Country Italy Final result 6th=, 9 points | Selected entrant Domenico Modugno 1959 • 1960► | |
Selection process Sanremo Music Festival 1959 Selected song "Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)" | ||
Italy was represented by Domenico Modugno, with the song '"Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)", at the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 11 March in Cannes, France. Broadcaster RAI chose the winning song from the 1959 Sanremo Music Festival as their Eurovision entry: the song had been performed twice at Sanremo and for the second consecutive year Modugno was chosen over Johnny Dorelli as the performer.
"Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)" finished only in mid-table in the contest, but for the second year Modugno's Italian entry proved to be commercially by far the most successful song afterwards. It could not match the phenomenal success of the previous year's "Volare", but was a hit across Europe, reached the top 30 in the United Kingdom and entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA.
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Modugno performed third in the running order, following Denmark and preceding Monaco. The song was similar in structure to "Volare", and Modugno's performance was likewise reminiscent of the previous year. At the close of the voting "Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)" had received 9 points, placing Italy joint 6th (with Belgium) of the 11 entries. The Italian jury awarded 7 of its 10 points to contest winners the Netherlands, at the time prompting rumours (never substantiated) that this had been done in order to minimise the chances of a French or British victory.