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In less than two months, the 70th Sanremo Festival will take place, and the winner will be honored to represent Italy at Eurovision 2020. All this time, the media continues to speculate on what artists we will see on stage, in Teatro Ariston, to compete for the “golden lion”.

With a slight delay over previous years, we will find out on January 6 – during the Special Lottery – the names of the 20 participants of the 70th anniversary edition of the festival. Some argue that, given the amount of proposals, their number could increase.

The two biggest music sites in the country (All Music Italia and floral music), which usually fall in the midst of most forecasts, have been rumored for days. So let’s look at the names they mention.

The Eurostars who return

Several former Italian names in the song contest appear to be trying to get back on the Eurovision stage through Sanremo 2020.

The name that definitely stands out is that of Francesco Gabbani who represented Italy at Eurovision 2017 with “Occidentali’s Kara”. For Francesco we informed you again in our previous article. Following the moderate acceptance of his summer single “Altro cosa”, Sanremo is the best way to promote his new job.

Raphael Gualazzi and Nina Zilli also want to join. The first one entered Eurovision in 2011 with second place with “Madness of Love”, the last with “L’amor e femmina” next year, reaching ninth place. The question is whether their record labels – Sugar and Universal – give priority to them and not to some of their other colleagues.

Perhaps the most famous couple on the Italian music scene, Al Bano & Romina, who represented Italy twice at Eurovision (1976 and 1985), both winning seventh place, return to Ariston 30 years later.

Two other eurostars likely to compete at Sanremo 2020, though only as composers, are Mahmood, this year’s Eurovision essential triumph, with a track written for Chiara Galiazzo and Fabrizio Moro, who won fifth place in 2018 together with Ermal Meta, and will sign Noemi’s participation.

The other names

Among the names we might see at Sanremo 2020 is Matteo Bocelli, his son Andrea, who could begin his solo career, where it all began for his father.

Irama, considered a favorite in 2019 and possibly disappointed by the seventh place he eventually received, and Elodie, are likely to try in 2020 as well.

A band beloved by fans of the competition in 2018, The Kolors will strive for something better than the eighth place they took then.

The names of Federica Carta and Riccardo “Riki” Marcuzzo are also mentioned, though they will be chosen only if they have a very strong song.

Giusy Ferreri will be present as either a performer or a songwriter, and is already looking for a song that will stand out at the Sanremo festival, as she has not been able to stand out in all her previous entries.

Last but not least, Anastasio, the last winner of the X Factor, is among the candidates. The rapper is called to release his debut album. A participation in the Sanremo Festival will be the appropriate advertisement for both his record label and March tour, which he has already announced.

The 70th Sanremo Song Festival will take place at Teatro Ariston in the small town of Liguria, San Remo, from February 4 to February 8, 2020.

Image/Source: eurofestivalnews

The 70th Sanremo Festival will be held at the Teatro Ariston on February 4-8, 2020. This is all that became known from the meeting between RAI and the Sanremo’s city officials earlier this month.

The favorite for the position of presenter / artistic director

Since Claudio Baglioni has resigned as an artistic director and host of the last two very successful editions of the Festival, nobody seems to know who will take that position or whether there will be a distinguished artistic director and presenter.

Numerous names have already been rumored for the new artistic director such as  Carlo Conti, Andrea Bocelli and Lucio Presta recently, as well as Amadeus and Alessandro Cattalan, without excluding Baglioni for one more year, though  this seems unlikely.

Another name that sounds great is Paolo Bonolis, who, however, in unsubstantiated time, has stated that he will only do so if Sanremo departs from the tiny Ariston theater, and could do a great event like  Eurovision in a larger arena.

Meanwhile, the municipality of Sanremo, co-organizer of the Festival together with RAI, looks at the possibility of building a new space (3000-4000 capacity) in the near future for the festival, which seems to be encouraged by Rai.  The female face that will be found next to any male host it will be Diletta Leotta.

The Mayor of Sanremo is worried-the voting system is changing

However, the mayor of Sanremo expressed his concern on the delay of  the whole organization this year and stressed the importance of getting the best possible preparations, since in 2020 we will have the 70th edition of the Festival.  He also underlined the importance of the Young Artists Festival (which recently gave us names like Francesco Gabbani, Ermal Meta and Mahmood).

After the disappointment followed Mahmood’s victory, thanks to the judging panels (even if the audience showed that loved his song along the way), the voting system and the winning method will be reviewed and a special team is working on it. However, 100% televoting even at Superfinal seems unlikely.

The next meeting will take place in September, when we will have the official announcements about the new presenter and artistic director of the Festival.

Nevertheless,whether Italy uses or not m the Sanremo Festival this year to choose its representative in the Eurovision Song Contest will be announced  when the regulations of the 70th Festival will be officially published.  However, it is most likely that RAI will use again the Festival winner in the upcoming Song contest in the Netherlands.