The Sanremo Music Festival 2022 (), officially the 72nd Italian Song Festival (), was the 72nd edition of the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, organised and broadcast by (RAI). The show was held between 1 and 5 February 2022, and was presented for the third time in a row by Amadeus, who also served as the artistic director for the competition, alongside a number of co-hosts.
The festival was won by Mahmood and Blanco with "Brividi", earning them the right to represent in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, held on home soil in Turin; Mahmood had previously won Sanremo in 2019 and had represented Italy in that year's Eurovision.
Format The 2022 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival took place at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, organized by the Italian public broadcaster RAI. The artistic director and the presenter for the competition was Amadeus, for the third consecutive year.
The venue returned to its full capacity during the festival, after the presence of an audience was not allowed in the previous edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presenters In August 2021, RAI officially confirmed Amadeus as the presenter of the 72nd edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. Together with Amadeus, five co-hosts alternated during the five evenings: Ornella Muti, Lorena Cesarini, Drusilla Foer, Maria Chiara Giannetta and Sabrina Ferilli.
Besides these, Orietta Berti and Fabio Rovazzi hosted parts of the show (for sponsorship reasons) from the cruise ship Costa Toscana off the shore of Sanremo.
Voting Voting occurred through the combination of three 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 1000 music fans who vote from their homes via an electronic voting system managed by Ipsos.
Their voting was articulated as follows:
First two nights: half of the entrants were judged by three separate panels from the jury of the press room, TV, radio and web. Third night: all of the entrants were judged through a 50/50 split system by means of televoting and the demoscopic jury. The results were combined with those of the previous nights. Fourth night: the same systems used on the first three nights were put in place. Fifth night: the entrants were judged by televoting alone, to be added up to the results obtained that far; ultimately, a final voting round (again a sum of televoting and the two juries) was held among the top 3, which determined the winner.
Selections Sanremo Giovani 2021 Unlike previous editions, the Newcomers' section was not included in the Festival, but a similar selection was held to decree the three places reserved in the Big Artist section. The artists competing in the new format were selected through two separate contests: Standard section and .
Standard selection On 20 October 2021, the RAI commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2022 announced a list of 711 acts, but only 30 artists coming from all Italian regions – excluding Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta – and from abroad were selected in the first phase.
On 22 November 2021, the RAI commission announced the eight finalists.
Bais – "" Esseho – "" Martina Beltrami – "" Matteo Romano – ""
Oli? – "" Samia – "" Tananai – "" Yuman – ""
Area Sanremo After the auditions, a RAI commission – composed by Amadeus, Gianmarco Mazzi, Claudio Fasulo, Massimo Martelli and Leonardo de Amicis – identified 4 finalists for the competition among the 330 acts:
Destro – "" Littamè – ""
Senza Cri – "" Vittoria – ""
Final On 15 December 2021, the twelve finalists performed their songs at Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, with the show 2021 broadcast on Rai 1 and presented by Amadeus. The three winners of the night, i.e. Yuman, Tananai and Matteo Romano, participated in Sanremo 2022 with a new entry.
Artist Song Place 1 Samia "" rowspan="2" 2 Oli? "" 3 Tananai ""2 4 Vittoria "" 5 Matteo Romano ""3 6 Littamè "" 7 Yuman ""1 8 Esseho "Arianna" rowspan="5" 9 Martina Beltrami "" 10 Destro "" 11 Senza Cri "" 12 Bais ""
Big Artists The traditional Big Artists section of the contest was merged with the Newcomers' section, and saw the participation of 25 artists, 22 being selected among established artists as before and 3 qualifying from . The former 22, selected from 343 submissions received, were revealed on 4 December 2021, and also attended the night of on 15 December, where their competing songs' titles were also made known.
Competing entries +Competing songs and artists, showing writers, orchestra conductor and results achieved Song Artist Songwriter(s) Orchestra conductor Rank Sanremo Music Festival Awards "" Mahmood and Blanco Carmelo Patti Michelangelo 1 Winner of the "Big Artists" section – Golden Lion "" Elisa Will Medini2 Orchestra's "Giancarlo Bigazzi" Award for the Best Composition "" Gianni Morandi Mousse T.3 Press room's "Lucio Dalla" Award "" Irama Giulio Nenna4 rowspan="4" "" Sangiovanni Carmelo Patti5 "" Emma Francesca Michielin Carmelo Patti 6 "" Carmelo Patti7 "" Massimo Ranieri Adriano Pennino8 "Mia Martini" Critic's Award "" Dargen D'Amico 9 rowspan="3" "" Michele Bravi 10 "" Matteo Romano Valeriano Chiaravalle11 "" Fabrizio Moro Claudio Junior Bielli12 Music commission's "Sergio Bardotti" Award for the Best Lyrics "" Aka 7even Carmelo Patti13 rowspan="6" "" Achille Lauro feat. Harlem Gospel ChoirHarlem Gospel Choir was absent during the 4th evening. Gregorio Calculli14"" Noemi Andrea Rodini15 "" Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore Fabio Gurian16"" Rkomi Luca Faraone17 "" Iva Zanicchi Danilo Minotti18"" Giovanni Truppi Stefano Nanni19 Lunezia Award "" Highsnob and Hu Enrico Melozzi20 "" Yuman Valeriano Chiaravalle21 NuovoIMAIE "Enzo Jannacci" Award for the Best Interpretation "" Simone Bertolotti Marco Attura Peppe Vessicchio 22 rowspan="4" "" Giusy Ferreri Enrico Melozzi23 "" Ana Mena 24"" Tananai Fabio Gurian25
Shows
First night The first twelve artists each performed their song.
+ First night: 1 February 2022 Artist Song Press jury ranking Panel 1 (press and TV) Panel 2 (radio) Panel 3 (web) Total ranking 1 Achille Lauro feat. Harlem Gospel Choir "" 9 5 9 9 2 Yuman "" 10 11 11 11 3 Noemi "" 8 4 7 6 4 Gianni Morandi "" 5 2 5 4 5 "" 1 2 2 2 6 Michele Bravi "" 6 10 6 7 7 Massimo Ranieri "" 4 8 3 5 8 Mahmood and Blanco "" 2 1 1 1 9 Ana Mena "" 12 12 12 12 10 Rkomi "" 7 9 8 8 11 Dargen D'Amico "" 3 6 3 3 12 Giusy Ferreri "" 11 7 10 10
Second night The remaining thirteen artists each performed their song.
+ Second night: 2 February 2022 Artist Song Press jury ranking Panel 1 (press and TV) Panel 2 (radio) Panel 3 (web) Total ranking 1 Sangiovanni "" 7 4 5 7 2 Giovanni Truppi "" 4 11 7 6 3 "" 12 9 11 12 4 Emma "" 3 2 3 2 5 Matteo Romano "" 9 6 10 8 6 Iva Zanicchi "" 10 12 9 10 7 Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore "" 2 6 2 3 8 Elisa "" 1 1 1 1 9 Fabrizio Moro "" 5 5 5 5 10 Tananai "" 13 13 13 13 11 Irama "" 6 3 4 4 12 Aka 7even "" 11 9 12 11 13 Highsnob and Hu "" 8 8 8 9
Third night All of the twenty-five artists performed their songs once again.
+ Third night: 3 February 2022 Artist Song Provisional general ranking Night rankings Updated general ranking Demoscopic jury Televote Total ranking 1 Giusy Ferreri "" 19 20 22 23 21 2 Highsnob and Hu "" 18 21 19 19 20 3 Fabrizio Moro "" 10 8 6 7 8 4 Aka 7even "" 21 16 10 10 13 5 Massimo Ranieri "" 8 7 8 8 7 6 Dargen D'Amico "" 4 9 11 11 10 7 Irama "" 9 5 3 4 4 8 Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore "" 7 14 15 13 12 9 Michele Bravi "" 14 12 8 9 11 10 Rkomi "" 15 22 13 15 16 11 Mahmood and Blanco "" 2 2 1 1 1 12 Gianni Morandi "" 5 3 2 2 3 13 Tananai "" 24 25 25 25 25 14 Elisa "" 1 1 4 3 2 15 "" 3 7 12 12 9 16 Iva Zanicchi "" 20 18 17 18 18 17 Achille Lauro feat. Harlem Gospel Choir "" 16 17 14 14 14 18 Matteo Romano "" 17 13 16 16 17 19 Ana Mena "" 25 24 18 21 24 20 Sangiovanni "" 13 10 5 5 5 21 Emma "" 6 4 9 6 6 22 Yuman "" 23 23 19 22 23 23 "" 22 15 24 20 22 24 Giovanni Truppi "" 11 23 21 24 19 25 Noemi "" 12 6 20 17 15
Fourth night The artists each performed a cover of a song from the '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s. They could either perform alone or duet with a guest performer.
+ Fourth night: 4 February 2022 Artist Guest artist Song Night rankings Updated general ranking Press jury Demoscopic jury Televote Total ranking 1 Noemi "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" 7 6 15 11 15 2 Giovanni Truppi Vinicio Capossela and Mauro Pagani "" 11 23 11 15 18 3 Yuman Rita Marcotulli "My Way" 21 20 18 20 21 4 Sophie and the Giants and Peppe Vessicchio "Live and Let Die" 14 15 22 18 20 5 Sangiovanni Fiorella Mannoia "" 13 11 4 4 5 6 Emma Francesca Michielin "...Baby One More Time" 7 5 5 5 6 7 Gianni Morandi Jovanotti Gianni Morandi and Jovanotti medley 2 2 1 1 2 8 Elisa Elena D'Amario "" 1 1 3 3 3 9 Achille Lauro Loredana Bertè "" 5 8 7 6 11 10 Matteo Romano Malika Ayane "Your Song" 7 4 8 7 12 11 Irama Gianluca Grignani "" 18 12 6 8 4 12 Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore rowspan="2" "" 19 16 21 19 16 13 Iva Zanicchi "" 12 14 16 16 17 14 Ana Mena Rocco Hunt Medley 24 19 17 21 24 15 Cosmo, Margherita Vicario and Ginevra "Be My Baby" 3 10 12 9 7 16 Massimo Ranieri Nek "" 6 13 13 12 8 17 Michele Bravi rowspan="2" "" 17 21 9 14 10 18 Mahmood and Blanco "" 4 3 2 2 1 19 Rkomi Calibro 35 Vasco '80s medley 23 25 20 24 19 20 Aka 7even Arisa "" 10 7 10 10 14 21 Highsnob and Hu Mr. Rain "" 20 22 23 22 22 22 Dargen D'Amico "" 14 18 19 17 13 23 Giusy Ferreri Andrea Fumagalli "" 22 17 24 23 23 24 Fabrizio Moro "" 16 9 14 13 9 25 Tananai Rosa Chemical "" 25 24 25 25 25
Fifth night All of the artists performed their songs one last time, with the top three moving on to the final round of voting.
+ Fifth night: 5 February 2022 – first round Artist Song Televote ranking Final general ranking 1 Matteo Romano "" 10 11 2 Giusy Ferreri "" 24 23 3 Rkomi "" 15 17 4 Iva Zanicchi "" 18 18 5 Aka 7even "" 13 13 6 Massimo Ranieri "" 9 8 7 Noemi "" 16 15 8 Fabrizio Moro "" 12 12 9 Dargen D'Amico "" 7 9 10 Elisa "" 4 3 11 Irama "" 3 4 12 Michele Bravi "" 11 10 13 "" 6 7 14 Emma "" 8 6 15 Mahmood and Blanco "" 1 1 16 Highsnob and Hu "" 21 20 17 Sangiovanni "" 5 5 18 Gianni Morandi "" 2 2 19 Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore "" 17 16 20 Yuman "" 22 21 21 Achille Lauro feat. Harlem Gospel Choir "" 14 14 22 Ana Mena "" 19 24 23 Tananai "" 23 25 24 Giovanni Truppi "" 20 19 25 "" 25 22
+ Fifth night: 5 February 2022 – second round (superfinal) Artist Song Rankings Place Press jury Demoscopic jury Televote Total 1 Elisa "" 2 2 3 2 2 2 Gianni Morandi "" 3 3 2 3 3 3 Mahmood and Blanco "" 1 1 1 1 1
Controversies On 31 January 2022, director of Rai 1 publicly announced through a press conference that there would be no vaccine mandate for the Sanremo Music Festival 2022 singers as it would have breached the singers' right to privacy on their health status. This was highly criticized by the Italian public, resulting into a second declaration by Coletta, claiming that there was a "misunderstanding" and that the singers would also be required to show their proof of vaccination upon entrance at the festival.
Special guests The special guests of Sanremo Music Festival 2022 included:
Singers / musicians: Arisa, , Cesare Cremonini, Colapesce & Dimartino, Ermal Meta, Gaia, Jovanotti, Laura Pausini, Malika Ayane, Måneskin, Marco Mengoni, Massimo Alberti, Meduza & Hozier, Mika, Orietta Berti, Pinguini Tattici Nucleari Actors / comedians / directors / models: Anna Valle, Checco Zalone, Claudio Gioè, Filippo Scotti, Gaia Girace, Lino Guanciale, Margherita Mazzucco, , Nino Frassica, Raoul Bova, Rosario Fiorello Sports people: Elisa Balsamo, Matteo Berrettini, (Agnese Duranti, Alessia Maurelli, Daniela Mogurean, Martina Centofanti, Martina Santandrea)