# Sanremo Music Festival 2022

The Sanremo Music Festival 2022 (Italian: Festival di Sanremo 2022), officially the 72nd Italian Song Festival (72º Festival della canzone italiana), was the 72nd edition of the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, organised and broadcast by RAI. The show was held between 1 and 5 February 2022, and was presented for the third time in a row by Amadeus, who also served as the artistic director for the competition, alongside a number of co-hosts.
The festival was won by Mahmood and Blanco with "Brividi", earning them the right to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, held on home soil in Turin; Mahmood had previously won Sanremo in 2019 and had represented Italy in that year's Eurovision.

## Format

The 2022 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 third consecutive year.
The venue returned to its full capacity during the festival, after the presence of an audience was not allowed in the previous edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

### Presenters

In August 2021, RAI officially confirmed Amadeus as the presenter of the 72nd edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. Together with Amadeus, five co-hosts alternated during the five evenings: Ornella Muti, Lorena Cesarini, Drusilla Foer, Maria Chiara Giannetta and Sabrina Ferilli.
Besides these, Orietta Berti and Fabio Rovazzi hosted parts of the show (for sponsorship reasons) from the cruise ship Costa Toscana off the shore of Sanremo.

### Voting

Voting occurred through the combination of three methods:
* Public televoting, carried out via landline, mobile phone, the contest's official mobile app, and online voting.
* Jury of the press room, TV, radio and web.
* Demoscopic jury, composed by 1000 music fans who vote from their homes via an electronic voting system managed by Ipsos.
Their voting was articulated as follows:
* First two nights: half of the entrants were judged by three separate panels from the jury of the press room, TV, radio and web.
* Third night: all of the entrants were judged through a 50/50 split system by means of televoting and the demoscopic jury. The results were combined with those of the previous nights.
* Fourth night: the same systems used on the first three nights were put in place.
* Fifth night: the entrants were judged by televoting alone, to be added up to the results obtained that far; ultimately, a final voting round (again a sum of televoting and the two juries) was held among the top 3, which determined the winner.

## Selections
### Sanremo Giovani 2021

Unlike previous editions, the Newcomers' section was not included in the Festival, but a similar selection was held to decree the three 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 20 October 2021, the RAI commission for Sanremo Music Festival 2022 announced a list of 711 acts, but only 30 artists coming from all Italian regions – excluding Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta – and from abroad were selected in the first phase.
On 22 November 2021, the RAI commission announced the eight finalists.

#### Area Sanremo

After the auditions, a RAI commission – composed by Amadeus, Gianmarco Mazzi, Claudio Fasulo, Massimo Martelli and Leonardo de Amicis – identified 4 finalists for the competition among the 330 acts:

#### Final

On 15 December 2021, the twelve finalists performed their songs at Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, with the show Sanremo Giovani 2021 broadcast on Rai 1 and presented by Amadeus. The three winners of the night, i.e. Yuman, Tananai and Matteo Romano, participated in Sanremo 2022 with a new entry.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Place |
| 1 | Samia | "Fammi respirare" | N/A |
| 2 | Oli? | "Smalto e tinta" | N/A |
| 3 | Tananai | "Esagerata" | 2 |
| 4 | Vittoria | "California" | N/A |
| 5 | Matteo Romano | "Testa e croce" | 3 |
| 6 | Littamè | "Cazzo avete da guardare" | N/A |
| 7 | Yuman | "Mille notti" | 1 |
| 8 | Esseho | "Arianna" | N/A |
| 9 | Martina Beltrami | "Parlo di te" | N/A |
| 10 | Destro | "Agosto di piena estate" | N/A |
| 11 | Senza_Cri | "A me" | N/A |
| 12 | Bais | "Che fine mi fai" | N/A |

### Big Artists

The traditional Big Artists section of the contest was merged with the Newcomers' section, and saw the participation of 25 artists, 22 being selected among established artists as before and 3 qualifying from Sanremo Giovani. The former 22, selected from 343 submissions received, were revealed on 4 December 2021, and also attended the night of Sanremo Giovani on 15 December, where their competing songs' titles were also made known.

## Shows
### First night

The first twelve artists each performed their song.
First night: 1 February 2022 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Press jury ranking | Press jury ranking | Press jury ranking | Press jury ranking |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Panel 1 (press and TV) | Panel 2 (radio) | Panel 3 (web) | Total ranking |
| 1 | Achille Lauro feat. Harlem Gospel Choir | "Domenica" | 9 | 5 | 9 | 9 |
| 2 | Yuman | "Ora e qui" | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| 3 | Noemi | "Ti amo non lo so dire" | 8 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| 4 | Gianni Morandi | "Apri tutte le porte" | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | La Rappresentante di Lista | "Ciao ciao" | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | Michele Bravi | "Inverno dei fiori" | 6 | 10 | 6 | 7 |
| 7 | Massimo Ranieri | "Lettera di là dal mare" | 4 | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| 8 | Mahmood and Blanco | "Brividi" | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Ana Mena | "Duecentomila ore" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 10 | Rkomi | "Insuperabile" | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| 11 | Dargen D'Amico | "Dove si balla" | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 12 | Giusy Ferreri | "Miele" | 11 | 7 | 10 | 10 |

### Second night

The remaining thirteen artists each performed their song.
Second night: 2 February 2022 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Press jury ranking | Press jury ranking | Press jury ranking | Press jury ranking |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Panel 1 (press and TV) | Panel 2 (radio) | Panel 3 (web) | Total ranking |
| 1 | Sangiovanni | "Farfalle" | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| 2 | Giovanni Truppi | "Tuo padre, mia madre, Lucia" | 4 | 11 | 7 | 6 |
| 3 | Le Vibrazioni | "Tantissimo" | 12 | 9 | 11 | 12 |
| 4 | Emma | "Ogni volta è così" | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 | Matteo Romano | "Virale" | 9 | 6 | 10 | 8 |
| 6 | Iva Zanicchi | "Voglio amarti" | 10 | 12 | 9 | 10 |
| 7 | Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore | "Chimica" | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| 8 | Elisa | "O forse sei tu" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Fabrizio Moro | "Sei tu" | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 10 | Tananai | "Sesso occasionale" | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| 11 | Irama | "Ovunque sarai" | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| 12 | Aka 7even | "Perfetta così" | 11 | 9 | 12 | 11 |
| 13 | Highsnob and Hu | "Abbi cura di te" | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 |

### Third night

All of the twenty-five artists performed their songs once again.
Third night: 3 February 2022 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Provisional general ranking | Night rankings | Night rankings | Night rankings | Updated general ranking |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Provisional general ranking | Demoscopic jury | Televote | Total ranking | Updated general ranking |
| 1 | Giusy Ferreri | "Miele" | 19 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 21 |
| 2 | Highsnob and Hu | "Abbi cura di te" | 18 | 21 | 19 | 19 | 20 |
| 3 | Fabrizio Moro | "Sei tu" | 10 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 4 | Aka 7even | "Perfetta così" | 21 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 13 |
| 5 | Massimo Ranieri | "Lettera di là dal mare" | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
| 6 | Dargen D'Amico | "Dove si balla" | 4 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 10 |
| 7 | Irama | "Ovunque sarai" | 9 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| 8 | Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore | "Chimica" | 7 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 12 |
| 9 | Michele Bravi | "Inverno dei fiori" | 14 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 11 |
| 10 | Rkomi | "Insuperabile" | 15 | 22 | 13 | 15 | 16 |
| 11 | Mahmood and Blanco | "Brividi" | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | Gianni Morandi | "Apri tutte le porte" | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 13 | Tananai | "Sesso occasionale" | 24 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| 14 | Elisa | "O forse sei tu" | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 15 | La Rappresentante di Lista | "Ciao ciao" | 3 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 9 |
| 16 | Iva Zanicchi | "Voglio amarti" | 20 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 18 |
| 17 | Achille Lauro feat. Harlem Gospel Choir | "Domenica" | 16 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| 18 | Matteo Romano | "Virale" | 17 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 17 |
| 19 | Ana Mena | "Duecentomila ore" | 25 | 24 | 18 | 21 | 24 |
| 20 | Sangiovanni | "Farfalle" | 13 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 21 | Emma | "Ogni volta è così" | 6 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 6 |
| 22 | Yuman | "Ora e qui" | 23 | 23 | 19 | 22 | 23 |
| 23 | Le Vibrazioni | "Tantissimo" | 22 | 15 | 24 | 20 | 22 |
| 24 | Giovanni Truppi | "Tuo padre, mia madre, Lucia" | 11 | 23 | 21 | 24 | 19 |
| 25 | Noemi | "Ti amo non lo so dire" | 12 | 6 | 20 | 17 | 15 |

### Fourth night

The artists each performed a cover of a song from the '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s. They could either perform alone or duet with a guest performer.
Fourth night: 4 February 2022 :
| Draw | Artist | Guest artist | Song | Night rankings | Night rankings | Night rankings | Night rankings | Updated general ranking |
| Draw | Artist | Guest artist | Song | Press jury | Demoscopic jury | Televote | Total ranking | Updated general ranking |
| 1 | Noemi | None | "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" | 7 | 6 | 15 | 11 | 15 |
| 2 | Giovanni Truppi | Vinicio Capossela and Mauro Pagani | "Nella mia ora di libertà" | 11 | 23 | 11 | 15 | 18 |
| 3 | Yuman | Rita Marcotulli | "My Way" | 21 | 20 | 18 | 20 | 21 |
| 4 | Le Vibrazioni | Sophie and the Giants and Peppe Vessicchio | "Live and Let Die" | 14 | 15 | 22 | 18 | 20 |
| 5 | Sangiovanni | Fiorella Mannoia | "A muso duro" | 13 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | Emma | Francesca Michielin | "...Baby One More Time" | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | Gianni Morandi | Jovanotti | Gianni Morandi and Jovanotti medley | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Elisa | Elena D'Amario | "Flashdance... What a Feeling" | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Achille Lauro | Loredana Bertè | "Sei bellissima" | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 11 |
| 10 | Matteo Romano | Malika Ayane | "Your Song" | 7 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 12 |
| 11 | Irama | Gianluca Grignani | "La mia storia tra le dita" | 18 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 4 |
| 12 | Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore | None | "Nessuno mi può giudicare" | 19 | 16 | 21 | 19 | 16 |
| 13 | Iva Zanicchi | None | "Canzone" | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 17 |
| 14 | Ana Mena | Rocco Hunt | Medley | 24 | 19 | 17 | 21 | 24 |
| 15 | La Rappresentante di Lista | Cosmo, Margherita Vicario and Ginevra | "Be My Baby" | 3 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 7 |
| 16 | Massimo Ranieri | Nek | "Anna verrà" | 6 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 8 |
| 17 | Michele Bravi | None | "Io vorrei... non vorrei... ma se vuoi" | 17 | 21 | 9 | 14 | 10 |
| 18 | Mahmood and Blanco | None | "Il cielo in una stanza" | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 19 | Rkomi | Calibro 35 | Vasco '80s medley | 23 | 25 | 20 | 24 | 19 |
| 20 | Aka 7even | Arisa | "Cambiare" | 10 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 14 |
| 21 | Highsnob and Hu | Mr. Rain | "Mi sono innamorato di te" | 20 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 22 |
| 22 | Dargen D'Amico | None | "La bambola" | 14 | 18 | 19 | 17 | 13 |
| 23 | Giusy Ferreri | Andrea Fumagalli | "Io vivrò senza te" | 22 | 17 | 24 | 23 | 23 |
| 24 | Fabrizio Moro | None | "Uomini soli" | 16 | 9 | 14 | 13 | 9 |
| 25 | Tananai | Rosa Chemical | "A far l'amore comincia tu" | 25 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 25 |

### Fifth night

All of the artists performed their songs one last time, with the top three moving on to the final round of voting.
Fifth night: 5 February 2022 – first round :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote ranking | Final general ranking |
| 1 | Matteo Romano | "Virale" | 10 | 11 |
| 2 | Giusy Ferreri | "Miele" | 24 | 23 |
| 3 | Rkomi | "Insuperabile" | 15 | 17 |
| 4 | Iva Zanicchi | "Voglio amarti" | 18 | 18 |
| 5 | Aka 7even | "Perfetta così" | 13 | 13 |
| 6 | Massimo Ranieri | "Lettera di là dal mare" | 9 | 8 |
| 7 | Noemi | "Ti amo non lo so dire" | 16 | 15 |
| 8 | Fabrizio Moro | "Sei tu" | 12 | 12 |
| 9 | Dargen D'Amico | "Dove si balla" | 7 | 9 |
| 10 | Elisa | "O forse sei tu" | 4 | 3 |
| 11 | Irama | "Ovunque sarai" | 3 | 4 |
| 12 | Michele Bravi | "Inverno dei fiori" | 11 | 10 |
| 13 | La Rappresentante di Lista | "Ciao ciao" | 6 | 7 |
| 14 | Emma | "Ogni volta è così" | 8 | 6 |
| 15 | Mahmood and Blanco | "Brividi" | 1 | 1 |
| 16 | Highsnob and Hu | "Abbi cura di te" | 21 | 20 |
| 17 | Sangiovanni | "Farfalle" | 5 | 5 |
| 18 | Gianni Morandi | "Apri tutte le porte" | 2 | 2 |
| 19 | Ditonellapiaga and Donatella Rettore | "Chimica" | 17 | 16 |
| 20 | Yuman | "Ora e qui" | 22 | 21 |
| 21 | Achille Lauro feat. Harlem Gospel Choir | "Domenica" | 14 | 14 |
| 22 | Ana Mena | "Duecentomila ore" | 19 | 24 |
| 23 | Tananai | "Sesso occasionale" | 23 | 25 |
| 24 | Giovanni Truppi | "Tuo padre, mia madre, Lucia" | 20 | 19 |
| 25 | Le Vibrazioni | "Tantissimo" | 25 | 22 |
Fifth night: 5 February 2022 – second round (superfinal) :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Rankings | Rankings | Rankings | Rankings | Place |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Press jury | Demoscopic jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Elisa | "O forse sei tu" | 2 | 2 | 3 (21.95%) | 2 (26.33%) | 2 |
| 2 | Gianni Morandi | "Apri tutte le porte" | 3 | 3 | 2 (23.79%) | 3 (21.9%) | 3 |
| 3 | Mahmood and Blanco | "Brividi" | 1 | 1 | 1 (54.26%) | 1 (51.77%) | 1 |

## Controversies

On 31 January 2022, director of Rai 1 Stefano Coletta [it] publicly announced through a press conference that there would be no vaccine mandate for the Sanremo Music Festival 2022 singers as it would have breached the singers' right to privacy on their health status. This was highly criticized by the Italian public, resulting into a second declaration by Coletta, claiming that there was a "misunderstanding" and that the singers would also be required to show their proof of vaccination upon entrance at the festival.

## Special guests

The special guests of Sanremo Music Festival 2022 included:
* Singers / musicians: Arisa, Banda musicale della Guardia di Finanza [it], Cesare Cremonini, Colapesce & Dimartino, Ermal Meta, Gaia, Jovanotti, Laura Pausini, Malika Ayane, Måneskin, Marco Mengoni, Massimo Alberti, Meduza & Hozier, Mika, Orietta Berti, Pinguini Tattici Nucleari
* Actors / comedians / directors / models: Anna Valle, Checco Zalone, Claudio Gioè, Filippo Scotti, Gaia Girace, Lino Guanciale, Margherita Mazzucco, Maurizio Lastrico [it], Nino Frassica, Raoul Bova, Rosario Fiorello
* Sports people: Elisa Balsamo, Matteo Berrettini, National rhythmic gymnastics team [it] (Agnese Duranti, Alessia Maurelli, Daniela Mogurean, Martina Centofanti, Martina Santandrea)
* Other persons or notable figures: Alessandro Cattelan, cast of Ballo, ballo, Fabio Rovazzi, Mara Venier, Martina Pigliapoco, Roberto Saviano, Sergio Japino [it]

## 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.
Broadcasters of the Sanremo Music Festival 2023 :
| Country | Show(s) | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
| Italy | All shows | Rai 1 | No commentary |
| Italy | All shows | Rai Radio 2 | Ema Stokholma [it] and Gino Castaldo [it] |
| Italy | All shows | RaiPlay | No commentary |
| Italy | All shows | Rai Italia (outside Italy) | No commentary |
| Albania | All shows | RTSH Muzikë | No commentary |
| Albania | Final | RTSH 1 | Andri Xhahu and Blerina Shehu |
| Montenegro | All shows | TVCG 2 | No commentary |
| Spain | Final | RTVE Play | Giuseppe di Bella and Fernando Macías |
| United Kingdom | Final | GlitterBeam Radio | Eugenio Ceriello, Michael Walton-Dalzell and guests |

### Ratings

| Live show | Timeslot (UTC+1) | Date | 1st time (9:00 pm – 0:00 am) | 1st time (9:00 pm – 0:00 am) | 2nd time (0:00 am – 1:30 am) | 2nd time (0:00 am – 1:30 am) | Overall audience | Overall audience | Ref(s) |
| Live show | Timeslot (UTC+1) | Date | Viewers | Share (%) | Viewers | Share (%) | Viewers | Share (%) | Ref(s) |
| 1st | 9:00 pm | 1 February | 13,805,000 | 54.5 | 6,412,000 | 55.4 | 10,911,000 | 54.7 | |
| 2nd | 9:00 pm | 2 February | 13,572,000 | 55.3 | 7,307,000 | 57.4 | 11,320,000 | 55.8 | |
| 3rd | 9:00 pm | 3 February | 12,849,000 | 53.2 | 5,455,000 | 56.8 | 9,360,000 | 54.1 | |
| 4th | 9:00 pm | 4 February | 14,731,000 | 59.2 | 7,543,000 | 63.5 | 11,378,000 | 60.5 | |
| 5th | 9:00 pm | 5 February | 15,660,000 | 62.1 | 10,153,000 | 72.1 | 13,380,000 | 64.9 | |