Italian song contest and awards ceremony
The Sanremo Music Festival 2023 (), officially the 73rd Italian Song Festival (), was the 73rd edition of the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held in the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo, organised and broadcast by RAI. The show was held between 7 and 11 February 2023, and was presented for the fourth time in a row by Amadeus, who also served as the artistic director for the competition, with Gianni Morandi co-hosting.
The festival was won by Marco Mengoni with "", earning him the right to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023; Mengoni had previously won Sanremo in 2013 and had represented Italy in that year's Eurovision.
Format.
The 2023 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival took place at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, organized by the Italian public broadcaster RAI. The artistic director and the presenter for the competition was Amadeus, for the fourth consecutive year.
Presenters.
On 24 March 2022, one month after the final of the 2022 edition, RAI officially confirmed Amadeus as the presenter of the 73rd edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. Together with Amadeus, Gianni Morandi served as co-host in all five nights of the festival. Alongside Amadeus and Morandi, four co-hosts alternated during the five evenings: Chiara Ferragni (first night and final), Francesca Fagnani (second night), Paola Egonu (third night) and Chiara Francini (fourth night).
Voting.
Voting occurred through the combination of three methods:
Their voting was articulated as follows:
Selections.
"Sanremo Giovani 2022".
For the second time in a row, the Newcomers' section will not be included in the Festival, but a similar selection will be held to decree the six places reserved in the Big Artist section. The artists competing in the new format were selected through two separate contests: Standard section and "Area Sanremo".
Standard selection.
On 26 October 2022, the RAI commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2022 announced a list of 714 acts, but only 43 artists coming from all Italian regions – excluding Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta – and from abroad were selected in the first phase.
On 5 November 2022, the RAI commission announced the eight finalists.
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Area Sanremo.
After the auditions, a RAI commission – composed by Amadeus, Federica Lentini, Massimo Martelli and Leonardo de Amicis – identified 4 finalists for the competition among the 549 acts:
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Final.
On 16 December 2022, the twelve finalists performed their songs on "Sanremo Giovani" "2022", broadcast on Rai 1 and presented by Amadeus. Gianmaria, Will, Olly, Colla Zio, Shari and Sethu will participate in Sanremo 2023 with a new entry.
 ;templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" / ;  Enters Sanremo 2023
Big Artists.
For the second year in a row, the traditional Big Artists section of the contest was merged with the Newcomers' section, and saw the participation of 28 artists, 22 being selected among established artists and 6 qualifying from . The former 22, selected from over 300 submissions received, were revealed on 4 December 2022, and also attended the night of on 16 December, where their competing songs' titles were also made known.
Shows.
First night.
The first fourteen competing artists each performed their song.
Second night.
The remaining fourteen artists each performed their song.
Third night.
All of the twenty-eight artists performed their songs once again.
Fourth night.
The artists each performed a cover of a song from the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, or '00s, duetting with a guest performer.
Fifth night – Final.
All of the artists performed their songs one final time, with the top five reprising their performances before moving on to the final round of voting.
 ;templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" / ;  Advanced to superfinals
Special guests.
The special guests of Sanremo Music Festival 2023 included:
Broadcast and ratings.
Local broadcast.
Rai 1 and Rai Radio 2 brought the official broadcasts of the festival in Italy. The five evenings were also streamed online via the broadcaster's official website RaiPlay, which made it available in all member countries of the European Broadcasting Union, since the festival is broadcast on the Eurovision network.
References.
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