The Sanremo Music Festival 1974 (), officially the 24th Italian Song Festival (), was the 24th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Sanremo Casino in Sanremo between 7 and 9 March 1974. It was organised by Gianni Ravera, and , and broadcast by (RAI). The shows were presented by Corrado, assisted by Gabriella Farinon.

The winning song was "" performed by Iva Zanicchi, and written by Cristiano Malgioglio, , Dinaro and .

Format In November 1973, Sanremo city councillors decided the municipality would not organise the festival's 1974 edition directly and instead entrust the organisation to a third party, as an attempt to revive interest in the event. The municipality contacted former artistic directors of the festival, Gianni Ravera, , and , to submit proposals. Following a dispute between councillors over the choice of Salvetti and a joint proposal by Ravera and Gigante, all three were entrusted with the festival's organisation. Unsatisfied with the decision, the three signed a letter sent to the municipality communicating their intention not to organise the festival under any condition. However, two days later on 21 January 1974, they accepted a new offer to organise the event.

The festival was initially scheduled to take place between 21 and 23 February of 1974, but following delays in its organisation, the dates were moved to 7, 8 and 9 March 1974.

For the first time, competing entries in the festival were split between big and newcomer artists. Newcomers performed during the first two nights facing elimination from the competition, while big artists automatically gained a place in the final, performing their songs during the first two nights without being subject to a vote.

Voting system The voting system for this edition was agreed upon by the festival's organisers and union representatives. Fourteen juries located in different Italian cities voted in each show, but only six were drawn at random and used to determine the results. Juries were composed of thirty members, each with one vote. After the first two nights, the four newcomer artists that received the most votes advanced to the final. In the final, only the winner was announced, all other finalists declared tied runners-up and the full ranking never revealed.

Competing entries A total of 137 songs were submitted for the competition. The festival's competing entries were divided into two categories: big and newcomer artists. Songs competing in the big artists section were chosen directly by the festival's organisers, Gianni Ravera, and , who announced the list of fourteen entries on 20 February.

A nine-member special commission including university students, musicians and record producers was tasked with selecting twelve of the submitted songs for the newcomers section. The song selection process took place in the Hotel Astoria in Sanremo and was recorded via closed-circuit television cameras, able to viewed live by journalists and record producers. The commission decided to select fourteen songs, which were then paired with artists proposed by record labels and announced on 21 February.

+Competing entries – Big Artists Song Artist Songwriter(s) "" Al Bano "" Domenico Modugno "" Gianni Nazzaro "" Gilda Giuliani "" Iva Zanicchi "" Les Charlots "" Little Tony "" Middle of the Road "" Milva "" Mino Reitano "" Mouth and MacNeal "" Nicola Di Bari "" Orietta Berti "" Rosanna Fratello

+Competing entries – Newcomers Song Artist Songwriter(s) "" Anna Melato "" "" Domodossola "" Donatella Rettore "" "" Franco Simone Franco Simone "" "" Orchestra Spettacolo Casadei "" Paola Musiani "" Piero Focaccia "" Riccardo Fogli "" "" ""

Shows

The festival consisted of three shows held between 7 and 9 March 1974. The first two nights were broadcast only on radio and consisted of fourteen songs each, split equally between songs by big and newcomer artists. Four songs by newcomers qualified from the first two nights to join the fourteen big artists in the final, creating a total of eighteen songs. A draw to decide the running order for the first two nights took place during rehearsals in Milan on 28 February.

All shows were presented by Corrado, who was assisted by Gabriella Farinon. The radio director for the shows was , while the television director was Enrico Moscatelli.

First night The first night took place on 7 March 1974 at 20:40 CET. Seven newcomers and seven big artists performed their songs.

+Newcomers – 7 March 1974 Song Artist Points Rank 1 "" Valentina Greco 39 3 2 "" Domodossola 40 2 3 "" Donatella Rettore 10 11 4 "" Kambiz 31 7 5 "" Rossella 8 12 6 "" Orchestra Spettacolo Casadei 36 5 7 "" Sonia Gigliola Conti 16 10

+Big Artists – 7 March 1974 Song Artist 1 "" Gianni Nazzaro 2 "" Gilda Giuliani 3 "" Nicola Di Bari 4 "" Mouth and MacNeal 5 "" Little Tony 6 "" Rosanna Fratello 7 "" Al Bano

Second night The second night took place on 8 March 1974 at 20:40 CET. Seven newcomers and seven big artists performed their songs. The four newcomers that received the most points from the jury across the first two nights were selected for the final.

+Newcomers – 8 March 1974 Song Artist Points Rank 1 "" Emanuela Cortesi 49 1 2 "" Piero Focaccia 25 8 3 "" Paola Musiani 3 14 4 "" Franco Simone 35 6 5 "" Antonella Bottazzi 4 13 6 "" Riccardo Fogli 25 8 7 "" Anna Melato 39 3

+Big Artists – 8 March 1974 Song Artist 1 "" Orietta Berti 2 "" Mino Reitano 3 "" Les Charlots 4 "" Iva Zanicchi 5 "" Domenico Modugno 6 "" Middle of the Road 7 "" Milva

Final night

The final night took place on 9 March 1974 at 20:40 CET. The eighteen finalists performed their songs again and a winner was chosen. A pre-recorded stand-up comedy routine performed by Walter Chiari was featured in the show before the announcement of the winner.

The winning song was "" written by Cristiano Malgioglio, , Dinaro and , and performed by Iva Zanicchi. This marked Zanicchi's third victory at the festival following her wins in 1967 and 1969, making her the female performer with the most victories. Although only the winning song was announced officially, rumours since the event suggest "" performed by Domenico Modugno placed second and "" performed by Orietta Berti placed third.

+Final night – 9 March 1974 Song Artist 1 "" Rosanna Fratello 2 "" Little Tony 3 "" Gilda Giuliani 4 "" Middle of the Road 5 "" Orietta Berti 6 "" Nicola Di Bari 7 "" Les Charlots 8 "" Valentina Greco 9 "" Gianni Nazzaro 10 "" Domenico Modugno 11 "" Milva 12 "" Mino Reitano 13 "" Domodossola 14 "" Emanuela Cortesi 15 "" Al Bano 16 "" Anna Melato 17 "" Mouth and MacNeal 18 "" Iva Zanicchi

Broadcasts Local broadcast The first two nights were broadcast via radio on Secondo Programma beginning at 20:40 CET. The final night was broadcast on both Programma Nazionale (television) and Secondo Programma (radio) at 20:40 CET. The final was broadcast on television in Italy to an estimated 23.2 million viewers.

International broadcast The final was broadcast via the Eurovision network in other countries. It was also broadcast live in cinemas throughout the United States and Canada. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

+International broadcasters of the Sanremo Music Festival 1974 Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Río de la Plata TV Canal 13 Cacho Fontana Rivadavia Televisión Tevedos UCTV EIRT EIRT MTV MTV1 MBC Lee Hae-seong TRT İl radyosu JRT TV Koper-Capodistria Radio Belgrade 1

Incidents and controversies Attempt to increase the number of finalists On 6 March, the festival's organisers received a letter from record labels requesting the number of spots in the final for newcomer artists be raised from four to six. The organisers considered the request, but in order to accommodate the extra performances, needed approval from RAI to extend the broadcast time. After the second night concluded, the Orchestra Spettacolo Casadei, who placed fifth in the newcomers ranking, was stopped by the traffic police on their way back to Emilia-Romagna and informed by one of the organisers, , that they would perform again in the final. However, RAI refused to extend the event’s broadcast time and the idea was abandoned. Leader of the group, Raoul Casadei, stated he would never participate in the festival again as a result of the incident.

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