# Sanremo Music Festival 1997

The Sanremo Music Festival 1997 (Italian: Festival di Sanremo 1997), officially the 47th Italian Song Festival (47º Festival della canzone italiana), was the 47th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo in late February 1997 and broadcast by Rai 1. The show was presented by Mike Bongiorno (at his eleventh and final hosting of the festival), supported by Piero Chiambretti and Valeria Marini. Composers Pino Donaggio and Giorgio Moroder and lyricist Carla Vistarini served as the artistic directors.
In this edition, a "Quality Jury", responsible for rewarding the best music, best lyrics and best arrangement, was introduced. The 1997 jury was headed by Luciano Pavarotti and consisted of Bill Conti, Gino Paoli, Nicola Piovani and Mario Missiroli (who replaced Gabriele Salvatores, who suffered a flu). The winner of the Big Artists section was the pop duo Jalisse with the song "Fiumi di parole", while Patty Pravo won the Critics Award with the song "...E dimmi che non vuoi morire". Paola e Chiara won the Newcomers section with the song "Amici come prima". For the newcomers, only the winner was revealed; for the big artists section, initially only the first three positions were announced, while the complete final ranking was disclosed only several weeks after the end of the festival.
As a result of their victory, Jalisse were eligible to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, in which they eventually ranked fourth. It was a surprise return for Italy after having sat out the contest since 1993, as well as the first Italian entry chosen through Sanremo since 1972 (while the last time Sanremo had been used to select the entrant was in 1989). The country would once again withdraw following the 1997 contest and would not return until 2011.
Starting from the second night, the journalist Bruno Vespa hosted DopoFestival, a talk show about the Festival with the participation of singers, politicians and journalists.

## Participants and results
### Big Artists

Big Artists section :
| Song, performing artist(s) and writer(s) | Rank | Notes |
| "Fiumi di parole" - Jalisse (Carmen Di Domenico, Alessandra Drusian, Fabio Ricci) | 1 | Winner of the "Big Artists" section |
| "Storie" - Anna Oxa (Depsa, Marco Marati, Sally Monetti, Angelo Valsiglio, Fio Zanotti) | 2 | |
| "Sei tu" - Syria (Claudio Mattone, Alberto Salerno) | 3 | Award for Best Arrangement |
| "A casa di Luca" - Silvia Salemi (Giampiero Artegiani, Paolo Carta, Silvia Salemi) | 4 | |
| "Non ami che te" - Fausto Leali (Roberto Pacco) | 5 | |
| "Padre Nostro" - O.R.O. (Enrico Ruggeri, Mario Manzani) | 6 | |
| "Laura non c'è" - Nek (Antonello de Sanctis, Nek, Massimo Varini) | 7 | |
| "...E dimmi che non vuoi morire" - Patty Pravo (Vasco Rossi, Gaetano Curreri, Roberto Ferri) | 8 | Mia Martini Critics Award Volare Award for Best Music |
| "Ti parlerò d'amore" - Massimo Ranieri (Gianni Togni, Paolo Carta, Guido Morra) | 9 | |
| "Nel respiro più grande" - Tosca (Susanna Tamaro, Rosalino Cellamare) | 10 | |
| "Senza tù" - Francesco Baccini (Giorgio Conte, Francesco Baccini) | 11 | |
| "È andata così" - Dirotta su Cuba (Cheope, Stefano De Donato, Pierpaolo D'Emilio, Rossano Gentili, Simona Bencini, Alberto Ravasini) | 12 | |
| "Dentro me" - Marina Rei (Marina Rei, Frank Minoia) | 13 | |
| "Verso il sole" - Albano Carrisi (Valentina Cidda, Albano Carrisi) | 14 | |
| "Quello che sento" - Cattivi Pensieri (Cinzia Farolfi, Davide De Marinis, Davide Bosio, Niccolò Fragile) | 15 | |
| "Papa nero" - Pitura Freska (Marco Furio Forieri, Sir Oliver Skardy, Valerio Silvestri, Cristiano Verardo, Francesco Duse) | 16 | |
| "Faccia pulita" - Toto Cutugno (Toto Cutugno) | 17 | |
| "Vero amore" - Ragazzi Italiani (Antonio Galbiati, Carlo Palmas, Maria Grazia Fontana) | 18 | |
| "Alianti liberi" - New Trolls ft. Greta (Elio Palumbo, Massimiliano Cattapani, Vittorio De Scalzi, Nico Di Palo, Gabriella Labate) | 19 | |
| "Luna" - Loredana Bertè (Loredana Bertè, Maurizio Piccoli) | 20 | |
| "Attimi" - Alessandro Mara (Alessandro Mara) | Eliminated | |
| "Come ti tradirei" - Camilla (Fabrizio Casalino, Michele Violante) | Eliminated | |
| "Confusa e felice" - Carmen Consoli (Carmen Consoli) | Eliminated | |
| "E penserò al tuo viso..." - Alessandro Errico (Alessandro Errico, Andrea Campisano, Roberto Gori) | Eliminated | |
| "Fragolina" - Leandro Barsotti (Leandro Barsotti) | Eliminated | |
| "Il capo dei giocattoli" - Maurizio Lauzi (Maurizio Lauzi) | Eliminated | Volare Award for Best Lyrics |
| "Quando viene sera" - Olivia (Stefano Borzi, Aurozelli) | Eliminated | |
| "Uguali uguali" - Adriana Ruocco (Franco Migliacci, Assolo, Migliacci, Roberto Zappalorto) | Eliminated | |
| "Voglio un Dio" - Petra Magoni (Rodolfo Banchelli) | Eliminated | |

### Newcomers

Newcomers section :
| Song, performing artist(s) and writer(s) | Notes |
| "Amici come prima" - Paola e Chiara (Paola & Chiara Iezzi) | Winner of the Newcomers' section |
| "Capelli" - Niccolò Fabi (Cecilia Dazzi, Niccolò Fabi, Riccardo Sinigallia) | Winner of the Mia Martini Critics Award - Newcomers' section |
| "Cambiare" - Alex Baroni (Alex Baroni, Massimo Calabrese, Marco Rinalduzzi e Marco D'Angelo) | Best Vocal Performance Award (shared) |
| "Io senza te" - Domino (Domino, Piero Aloise, Luigi Lopez) | Best Vocal Performance Award (shared) |
| "E la notte se ne va" - MikiMix (Matteo Bonsanto, Ugo Bolzoni, Giovanni Bianchi, Michele Salvemini) | |
| "E ti sento" - Tony Blescia (Tony Blescia, Gatto Panceri, Bruno Santori, Tony Blescia) | |
| "Innamorarsi è" - Vito Marletta (Gianfranco Caliendo, Franco Marino, Dora Vuolo-Famiglietti, Vito Marletta) | |
| "No stop" - Randy Roberts (Claudio Mattone) | |
| "Non si può dire mai... mai! " - Paolo Carta (Gatto Panceri, Paolo Carta, Nicola Costa) | |
| "Ora che ci sei" - Massimo Caggiano (Maurizio Morante, Massimo Caggiano, Luciano Aita e Gianni Guarracino) | |
| "Secolo crudele" - D.O.C. Rock (Giampiero Artegiani, Fernanda Tartaglia, Puccio Chiariello) | |
| "Sonia dice di no" - Luca Lombardi (Davide Pinelli, Luca Lombardi) | |

## Guests

Guests :
| Artist(s) | Song(s) |
| Mark Owen | "Clementine" |
| Jamiroquai | "Cosmic Girl" |
| Spice Girls | "Wannabe" "Say You'll Be There" |
| Lionel Richie | "Amo, T'amo, Ti amo" |
| David Bowie | "Little Wonder" |
| Bee Gees | "Alone" |
| Fugees | "No Woman, No Cry" |
| Warren G | "I Shot the Sheriff" |
| Al Jarreau | "Medley" |
| Kula Shaker | "Tattva" |
| Natalie Cole | "Stardust" |
| Blackwood | "Ride on the Rhythm" |
| Mireille Mathieu | "La Vie en rose" |