Sanremo Music Festival 2023

The Sanremo Music Festival 2023 (Italian: Festival di Sanremo 2023), officially the 73rd Italian Song Festival (73º Festival della canzone italiana), was the 73rd edition of the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held in the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo, organised and broadcast by RAI. The show was held between 7 and 11 February 2023, and was presented for the fourth time in a row by Amadeus, who also served as the artistic director for the competition, with Gianni Morandi co-hosting.[1][2]

Sanremo Music Festival 2023
Dates
Semi-final 17 February 2023
Semi-final 28 February 2023
Semi-final 39 February 2023
Semi-final 410 February 2023
Final11 February 2023
Host
VenueTeatro Ariston
(Sanremo, Liguria, Italy)
Presenter(s)Amadeus and Gianni Morandi
Musical directorLeonardo De Amicis
Artistic directorAmadeus
Directed byStefano Vicario
Host broadcaster
Vote
Voting systemTelevote, press jury and demoscopic jury
Big Artists section
Number of entries28
WinnerMarco Mengoni
"Due vite"
2022 ← Sanremo Music Festival → 2024
Teatro Ariston, venue for the Sanremo Music Festival 2023

Format

The 2023 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 fourth consecutive year.[3]

Presenters

On 24 March 2022, one month after the final of the 2022 edition, RAI officially confirmed Amadeus as the presenter of the 73rd edition of the Sanremo Music Festival.[4][5] Together with Amadeus, Gianni Morandi served as co-host in all five nights of the festival.[2] Alongside Amadeus and Morandi, four co-hosts alternated during the five evenings: Chiara Ferragni (first night and final),[6] Francesca Fagnani [it] (second night),[7] Paola Egonu (third night) and Chiara Francini (fourth night).[8]

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 5, which determined the winner.

Selections

Sanremo Giovani 2022

For the second time in a row, the Newcomers' section will not be included in the Festival, but a similar selection will be held to decree the six places reserved in the Big Artist section.[9] The artists competing in the new format were selected through two separate contests: Standard section and Area Sanremo.

Standard selection

On 26 October 2022, the RAI commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2022 announced a list of 714 acts, but only 43 artists coming from all Italian regions – excluding Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta – and from abroad were selected in the first phase.[10]

On 5 November 2022, the RAI commission announced the eight finalists.[11]

Area Sanremo

After the auditions, a RAI commission – composed by Amadeus, Federica Lentini, Massimo Martelli and Leonardo de Amicis – identified 4 finalists for the competition among the 549 acts:[11][12]

Final

On 16 December 2022, the twelve finalists performed their songs on Sanremo Giovani 2022, broadcast on Rai 1 and presented by Amadeus.[13] Gianmaria, Will, Olly, Colla Zio, Shari and Sethu will participate in Sanremo 2023 with a new entry.

  Enters Sanremo 2023
DrawArtistSong
1Gianmaria"La città che odi"
2Noor"Tua Amelie"
3Will"Le cose più importanti"
4Olly"L'anima balla"
5Maninni"Mille porte"
6Colla Zio"Asfalto"
7Fiat 131"Pupille"
8Mida"Malditè"
9Shari"Sotto voce"
10Giuse the Lizia"Sincera"
11Romeo & Drill"Giorno di scuola"
12Sethu"Sottoterra"

Big Artists

For the second year in a row, the traditional Big Artists section of the contest was merged with the Newcomers' section, and saw the participation of 28 artists, 22 being selected among established artists and 6 qualifying from Sanremo Giovani. The former 22, selected from over 300 submissions received, were revealed on 4 December 2022, and also attended the night of Sanremo Giovani on 16 December, where their competing songs' titles were also made known.[14]

Competing entries

Competing songs and artists, showing writers, orchestra conductor and results achieved[15][16][17]
Song, performing artist(s) and writer(s)Orchestra conductorRankSanremo Music Festival Awards
"Due vite" – Marco Mengoni
(Davide Petrella, Davide Simonetta [it], Marco Mengoni)
Giovanni Pallotti (nights 1, 3 and 5)
Carmelo Patti (night 4)
1
  • Winner of the "Big Artists" section – Golden Lion
  • Orchestra's "Giancarlo Bigazzi" Award for the Best Composition
"Cenere" – Lazza
(Dario "Dardust" Faini, Davide Petrella, Jacopo "Lazza" Lazzarini)
Enzo Campagnoli [it]2None
"Supereroi" – Mr. Rain
(Federica Abbate, Lorenzo Vizzini Bisaccia, Mattia "Mr. Rain" Balardi)
Enrico Melozzi3
"Alba" – Ultimo
(Niccolò "Ultimo" Moriconi)
Will Medini (nights 1, 3 and 5)
Celso Valli (night 4)
4
"Tango" – Tananai
(Alberto "Tananai" Cotta Ramusino, Alessandro Raina [it], Davide Simonetta, Paolo Antonacci)
Fabio Gurian5
"Parole dette male" – Giorgia
(Alberto Bianco [it], Francesco Roccati, Massimiliano "Big Fish" Dagani, Mario Marco Gianclaudio Fracchiolla)
Big Fish6
"Il bene nel male" – Madame
(Francesca "Madame" Calearo, Iacopo "Brail" Sinigaglia, Nicolas "Bias" Biasin)
Luca Faraone7
"Made in Italy" – Rosa Chemical
(Davide Simonetta, Manuel Franco "Rosa Chemical" Rocati, Oscar Inglese, Paolo Antonacci)
Fabio Gurian8
"Due" – Elodie
(Elodie Di Patrizi, Federica Abbate, Francesco "Katoo" Catitti, Jacope Ettorre)
Carolina Bubbico9
"Splash" – Colapesce and Dimartino
(Antonio "Dimartino" Di Martino, Lorenzo "Colapesce" Urciullo)
Davide Rossi10
  • "Mia Martini" Critic's Award
  • Press room's "Lucio Dalla" Award
"Lasciami" – Modà
(Enrico "Kikko" Palmosi [it], Francesco "Kekko" Silvestre [it])
Adriano Pennino11None
"Quando ti manca il fiato" – Gianluca Grignani
(Enrico Melozzi, Gianluca Grignani)
Enrico Melozzi (nights 1, 3 and 5)
Peppe Vessicchio (night 4)
12
"L'addio" – Coma_Cose
(Carlo Frigerio, Fabio Dalè, Fausto Zanardelli, Francesca "California" Mesiano)
Vittorio Cosma13
  • Music commission's "Sergio Bardotti" Award for the Best Lyrics
  • Lunezia Award[18]
"Mare di guai" – Ariete
(Arianna "Ariete" Del Giaccio, Dario "Dardust" Faini, Edoardo "Calcutta" D'Erme, Vincenzo Centrella)
Alberto Cipolla14None
"Se poi domani" – LDA
(Alessandro Caiazza, Luca "LDA" D'Alessio)
Francesco D'Alessio (nights 2, 3 and 5)
Adriano Pennino (night 4)
15
"Un bel viaggio" – Articolo 31
(Alessandro "J-Ax" Aleotti, Antonio Colangelo, Daniele Silvestri, Federica Abbate, Luca Paolo "Grido" Aleotti, Wladimiro "Wlady" Perrini [it])
Valeriano Chiaravalle [it] (nights 2, 3 and 5)
Franco Godi (night 4)
16
"Furore" – Paola e Chiara
(Alessandro La Cava [it], Chiara Iezzi, Paola Iezzi, Eugenio Maimone, Federico "Merk" Mercuri, Giordano "Kremont" Cremona, Jacopo Ettore, Leonardo Grillotti)
Federico Mercuri (nights 2, 3 and 5)
Luca Faraone (night 4)
17
"Terzo cuore" – Leo Gassmann
(Giorgio Pesenti, Leonardo "Leo" Gassmann, Marco Paganelli, Riccardo Zanotti)
Simone Bertolotti (nights 1, 3 and 5)
Fernando Lopez (night 4)
18
"Duemilaminuti" – Mara Sattei
Carmelo Patti19
"Non mi va" – Colla Zio
(Andrea "Armo" Arminio, Andrea "Mala" Malatesta, Francesco "Glampo" Lamperti, Giorgio Pesenti, Tommaso "Berna" Bernasconi, Tommaso "Petta" Manzoni)
20
  • NuovoIMAIE "Enzo Jannacci" Award for the Best Interpretation[20]
"Lettera 22" – I Cugini di Campagna
Fabio Gargiulo21None
"Mostro" – Gianmaria
(Antonio Filippelli, Gianmarco Manilardi, Gianmaria Volpato, Vincenzo Centrella, Vito Petrozzino)
Daniel Bestonzo22
"Vivo" – Levante
(Claudia "Levante" Lagona)
23
"Polvere" – Olly
(Emanuele Lovito, Federico "Olly" Olivieri, Julien "JVLI" Boverod)
Alberto Cipolla24
"Sali (Canto dell'anima)" – Anna Oxa
Loris Ceroni25
"Stupido" – Will
(Andrea Pugliese, Simone Cremonini, William "Will" Busetti)
Valeriano Chiaravalle26
"Egoista" – Shari
(Luciano Fenudi, Maurizio "Salmo" Pisciottu, Riccardo Puddu, Shari Noioso)
Carmine Iuvone27
"Cause perse" – Sethu
(Giorgio "Jiz" De Lauri, Marco "Sethu" De Lauri)
Enrico Melozzi28

Shows

First night

The first fourteen competing artists each performed their song.

First night: 7 February 2023
DrawArtistSongPress jury ranking
Panel 1 (press and TV)Panel 2 (radio)Panel 3 (web)Total ranking
1Anna Oxa"Sali (Canto dell'anima)"14141414
2Gianmaria"Mostro"13131112
3Mr. Rain"Supereroi"10879
4Marco Mengoni"Due vite"1111
5Ariete"Mare di guai"11101211
6Ultimo"Alba"47104
7Coma_Cose"L'addio"2523
8Elodie"Due"3232
9Leo Gassmann"Terzo cuore"6455
10I Cugini di Campagna"Lettera 22"5898
11Gianluca Grignani"Quando ti manca il fiato"713810
12Olly"Polvere"12121313
13Colla Zio"Non mi va"8667
14Mara Sattei"Duemilaminuti"9346

Second night

The remaining fourteen artists each performed their song.

Second night: 8 February 2023
DrawArtistSongPress jury ranking
Panel 1 (press and TV)Panel 2 (radio)Panel 3 (web)Total ranking
1Will"Stupido"12101312
2Modà"Lasciami"8121010
3Sethu"Cause perse"13141214
4Articolo 31"Un bel viaggio"7999
5Lazza"Cenere"6434
6Giorgia"Parole dette male"4375
7Colapesce and Dimartino"Splash"1511
8Shari"Egoista"14131413
9Madame"Il bene nel male"2122
10Levante"Vivo"9898
11Tananai"Tango"3243
12Rosa Chemical"Made in Italy"5656
13LDA"Se poi domani"11111111
14Paola e Chiara"Furore"10767

Third night

All of the twenty-eight artists performed their songs once again.

Third night: 9 February 2023
DrawArtistSongProvisional general rankingNight rankingsUpdated general ranking
Demoscopic juryTelevoteTotal ranking
1Paola e Chiara"Furore"1416161714
2Mara Sattei"Duemilaminuti"1214191818
3Rosa Chemical"Made in Italy"913677
4Gianluca Grignani"Quando ti manca il fiato"19178812
5Levante"Vivo"1618242321
6Tananai"Tango"48555
7Lazza"Cenere"79444
8LDA"Se poi domani"242291315
9Madame"Il bene nel male"37766
10Ultimo"Alba"1011112
11Elodie"Due"5513109
12Mr. Rain"Supereroi"172333
13Giorgia"Parole dette male"8612910
14Colla Zio"Non mi va"1319222120
15Marco Mengoni"Due vite"11221
16Colapesce and Dimartino"Splash"2314118
17Coma_Cose"L'addio"64151211
18Leo Gassmann"Terzo cuore"1110231919
19I Cugini di Campagna"Lettera 22"1521252522
20Olly"Polvere"2324212424
21Anna Oxa"Sali (Canto dell'anima)"2626182025
22Articolo 31"Un bel viaggio"1812171617
23Ariete"Mare di guai"2020111516
24Sethu"Cause perse"2828272828
25Shari"Egoista"2727282727
26Gianmaria"Mostro"2223202223
27Modà"Lasciami"2115101413
28Will"Stupido"2525262626

Fourth night

The artists each performed a cover of a song from the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, or '00s, duetting with a guest performer.

Fourth night: 10 February 2023[21]
DrawArtistGuest artistSongNight rankingsUpdated general ranking
Press juryDemoscopic juryTelevoteTotal ranking
1ArieteSangiovanni"Centro di gravità permanente"282871718
2WillMichele Zarrillo"Cinque giorni"2623182526
3ElodieBigMama"American Woman"341279
4OllyLorella Cuccarini"La notte vola"2018172024
5UltimoEros RamazzottiEros Ramazzotti medley[a]1213222
6LazzaEmma Marrone and Laura Marzadori [it]"La fine"43333
7TananaiDon Joe and Biagio Antonacci"Vorrei cantare come Biagio" and "Sognami"55666
8ShariSalmo"Hai scelto me" and "Diavolo in me"2726242827
9Gianluca GrignaniArisa"Destinazione Paradiso"9108811
10Leo GassmannEdoardo Bennato and Quartetto FlegreoEdoardo Bennato medley[b]118151316
11Articolo 31FedezArticolo 31 medley[c]16610914
12GiorgiaElisa"Luce (Tramonti a nord est)" and "Di sole e d'azzurro"11445
13Colapesce & DimartinoCarla Bruni"Azzurro"620191510
14I Cugini di CampagnaPaolo Vallesi"La forza della vita" and "Anima mia"2425222422
15Marco MengoniThe Kingdom Choir"Let It Be"22111
16GianmariaManuel Agnelli"Quello che non c'è"1422161621
17Mr. RainFasma"Qualcosa di grande"2511554
18MadameIzi"Via del Campo"81211117
19Coma_CoseBaustelle"Sarà perché ti amo"177231812
20Rosa ChemicalRose Villain"America"72113128
21ModàLe Vibrazioni"Vieni da me"181491013
22LevanteRenzo Rubino"Vivere"2319272623
23Anna OxaIljard Shaba"Un'emozione da poco"2124202325
24SethuBnkr44"Charlie fa surf"2227282728
25LDAAlex Britti"Oggi sono io"1316141415
26Mara SatteiNoemi"L'amour toujours"199262219
27Paola e ChiaraMerk & KremontPaola e Chiara medley[d]1515211917
28Colla ZioDitonellapiaga"Salirò"1017252120

Fifth night - Final

All of the artists performed their songs one final time, with the top five reprising their performances before moving on to the final round of voting.[22]

  Advanced to superfinals
Fifth night: 11 February 2023 – First round
DrawArtistSongTelevoteFinal general ranking
%Place
1Elodie"Due"2.34%109
2Colla Zio"Non mi va"0.53%2120
3Mara Sattei"Duemilaminuti"0.66%1819
4Tananai"Tango"6.30%55
5Colapesce & Dimartino"Splash"2.01%1110
6Giorgia"Parole dette male"2.44%96
7Modà"Lasciami"2.70%811
8Ultimo"Alba"15.67%22
9Lazza"Cenere"13.88%43
10Marco Mengoni"Due vite"21.19%11
11Rosa Chemical"Made in Italy"3.68%78
12I Cugini di Campagna"Lettera 22"0.74%1621
13Madame"Il bene nel male"3.94%67
14Ariete"Mare di guai"1.71%1214
15Mr. Rain"Supereroi"14.80%34
16Paola e Chiara"Furore"0.62%1917
17Levante"Vivo"0.42%2423
18LDA"Se poi domani"1.11%1315
19Coma_Cose"L'addio"0.94%1513
20Olly"Polvere"0.42%2524
21Articolo 31"Un bel viaggio"0.71%1716
22Will"Stupido"0.19%2626
23Leo Gassmann"Terzo cuore"0.49%2318
24Gianmaria"Mostro"0.59%2022
25Anna Oxa"Sali (Canto dell'anima)"0.52%2225
26Shari"Egoista"0.09%2827
27Gianluca Grignani"Quando ti manca il fiato"1.07%1412
28Sethu"Cause perse"0.11%2728
Fifth night: 11 February 2023 – Second round (Superfinal)
DrawArtistSongRankingsPlace
Press juryDemoscopic juryTelevoteTotal
1Ultimo"Alba"5420.39%12.25%4
2Tananai"Tango"3511.15%11.15%5
3Lazza"Cenere"2318.28%16.64%2
4Marco Mengoni"Due vite"1132.31%45.53%1
5Mr. Rain"Supereroi"4217.87%14.43%3

Special guests

Gianni Morandi, Chiara Ferragni and Amadeus taking a selfie with president of Italy Sergio Mattarella and his daughter Laura Mattarella

The special guests of Sanremo Music Festival 2023 included:[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]

Broadcast and ratings

Local broadcast

Rai 1 and Rai Radio 2 brought the official broadcasts of the festival in Italy. The five evenings were also streamed online via the broadcaster's official website RaiPlay, which made it available in all member countries of the European Broadcasting Union, since the festival is broadcast on the Eurovision network.

Broadcasters of the Sanremo Music Festival 2022
CountryShow(s)Broadcaster(s)Commentator(s)Ref(s)
 ItalyAll showsRai 1, Rai 4K [it]No commentary[42]
Rai Radio 2Ema Stokholma [it] and Gino Castaldo [it]
RaiPlay, RaiPlay Sound [it]No commentary
Rai Italia (outside Italy)
 AlbaniaAll showsRTSH Muzikë, RTSH TiranaNo commentary[43]
FinalRTSH 1Andri Xhahu and Blerina Shehu
 MontenegroAll showsTVCG 2Nebojsa Sofranac[44]
 SerbiaNights 1–4RTS2No commentary
FinalRTS3
 United KingdomFinalGlitterBeam RadioEugenio Ceriello and Michael Walton-Dalzell[45]

Ratings

Live showTimeslot (UTC+1)Date1st time (9:00 pm – 0:00 am)2nd time (0:00 am – 1:30 am)Overall audienceRef(s)
ViewersShare (%)ViewersShare (%)ViewersShare (%)
1st9:00 pm7 February14,170,00061.76,271,00064.810,757,00062.4[46]
2nd8 February14,087,00061.16,281,00065.710,545,00062.3[47]
3rd9 February13,341,00057.25,584,00058.49,240,00057.6[48]
4th10 February15,046,00065.27,041,00069.711,121,00066.5[49]
5th11 February14,423,00062.709,490,00073.6512,256,00066.0[50]

Notes

References