Sanremo Music Festival 2022
The Sanremo Music Festival 2022 () was the 72nd 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 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. It was won by Mahmood and Blanco with "". 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: Their voting was articulated as follows: 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 . 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 "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. 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 . The former 22, selected from 343 submissions received, were revealed on 4 December 2021, and also attended the night of on 15 December, where their competing songs' titles were also made known. Shows. First night. The first twelve artists each performed their song. Second night. The remaining thirteen artists  each performed their song. Third night. All of the artists performed their songs. Fourth night. The artists each performed a cover of a song of their choice, alone or duetting with a guest performer. Fifth night. All of the artists performed their songs again, with the top three moving on to the final round of voting. Controversies. On 31 January 2022, director of Rai 1 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 Stefano 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 music festival. Special guests. The special guests of Sanremo Music Festival 2022 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.