Yes, this is the holiest of the weeks for Italians in Italy and around the world: Sanremo 2023 will start today, and Raffa from TheGaylyMirror, will tell you what to expect and how to watch it.
The Festival di Sanremo2023 will officially start today, but the cast members of this edition have already been preparing for some time to make Amadeus, who is again this year’s host and artistic director, proud like cool daddy can be. There is great expectation for the show and the highlight of this edition seems to be Chiara Ferragni; fans and haters alike are curious to see how she will fare on the stage of the Ariston Theatre.
But who will the guests be? Who are the singers? And what is the setlist?
First evening
The first evening of the Festival di Sanremo 2023 will be broadcast on Tuesday 7 February. You can watch it using RayPlay, but you will need a VPN, and I use this one. The co-host of the event will be Chiara Ferragni, that, together with Amadeus and Gianni Morandi, will once again welcome Mahmood and Blanco to the stage of the Ariston Theatre; here the two singers – winners of the last edition of the Festival and proud representatives of Italy at Eurovision Song Contest – will perform once again, singing Brividi, the song that allowed them to reach the podium last year.
More special guests will follow: we will find The Pooh (famous Italian music group) and Elena Sofia Ricci: the actress will have the task of promoting her new Rai fiction, Fiori Sopra L’Inferno (so classical for Rai to have actors promoting their stuff during main events). During the evening, then, 14 singers will perform and at the end of the first episode we will have the first provisional ranking that will be voted by the press.
Second evening
During the second evening of the Festival di Sanremo 2023, which will be aired on 8th February, we will see Amadeus’ co-host Francesca Fagnani, the journalist who is having huge success with her tv show Belve.
The international guests scheduled for this date are the Black Eyes Peas, the American group that has been making a breach in the hearts of the general public for years now. Then, on the stage of the Ariston Theatre we will see Angelo Duro and the trio formed by Albano Carrisi, Massimo Ranieri and Gianni Morandi (basically, there will be over a century of history of the Italian music on that stage while these three singers will perform. It might seem like something for old people only, but believe me, it will be a great show!). They will also be joined by actor Francesco Arca, who will take the stage to promote his new RAI fiction entitled Resta con Me. The other 14 artists will perform, and as per the previous day, a provisional ranking voted by the press will be released.
Third evening
The third evening of the Festival di Sanremo 2023 will be aired on Thursday 9th February; and here we will see the stunning Italian Volley Player, Paola Egonu.
And hold strong onto your underwear: The Måneskin will be performing on that stage and will rock the whole Ariston! All 28 Big Singers in the competition will perform, again (so get ready to go to sleep quite late) and at the end of the episode the provisional ranking will be given by Demoscopic and Televote, each having 50% weight.
Fourth evening
On Friday 10th February we will have the “semifinal” of Festival di Sanremo 2023. On the stage of the Ariston Theatre we will see Chiara Francini, the actress and Judge of Drag Race Italia, as co-host.
Once again, all 28 competing artists will perform; the fourth evening is one of the most eagerly awaited by the audience as it is the “cover night”, where each artist will have to perform – either solo or with other artists – singing a famous Italian song from the 60’s to the 90’s. At the end of the evening, the provisional ranking will be decided by the sum of Televote (34%), the Press (33%) and Demoscopic Jury (33%).
Fifth and final evening
Here we will find Chiara Ferragni once again on the stage of the Ariston Theatre. The Italian special guests of the last evening of Festival di Sanremo 2023 will be Ornella Vanoni, Gino Paoli and Luisa Ranieri – once again pieces of the history of the Italian music and theatre. We will also have the honour to have the Depeche Mode at Sanremo. During the course of the evening we will see all 28 singers in the competition and they will be voted by the public.
The average of the voting percentages obtained during the last evening and those obtained during the previous evenings will determine a new ranking for all 28 songs of the Festival di Sanremo 2023.
The first five of these songs will be played live (or with a video) and a new vote will then open resetting the whole ranking to zero. The winner will be decided by public vote using the same system as for the fourth night: Televote (34%), Press Jury (33%) and Demoscopic (33%).
Are you ready?
I honestly, can’t wait!!!
Buon Sanremo a tutti!
