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese performed her signature number, dancing in a giant champagne glass.
Second night
Big Artists section On 17 February 2010, the acts in the Big Artists section that were not eliminated during the first night performed for the second time the competing song. As in the first night, the songs were ranked by a jury of 300 people selected by Ipsos. Valerio Scanu's "Per tutte le volte che" and Sonohra's "Baby" were the two songs receiving the lowest votes, therefore they were eliminated from the competition.
+Performances of the contestants of the Big Artists section on the second night Artist Song Result 1 Povia"La verità" Safe 2 Noemi"Per tutta la vita"Safe 3 Enrico Ruggeri"La notte delle fate"Safe 4 Fabrizio Moro"Non è una canzone"Safe 5 Malika Ayane"Ricomincio da qui"Safe 6 Irene Fornaciari with Nomadi"Il mondo piange"Safe 7 Sonohra"Baby"Eliminated 8 Irene Grandi"La cometa di Halley"Safe 9 Valerio Scanu"Per tutte le volte che..."Eliminated 10 Simone Cristicchi"Meno male"Safe 11 Marco Mengoni"Credimi ancora"Safe 12 Arisa"Malamorenò"Safe
Newcomers section At the end of the second night, the first five acts in the newcomers section performed their entries. A ranking was compiled, based on televoting and on the votes that each artist received by the Sanremo Festival Orchestra musicians. Only the two songs receiving the most votes—"L'uomo che amava le donne" by Nina Zilli and "Non mi dai pace" by Luca Marino—were admitted to the final of the newcomers section, held on 19 February 2010.
+Performances of the contestants of the Newcomers section on the second night Artist Song Result 1 Nina Zilli"L'uomo che amava le donne"Safe 2 Broken Heart College"Mesi"Eliminated 3 Mattia De Luca"Non parlare più"Eliminated 4Jacopo Ratini"Su questa panchina"Eliminated 5 Luca Marino"Non mi dai pace"Safe
Notes In the beginning, it was announced that Romeus would have performed during the night but he was replaced at the last moment by Jacopo Ratini, following a protest by recording label Sugar Music, asking to allow to its two artists—Romeus and Mattia De Luca—to perform during two different nights.
Guests and other performances Sixteen dancers from the popular French cabaret Moulin Rouge opened the show, introduced by Daniel Ezralow. They later danced the can-can, together with presenter Antonella Clerici. Queen Rania of Jordan was interviewed by Antonella Clerici. Italian popera singers Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble performed the song "'O Sole Mio" in front of Queen Rania of Jordan. They also performed the popular Mexican song "Granada" and Claudio Villa's "Un amore così grande". The last guest of the night was American actress Michelle Rodriguez, interviewed by Antonella Clerici. During the interview, some scenes from James Cameron's film Avatar were shown.
Third night
Repechage round During the third night, the five acts eliminated during the previous nights performed again their entries, dueting with a guest artist. Each artist was voted by the musicians of the Sanremo Festival Orchestra, and the result was combined with televoting. The top two artists, Valerio Scanu and the trio composed of Pupo, Emanuele Filiberto and Luca Canonici, were reinstated in the competition.
+Performances of the eliminated "Big Artists" Artist Song Guest artist Result 1 Toto Cutugno"Aeroplani"Belén RodríguezEliminated 2 Pupo, Emanuele Filiberto and Luca Canonici"Italia amore mio"DivasBack in competition 3 Valerio Scanu"Per tutte le volte che..."Alessandra AmorosoBack in competition 4 Sonohra"Baby"Dodi BattagliaEliminated 5 Nino D'Angelo with Maria Nazionale"Jammo jà"Ambrogio Sparagna & Le Voci del SudEliminated
Guests and other performances After the repechage round, the 60th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival was celebrated by several guests, performing popular songs which competed in the contests held during the previous year. This part of the night was titled Quando la musica diventa leggenda (English: When music becomes legendary).
Elisa performed her hit "Luce (Tramonti a nord est)", which won the Sanremo Music Festival 2001, and Sergio Endrigo's "Canzone per te", originally performed during the Sanremo Music Festival 1968. She also performed a medley of the songs "Ti vorrei sollevare", "Anche se non trovi le parole" and "Your Manifesto", included in her 2009's album Heart. Fiorella Mannoia covered "E se domani", originally performed by Fausto Cigliano and Gene Pitney during the Sanremo Music Festival 1964, but better known for the version released by Mina soon after the end of the contest. She later performed Negramaro's "Estate", also included in her album Ho imparato a sognare. Miguel Bosé covered "Non ho l'età", the song winning the Sanremo Music Festival 1964 and originally performed by Gigliola Cinquetti. Bosé also presented his new single "Por tì", from the album Cardio. Edoardo Bennato performed Luigi Tenco's "Ciao amore ciao", presented during the Sanremo Music Festival 1967. He later sang a medley including three of his hits, "Un giorno credi", "Il rock del Capitan Uncino" and "È lei".