The Sanremo Music Festival 1964 (), officially the 14th Italian Song Festival (), was the 14th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Sanremo Casino in Sanremo between 30 January and 1 February 1964. It was organised by Società ATA, concessionary of the Sanremo Casino, and broadcast by (RAI). The shows were presented by Mike Bongiorno, assisted by Giuliana Lojodice. Gianni Ravera served as artistic director.

Each song was performed twice, once by an artist from Italy and once by an artist from abroad. The winning song was "", written by Nicola Salerno and composed by Mario Panzeri, and performed by both Gigliola Cinquetti and Patricia Carli. Cinquetti went on to perform the song at the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, ultimately securing 's first victory in the event.

This edition brought several changes to the contest's format, such as the inclusion of foreign performers, the full voting results not revealed and the use of only one orchestra with multiple conductors.

In 2024, to celebrate the edition's 60th anniversary, RAI made the final available to view on their streaming service RaiPlay.

Format The festival was organised by Società ATA, the concessionary of the Sanremo Casino and held between 30 January and 1 February 1964. Gianni Ravera was the artistic director.

Several changes were made to the contest's format following the lack of success from the previous edition. For the first time in the festival's history, foreign artists were allowed to compete, with each song performed twice, once by an Italian artist and once by an artist of foreign origin. Foreign artists were also allowed to perform in their native language.

Unlike previous editions with two orchestras, only one thirty-seven piece orchestra was offered to performers, with twenty-three alternating conductors chosen for each performance by the respective record label of the performer.

Voting system The voting was conducted by twenty regional juries in cities across Italy, each composed of fifteen members of various ages, professions and social classes. After all songs had been performed across the first two nights, the votes of the jury would combine into a general ranking in which the top twelve songs would qualify for the final and be announced at the end of the second night. During the final, only the winner was to be announced, all other finalists declared tied runners-up and the votes never revealed.

Competing entries 217 songs were submitted to ATA for the competition. The submissions were listened to by members of ATA with a group of consultants, who were to choose a maximum of twenty participating songs. Eventually twenty-four were selected to compete.

Among the competing Italian artists were Bruno Filippini and Gigliola Cinquetti, who were given the right to participate after winning the 1963 edition of the Castrocaro Music Festival for newcomer artists.

Initially American singer Lou Monte was announced among the competing artists, set to perform "" and "", but withdrew due to the death of his son from leukemia. He was replaced by as the performer for "", while Peter Kraus took up "" as his second song. Vocal quartet Quartetto Cetra were also announced as performers for "", but were unable to attend due to prior commitments. They were replaced by Aurelio Fierro.

+Competing entries Song Italian artist Foreign artist Songwriter(s)"" Nicola Arigliano Peter Kraus "" Domenico Modugno Frankie Laine Domenico Modugno"" Tony Dallara Ben E. King "" Giorgio Gaber Patricia Carli Giorgio Gaber"" Fausto Cigliano Gene Pitney "" Tony Renis Frankie Avalon "" Gino Paoli Antonio Prieto Gino Paoli"" Piero Focaccia Bobby Rydell "" Milva Frida Boccara "" "" Cocky Mazzetti Los Hermanos Rigual "" Pino Donaggio Frankie Avalon Pino Donaggio"" Gigliola Cinquetti Patricia Carli "" Paul Anka "" Claudio Villa Peggy March "" Emilio Pericoli Peter Kraus "" Little Tony Gene Pitney "" Bruno Filippini "" Aurelio Fierro "" Los Hermanos Rigual "" Remo Germani Nino Tempo & April Stevens "" "" Robertino Bobby Rydell "" Bobby Solo Frankie Laine

Shows The festival consisted of three live shows held between 30 January 1964 and 1 February. Each night consisted of twelve songs performed twice, once by an Italian artist and once by an artist of foreign origin. All shows were presented by Mike Bongiorno, who was assisted by Giuliana Lojodice. The television production was directed by .

First night The first night took place on 30 January 1964 at 22:30 CET. The first twelve songs were performed.

+First night – 30 January 1964 Song Italian artist Foreign artist Result 1 "" Claudio Villa Peggy March 2 "" Robertino Bobby Rydell Qualified 3 "" Milva Frida Boccara 4 "" Bobby Solo Frankie Laine Qualified 5 "" Fausto Cigliano Gene Pitney 6 "" Cocky Mazzetti Los Hermanos Rigual 7 "" Gigliola Cinquetti Patricia Carli Qualified 8 "" Nicola Arigliano Peter Kraus 9 "" Aurelio Fierro Marina Moran 10 "" Tony Renis Frankie Avalon 11 "" Remo Germani Nino Tempo & April Stevens Qualified 12 "" Fabrizio Ferretti The Fraternity Brothers Qualified

Second night The second night took place on 31 January 1964 at 21:35 CET. The last twelve songs were performed and the twelve finalists were decided.

+Second night – 31 January 1964 Song Italian artist Foreign artist Result 1 "" Bruno Filippini The Fraternity Brothers Qualified 2 "" Laura Villa Los Hermanos Rigual 3 "" Roby Ferrante Paul Anka Qualified 4 "" Little Tony Gene Pitney Qualified 5 "" Giorgio Gaber Patricia Carli 6 "" Piero Focaccia Bobby Rydell 7 "" Domenico Modugno Frankie Laine Qualified 8 "" Gino Paoli Antonio Prieto Qualified 9 "" Tony Dallara Ben E. King Qualified 10 "" Pino Donaggio Frankie Avalon Qualified 11 "" Lilly Bonato Richard Moser Jr. 12 "" Emilio Pericoli Peter Kraus

Final night

The final night took place on 1 February 1964 at 21:35 CET. The twelve songs admitted to the final were performed again and a winner was chosen.

The song "" performed by Bobby Solo and Frankie Laine was disqualified shortly before the show due to Solo's refusal to perform the song live. He claimed he was unable to sing due to laryngitis and used playback during the first night. The song was admitted to the final on the condition that Solo would have to perform it live or face disqualification. He refused again, so the song was instead performed by both artists out-of-competition for the final night.

The winning song was "", written by Nicola Salerno and composed by Mario Panzeri, performed by Gigliola Cinquetti in Italian and by Patricia Carli in French under the title "".

+Final night – 1 February 1964 Song Italian artist Foreign artist 1 "" Gino Paoli Antonio Prieto 2 "" Bobby Solo Frankie Laine 3 "" Domenico Modugno Frankie Laine 4 "" Roby Ferrante Paul Anka 5 "" Remo Germani Nino Tempo & April Stevens 6 "" Robertino Bobby Rydell 7 "" Bruno Filippini The Fraternity Brothers 8 "" Tony Dallara Ben E. King 9 "" Gigliola Cinquetti Patricia Carli 10 "" Pino Donaggio Frankie Avalon 11 "" Fabrizio Ferretti The Fraternity Brothers 12 "" Little Tony Gene Pitney

Broadcasts Local broadcast The final night was broadcast on Programma Nazionale (television) and Secondo Programma (radio) beginning at 21:35 CET. The first night was broadcast at 22:30 CET on Secondo Programma (radio), with only the first half of the show broadcast on Secondo Programma (television), while the second night was broadcast in full both on Secondo Programma (television) and Secondo Programma (radio) at 21:35 CET. The final was broadcast on television in Italy to an estimated 14 million viewers.

International broadcast The final night was broadcast via the Eurovision network in other countries. 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 1964 Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Radio Monte Carlo JRT

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References