Today, the Sanremo Festival is one of Italy’s major media events and is also widely followed abroad.
The Festival began in 1932 as a concert of Neapolitan song organised by Luigi de Santis, the concessionaire of the municipal Casino, and was held in the festive hall of the Casino during the Christmas period.
A few years later, Pier Bussetti, manager of the Sanremo Casino, took up the idea again and proposed to create a Festival della Canzone Italiana (Italian Song Festival) in Sanremo.
The first edition of the festival took place on 29 January 1951 in the ballroom of the Casino. During the evening, three interpreters performed 20 unreleased songs, and the edition was won by Nilla Pizzi with the song ‘Grazie dei fiori’.
The 1955 edition was the first to be broadcast live on radio and television and was also the first final broadcast in Eurovision. In 1964, Gigliola Cinquetti won with ‘Non ho l’età (per amarti)’, a song that won the Eurovision Song Contest that year.
This year the Festival has reached its 74th edition and will take place from Tuesday 6 February to Saturday 10 February. Have you already chosen your favourite contestant? Join our “LaLegaFinking” league on Fantasanremo and show us your teams!
