Sanremo 2025: Extravagance marks first night of Italian song contest

The first night of Italy’s famous Sanremo Musical Festival was marked by who was on stage as much as who was off it.

Pope Francis set the tone with a message that music “is beauty and an instrument of peace”, a theme followed up by Jovanotti’s show and the performance of Israel’s Noa and the Palestinian artist Mira Awad singing ‘Imagine’ together.

Viewing data suggests some 12.6 million people watched the first evening of the 75th edition of the festival and the fourth of artistic director Carlo Conti.

Perhaps surprisingly, the show finished at 1.20 a.m., exactly fifteen minutes earlier than the setlist provided but the music was the undisputed star of the night, during which all 29 artists in the competition performed.

The five singers most popular with the press

Brunori Sas, Giorgia, Lucio Corsi, Simone Cristicchi and Achille Lauro. These were, in no particular order, the top five artists of the first night of competition. The result of the vote was cast by press, TV and web journalists and announced by Carlo Conti along with co-hosts Gerry Scotti and Antonella Clerici.

As rules require, the positions in the provisional ranking have not been announced.

Expectations are high for the second evening where Måneskin frontman Damiano David will perform, along with the cast of ‘Follemente’, the new comedy by Paolo Genovese. On Wednesday, around half the singers will take to the stage to perform (after Emis Killa’s withdrawal) while the others will do so on Thursday evening.

Sanremo 2025: Tributes and Jovanotti’s party

There was a moving homage to Fabrizio Frizzi and a performance by Jovanotti who, after a year and a half, delighted thousands dancing and singing on the streets of Sanremo. Dozens of drummers accompanied his rendition of ‘L’ombelico del mondo’.

As in 2016, Ezio Bosso’s voice echoed across the city along with the notes of ‘Following a bird’ as he said: “Always remember: music, like life, can only be done in one way, together”.

He also gave thanks to Carlo Conti, Baglioni, Amadeus and paid special tribute to Mike Bongiorno and Pippo Baudo, “the father of the Festival as we know it now”.

There was additional entertainment when Italian flamboyant athlete Gianmarco Tamberi announced he will continue to compete until Los Angeles 2028. Despite Carlo Conti’s rejection of monologues, the Olympic champion high jumper, opted to read a text together with Jovanotti before revealing that he does not want to retire.