Country Italy Selected entrant Alan Sorrenti Final result 6th, 87 points | Selection process Internal Selection Selected song "Non so che darei" 1980 • 1983► | |
Italy was represented by Alan Sorrenti, with the song '"Non so che darei", at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 19 April in The Hague. The song was chosen internally by Italian broadcaster RAI. "Non so che darei" was the last of Italy's uninterrupted string of entries since the contest's inception in 1956, as RAI opted out of the following two contests, not returning until 1983.
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Sorrenti performed 6th in the running order, following Morocco and preceding Denmark. The song was a contemporary midtempo offering, with Sorrenti and his backing singers and musicians dressed in a striking colour scheme of various shades of blue, pink and lilac. At the close of voting "Non so che darei" had picked up 87 points (including a maximum 12 from Portugal), placing Italy 6th of the 19 entries. Unusually for an Italian entry, the song seemed to have been quite well liked across the board by the other national juries with only Luxembourg and Morocco failing to award it any points at all – a contrast with many other Italian entries before and after which tended to receive a mixture of high scores and zeroes, with little in between. The Italian jury awarded its 12 points to Germany.