Sanremo Music Festival 2012

Presenters and personnel

A few hours after the final of the Sanremo Music Festival 2011, Rai 1 director Mauro Mazza expressed his willing to confirm Gianni Morandi as the main presenter of the show for the 2012 contest. In an interview released in April 2011, Morandi revealed he was considering the opportunity to present the contest for a second time, and on 13 October 2011 Morandi was officially confirmed as the presenter of the Sanremo Music Festival 2012. On the same day, Gianmarco Mazzi, who had signed a 2 years long contract with RAI in late 2010, was confirmed as the artistic director of the show. It was Mazzi's seventh Sanremo Music Festival.

In late December 2011, Gianmarco Mazzi also announced that Italian actor and director Rocco Papaleo, Czech model Ivana Mrazova and English-Croatian model Tamara Ecclestone would have been Morandi's co-presenters of the show. Despite this, on 20 January 2012, Gianmarco Mazzi officially announced that Tamara Ecclestone would not be one of the presenters, following her refusal to be in Sanremo during the rehearsal for the show. During an interview released to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Ecclestone claimed that she had never signed any contract, and that, according to her informal agreement with RAI, she should have been in Sanremo starting from 12 February 2012, but she was later asked to start working on the show on 1 February 2012. Following a neck pain, Ivana Mrazova was not on stage during the first night of the show, and she was replaced by 2011 co-presenters Elisabetta Canalis and Belén Rodríguez.

The authors of the show, directed by Stefano Vicario, were Ivano Balduini, Simona Ercolani, Michele Ferrari, Francesco Valitutti and Federico Moccia. For the nineteenth time, the shenography, inspired by a spacecraft, was created by Gaetano Castelli, together with his daughter Chiara. For the tenth consecutive year, each artist was accompanied by the Sanremo Festival Orchestra, conducted by Marco Sabiu, as in 2011.

AreaSanremo

The artists competing in the newcomers section were selected through two different contests. The first one, organized by the Comune di Sanremo and titled AreaSanremo, was divided into two sections—SanremoLab, reserved to Italian-language songs, and SanremoDoc, featuring songs in an Italian dialect. The jury evaluating the SanremoLab contestants was composed of Niccolò Agliardi, Beppe Carletti, L'Aura and Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi, while the jury for the SanremoDoc section included Massimo Morini, Davide Van De Sfroos, Peppe Voltarelli and Edoardo Bennato.

The 10 winners of the contest—Levy Prato, Kachupa, Erika Mineo, Andrea Devis Mozzate, Bidiel, Giuseppe Franchino, Lavinia Desideri and Iohosemprevoglia in the SanremoLab section, Luca Bussoleti and the duo composed of Stefano Cherchi and Maurizio Chisari for the SanremoDoc section—were announced on 8 December 2011. On 9 December 2011, a jury composed of Gianni Morandi, Gianmarco Mazzi, Giorgio Giuffra and Claudia Lolli selected two acts among the ten winners. Therefore, the bands Bidiel and Iohosemprevoglia became the first two confirmed contestants of the Sanremo Music Festival 2012.

SanremoSocial

The remaining six contestants were selected through a web contest, titled SanremoSocial. 400 out of 1,574 participants in the contest were excluded because their songs did not fulfill the rules to participate in the Sanremo Music Festival, mainly concerning the length of the song or the inclusion of advertisers' brands in their lyrics.

After uploading a video of the proposed song through the social network Facebook, contestants were voted by users, and the 30 most voted acts, together with 30 additional artists chosen by a specific jury, were asked to perform live on 12 January 2012, during the Sanremo Social Day, broadcast live on the Festival's official website. At the end of the live performances, the artists were selected by a jury composed of presenter Gianni Morandi, artistic director Gianmarco Mazzi, Rai Radio 1's Gianmaurizio Foderaro and Silvia Notargiacomo, Rai Radio 2's Federica Gentile and Facebook account manager Saverio Schiano Lomoriello. The six winners of the contest—Giordana Angi, Erica Mou, Celeste Gaia, Marco Guazzone, Giulia Anania and Alessandro Casillo— were announced on 14 January 2012 during the TV show SanremoSocial Day - La scelta.

Big Artists section

The acts participating in the Big Artists section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2012 were chosen through an internal selection. In early December 2011, during an interview released to the Italian magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, Emma Marrone announced she would be one of the contestants of the festival. On 24 December 2011, Eugenio Finardi also confirmed he would compete in the Big Artists section, performing the song "E tu lo chiami Dio". The complete list of the participants in the Big Artists section was announced on 15 January 2012, during the TV programme L'arena. Alongside Marrone and Finardi, the list included Dolcenera, Arisa, Samuele Bersani, Chiara Civello, Francesco Renga, Irene Fornaciari, Marlene Kuntz, Nina Zilli, Noemi, Matia Bazar, Pierdavide Carone with Lucio Dalla, and the duo composed of Gigi D'Alessio and Loredana Berté.

Immediately after the list's announcement, some fans claimed that Gigi D'Alessio and Loredana Berté had already released a small portion of their song through their official Facebook accounts, despite the contest rules, according to which the competing songs cannot be publicly performed or released before the show. On the same day, Alessandro Fabrizi, manager of Italian singer Daniele Magro, claimed that Chiara Civello's song was publicly performed by Magro, Civello herself, and by Daiana Tejera, co-writer of the song. However, on 2 February 2012, RAI released a press statement announcing that the two songs fulfilled the requirements for being considered "new songs", therefore Civello, D'Alessio and Berté were confirmed as participants in the show.

Big Artists section

On 14 February 2012, each act in the "Big Artists" section performed a previously unreleased song. According to the rules of the contest, a ranking should have been determined by a jury composed of 300 people, each one giving a minimum of 1 point and a maximum of 10 points to each song, and at the end of the night, the two artists receiving the lowest points should have been eliminated. However, during the second performance of the night, a technical problem in the voting system occurred. In the beginning, the jury was asked to continue voting through a paper-based system, but after the last performance, it was announced that the voting was nullified. Therefore, all the artists were admitted to the second night of the show.

Due to illness, co-presenter Ivana Mrzazova was unable to attend. She was substituted by Belen Rodriguez and Elisabetta Canalis, the co-presenters of the 2011 festival.

Singer and actor Adriano Celentano was a notable guest the first night. He caused much controversy when he attacked the Catholic Church and the Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana and newspaper Avvenire during his monologue.

Big Artists section

During the second night, that was held on 15 February 2012, each one of the 14 acts in the "Big Artists" section performed for a second time the chosen song. Each artists received a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 10 points from each member of a jury, composed of 300 people, and the four artists receiving the lowest points—Pierdavide Carone with Lucio Dalla, Marlene Kuntz, Irene Fornaciari and Gigi D'Alessio with Loredana Berté—were eliminated from the competition.

Newcomers section

Each artist in the Newcomers section performed for the first time the competing song on 15 February 2012. Four different matches were determined by votes received through Facebook during the previous weeks—the act receiving the most votes competed with the one receiving the fewest votes, and so on. The outcome of each match was determined by televoting only. In each match, the artist receiving the lowest votes was eliminated from the competition, while the remaining four acts were admitted to the fourth night.

International duets

During the third nigh, each participant in the "Big Artists" section, including the eliminated ones, performed a foreign-language version of a popular Italian song, together with an international guest. The artists and the songs were announced together with the participants in the festival. On 26 January 2012, it was announced that Nina Hagen, originally included in the list released on 15 January 2012 as the team partner of Loredana Berté and Gigi D'Alessio, was replaced by Macy Gray, performing the English version of Mia Martini's "Almeno tu nell'universo" instead of a German-language cover of "Piccolo uomo". At the end of the night, journalists in the press room voted the best performance. The competition, completely unrelated to the main competition, was won by Marlene Kuntz with Patti Smith, performing "The World Became the World", the English-language version of Premiata Forneria Marconi's "Impressioni di settembre".

Repechage round

The four songs eliminated during the second night were performed again, and televoting determined the two songs to be reinstated in the competition. Gigi D'Alessio with Loredana Berté and Pierdavide Carone with Lucio Dalla were admitted to the semi-final of the show, while Irene Fornaciari and Marlene Kuntz were eliminated from the competition.

Big Artists section

During the fourth night, each artist still in competition in the Big Artists section dueted with a guest, performing a new version of the competing song. At the end of the night, a ranking was compiled by combining televoting with the votes determined by the Sanremo Festival Orchestra, and the bottom two artists—Chiara Civello and Matia Bazar—were eliminated.

Marlene Kuntz and Irene Fornaciari, eliminated during the previous night, would have performed with Samuel Umberto Romano and Davide Van De Sfroos, respectively.

Newcomers section

The final of the newcomers section was held on 17 February 2012. The four artists still in competition performed their songs, and a ranking was obtained by combining televoting with the votes determined by the Sanremo Festival Orchestra. The ranking was later changed by two different "Golden shares". The first one, received by Alessandro Casillo, was determined by votes expressed through Facebook, while the second one, received by Erica Mou, was obtained considering votes expressed by Italian radio stations. In both the "golden share" mechanisms, the most voted artist gained one slot in the previous ranking. At the end of the night, Alessandro Casillo was announced the winner of the contest.

First round

The final of the Big Artists section was held on 18 February 2012. During the first round, the ten artists still in competition performed their entries, and a ranking was obtained by combining televoting with the votes determined by the Sanremo Festival Orchestra. Each journalist in the press room also voted one of the competing artists, and Noemi, who received the most votes, obtained the "golden share", gaining three slot in the previous ranking. Therefore, she replaced Gigi D'Alessio and Loredana Berté in the top three artists, and she was admitted to the second round of the final, together with Emma and Arisa.

Second round

During the second round, the top three artists performed for the last time their entries, and the final ranking was determined by televoting only. Nina Zilli was also announced as Italy's entrant for Eurovision Song Contest 2012 by Ell & Nikki despite not advancing towards this round. She was chosen by a specific jury among the participants.