The Sanremo Music Festival 2020 (), officially the 70th Italian Song Festival (), was the 70th edition of the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo and organised and broadcast by (RAI). The show was held between 4 and 8 February 2020 and was presented by Amadeus, who also served as the artistic director for the competition, alongside Fiorello.
The competition was divided in two sections. The winner of the Big Artists section was Diodato with the song "", while Leo Gassmann won the Newcomers' section with "". As a result of his victory, Diodato earned the right to represent in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 before that event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; he subsequently performed "" in the non-competitive replacement show Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light.
Format The 2020 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival took place at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, organized by the Italian public broadcaster RAI. The artistic director and the presenter for the competition was Amadeus.
Presenters On 2 August 2019, RAI officially confirmed Amadeus as the presenter of the 70th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. Together with Amadeus, ten co-hosts alternated during the five evenings: Laura Chimenti, Antonella Clerici, Emma D'Aquino, Rula Jebreal, Diletta Leotta, Francesca Sofia Novello, Georgina Rodríguez, Sabrina Salerno, Alketa Vejsiu and Mara Venier. Actress Monica Bellucci was set to participate as special guest, but she quit two weeks before the festival started.
Voting Voting occurred through the combination of four methods: Public televoting, carried out via landline, mobile phone, the contest's official mobile app, and online voting. Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web. Demoscopic jury, composed by music fans who voted from their homes via an electronic voting system managed by Ipsos. Musicians and singers of the Sanremo Music Festival Orchestra.
Voting during the five evenings: First evening: Demoscopic jury. Second evening: Demoscopic jury. Third evening: Music and singers of the Sanremo Music Festival Orchestra. Fourth evening: Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web. Fifth evening. The voting systems will have the following weight: 34% Public televoting; 33% Jury of the Press Room, TV, Radio and Web; 33% Demoscopic Jury. At the end, a ranking of the songs/artists will be drawn up determined by the average of voting percentages obtained in all the evenings.
Selections Newcomers' section The artists competing in the Newcomers' section were selected through two separate contests: Sanremo Giovani and Area Sanremo.
Sanremo Giovani On 23 October 2019, Rai Commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2020 announced a list of 842 acts, but only 65 artists coming from all Italian regions -excluding Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta- and from abroad were selected in the first phase.
On 3 November 2019, the jury of Sanremo Festival 2020 selected the 20 semi-finalists. The selection was followed by a subsequent skimming during four episodes of the daytime show Italia sì, hosted by Marco Liorni, in which the artists and their entries were presented and the 10 finalists were selected.
On 19 December 2019, the ten finalists performed their songs at Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, with the show Sanremo Giovani 2019 broadcast on Rai 1 presented by Amadeus. The evening is divided into 5 duels, the five selected by the jury, televote, music commission and demoscopic jury were added to the two entries of Area Sanremo and Sanremo Young's winner, for a total of eight young emerging artists in the category of the Newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2020. Leo Gassmann, Fadi, Marco Sentieri, Fasma and Eugenio in Via Di Gioia were chosen as contestants of the Newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2020.
Duel Artist Song TV Jury Music Comm. Demoscopic Televote Tiebreaker Total1 1 Thomas "Ne 80"XX2 2 Leo Gassmann "Vai bene così"XXX32 3 Réclame "Il viaggio di ritorno"X1 4 Fadi "Due noi"XXX33 5 Shari "Stella"XX2 6 Marco Sentieri "Billy Blu"XXX34 7 Jefeo "Uno due tre stella"0 8 Fasma "Per sentirmi vivo"XXXX45 9 Eugenio in Via Di Gioia "Tsunami"XXX3 10 Avincola "Un rider"XX2
Area Sanremo After the auditions, RAI Commission - composed by Massimo Cotto, Vittorio De Scalzi, Teresa De Sio, Andrea "Andy" Fumagalli and Petra Magoni; plus the participation of Gianni Testa - identified 8 finalists for the competition among the 750 acts:
Alessia Geraldi Alex Leo Arianna Manca Camilla Magli Gabriella Martinelli & Lula Jacqueline Branciforte Matteo Faustini Messya
Newcomers' Finalists
Leo Gassmann - "Vai bene così" Fadi - "Due noi" Marco Sentieri - "Billy Blu" Fasma - "Per sentirmi vivo" Eugenio in Via Di Gioia - "Tsunami" Matteo Faustini - "Nel bene e nel male" Gabriella Martinelli & Lula - "Il gigante d'acciaio" Tecla Insolia - "8 marzo"
Big section The Big Artists section of the contest will see the participation of 24 artists. All the artists performed several times and were scored during the week, but every competing artist advanced to the final night.
Competing entries +Competing songs and artists, showing writers, orchestra conductor and results achievedBig Artists section Song Artist Songwriter(s) Orchestra conductor Rank Sanremo Music Festival Awards "" Diodato Rodrigo D'Erasmo1 Winner of the "Big Artists" section - Golden Lion Critics' Award "Mia Martini" Press, Radio, TV & Web Award "Lucio Dalla" Lunezia Award for Best Music-letterary Value "" Francesco Gabbani Fabio Gurian2 TIMmusic Award for Most-Streamed Song "" Pinguini Tattici Nucleari Riccardo ZanottiEnrico Melozzi3 "" Le Vibrazioni Peppe Vessicchio4 "" Piero Pelù Luca Chiaravalli5 "" Tosca Pietro CantarelliValeriano Chiaravalle6"Giancarlo Bigazzi" Award for Best Arrangement "Nilla Pizzi" Award for Best Song's Interpretation "" Elodie Silvia Catasta7 "" Achille Lauro Beatrice Antolini8 "" Irene Grandi Celso Valli9 "" Rancore Carmelo Patti10 "Sergio Bardotti" Award for Best Lyrics "" Raphael Gualazzi Stefano Nanni11 "" Levante LevanteDaniel Bestonzo12 "" Anastasio Enrico Melozzi13 "" Alberto Urso Celso Valli14 "" Marco Masini Roberto Rossi15 "" Paolo Jannacci Maurizio Bassi16 "" Rita Pavone Giorgio MerkFiladelfo Castro17 "" Michele Zarrillo Adriano Pennino18 "" Enrico Nigiotti Enrico NigiottiCelso Valli19 "" Giordana Angi Fabio Barnanba20 "" Elettra Lamborghini Enzo Campagnoli21 "" Junior Cally Enrico Melozzi22 "" Riki Pino Perris23 "" Bugo & Morgan Simone BertolottiMorganNewcomers' section Song Artist Songwriter(s) Orchestra conductor Rank Sanremo Music Festival Awards "" Leo Gassmann Maurizio Filardo 1 Winner of the Newcomers' section - Silver Lion "" Tecla Insolia Diego Calvetti 2 "Enzo Jannacci" Award for Best Performance Press, Radio, TV & Web Award "Lucio Dalla" "" Fasma Enrico Melozzi "" Marco Sentieri Giampiero ArtegianiDanilo Riccardi "" Eugenio in Via Di Gioia Carlo Alberto Cipolla Critics' Award "Mia Martini" "" Matteo Faustini Mario Natale Lunezia Award for Best Music-letterary Value "" Gabriella Martinelli & Lula Carlo Carcano "" Fadi Daniel Bestonzo
Shows First evening The first twelve Big Artists each performed their song and the first four Newcomers each performed their song for the first time in two matches, two for each one.
Big Artists ArtistSongVotesPlaceDemoscopic Jury(weight 33%) 1Irene Grandi"Finalmente io"4th7 2Marco Masini"Il confronto"5th11 3Rita Pavone"Niente (Resilienza 74)"10th19 4Achille Lauro"Me ne frego"9th17 5Diodato"Fai rumore"3rd6 6Le Vibrazioni"Dov'è"1st2 7Anastasio"Rosso di rabbia"8th15 8Elodie"Andromeda"2nd5 9Bugo e Morgan"Sincero"12th23 10Alberto Urso"Il sole ad est"6th12 11Riki"Lo sappiamo entrambi"11th20 12Raphael Gualazzi"Carioca"7th14
Newcomers
MancheArtistSongVotesDemoscopic Jury(weight 33%)I 1Eugenio in Via Di Gioia"Tsunami"49,40% 2Tecla"8 Marzo"50,60%II 3Fadi"Due noi"46,00% 4Leo Gassmann"Vai bene così"54,00%
Second evening The other twelve Big Artists each performed their song and the other four Newcomers each performed their song for the first time.
Big Artists ArtistSongVotesDemoscopic Jury(weight 33%)Place 1Piero Pelù"Gigante"2nd3 2Elettra Lamborghini"Musica (e il resto scompare)"10th21 3Enrico Nigiotti"Baciami adesso"9th18 4Levante"Tikibombom"6th10 5Pinguini Tattici Nucleari"Ringo Starr"3rd4 6Tosca"Ho amato tutto"4th8 7Francesco Gabbani"Viceversa"1st1 8Paolo Jannacci"Voglio parlarti adesso"8th16 9Rancore"Eden"11th22 10Junior Cally"No grazie"12th24 11Giordana Angi"Come mia madre"7th13 12Michele Zarrillo"Nell'estasi o nel fango"5th9
Newcomers
MancheArtistSongVotesDemoscopic Jury(weight 33%)I 1Gabriella Martinelli e Lula"Il gigante d'acciaio"49,00% 2Fasma"Per sentirmi vivo"51,00%II 3Marco Sentieri"Billy Blu"52,00% 4Matteo Faustini"Nel bene e nel male"48,00%
Third evening - Sanremo 70 All the twenty-four Big Artists each performed a song that are part of the history of the Sanremo Music Festival. In this case, the artists can choose whether or not to be accompanied by Italian or foreign guests.
Big Artists ArtistGuestSong (Original artist)YearVotesSanremo Orchestra(weight 33%)Place 1 Michele Zarrillo Fausto Leali "Deborah" (Fausto Leali)1968 15th 10 2 Junior Cally Viito "Vado al massimo" (Vasco Rossi)1982 21st 23 3 Marco Masini Arisa "Vacanze romane" (Matia Bazar)1983 10th 8 4 Riki Ana Mena "L'edera" (Nilla Pizzi)1958 22nd 21 5 Raphael Gualazzi Simona Molinari "E se domani" (Mina)1964 11th 14 6 Anastatio Premiata Forneria Marconi "Spalle al muro" (Renato Zero)1991 4th 12 7 Levante Francesca Michielin and Maria Antonietta "Si può dare di più" (Umberto Tozzi, Gianni Morandi & Enrico Ruggeri)1987 17th 11 8 Alberto Urso Ornella Vanoni "La voce del silenzio" (Tony Del Monaco)1968 20th 13 9 Elodie Aeham Ahmad "Adesso tu" (Eros Ramazzotti)1986 19th 7 10 Rancore Dardust and La Rappresentante di Lista "Luce (tramonti a nord est)" (Elisa)2001 8th 20 11 Pinguini Tattici Nucleari "Settanta volte" (Medley)Various 3rd 5 12 Enrico Nigiotti Simone Cristicchi "Ti regalerò una rosa" (Simone Cristicchi)2007 12th 16 13 Giordana Angi Solis String Quartet "La nevicata del '56" (Mia Martini)1990 18th 17 14 Le Vibrazioni Canova "Un'emozione da poco" (Anna Oxa)1978 6th 2 15 Diodato Nina Zilli "24 mila baci" (Adriano Celentano)1961 5th 6 16 Tosca Silvia Pérez Cruz "Piazza Grande" (Lucio Dalla)1972 1st 4 17 Rita Pavone Amedeo Minghi "1950" (Amedeo Minghi)1983 13th 19 18 Achille Lauro Annalisa "Gli uomini non cambiano" (Mia Martini)1992 16th 18 19 Bugo & Morgan "Canzone per te" (Sergio Endrigo)1968 24th 24 20 Irene Grandi Bobo Rondelli "La musica è finita" (Ornella Vanoni)1967 14th 9 21 Piero Pelù "Cuore matto" (Little Tony)1967 2nd 3 22 Paolo Jannacci Francesco Mandelli and Daniele Moretto "Se me lo dicevi prima" (Enzo Jannacci)1989 7th 15 23 Elettra Lamborghini Myss Keta "Non succederà piu" (Claudia Mori)1982 23rd 22 24 Francesco Gabbani "L'Italiano" (Toto Cutugno)1983 8th 1
Fourth evening All the twenty-four Big Artists each performed once again their songs. Also, the winner of the 4 remaining songs in the Newcomers section was determined.
During the evening, Bugo & Morgan were disqualified for failing to deliver their performance.
Big Artists