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Sanremo 2020: Ten things to know about Italy’s answer to Eurovision

The 2020 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival kicked off on Tuesday, and it's a hot topic in Italy. Here's our primer on what might just be the country's favourite music festival.

Published: 5 February 2020 09:04 CET

Sanremo 2020: Ten things to know about Italy's answer to Eurovision

People wait in front of the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo, the music festival's main venue. Photo: AFP

Sanremo is a key date in Italy's cultural calendar. In 2020, it runs from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th February.

Whether it's entertaining, over-rated, tacky, or exciting really depends on who you ask, but here are some facts about the festival that can't be disputed, so you have some trivia to impress all your Italian friends with.

It was created to boost Italy's postwar economy

In the late 1940s, Italy's economy was in tatters, and after the fall of Benito Mussolini's fascist regime, the country was searching for a new cultural identity too. In collaboration with broadcaster Rai, the bosses of Sanremo's casino decided an annual song festival would help achieve both aims, and so the festival – then called Festival della Canzone Italiana (Italian Song Festival) was born. The first edition was held in 1951, in the final weekend of January.

Location, location, location

The festival is held in the Ligurian seaside town of Sanremo. Since the town casino's manager was one of the original organizers, that was the initial location, but in 1977 the show moved to the Theatre Ariston as the casino was undergoing renovations. After that, the theatre hosted the festival every year – except for 1990, when Sanremo's flower market had the honour.

Italian actor-director Roberto Benigni arrives at the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo on horseback. Photo: AFP

It was the inspiration for Eurovision…

Yep, Europe's annual festival of all things cheesy, glitzy and Europop took its inspiration from Sanremo. The Eurovision Song Contest kicked off five years after the first Sanremo Festival, and the relationship works both ways – the winning acts at Sanremo usually go on to represent Italy at Eurovision that year. However, they sometimes turn their noses up at the Europe-wide competition, as was the case in 2016 when the runner-up at the festival was asked to step in as the Eurovision entry.

…And it's responsible for 'Volare'

Over the years, the Sanremo Festival has catapulted plenty of singers to international fame, including Andrea Bocelli and Laura Pausini. But perhaps the most famous product of the festival is 'Volare', the 1958 winner and probably the best known Italian song in the globe. But despite its notoriety, few people actually know that the song's real name is actually 'Nel blu dipinto di blu'.

Big artists and newcomers

Those are the two categories in the competition, with established artists and unsigned names, though in the past there have been two extra categories – Groups and Classics. This year there will be 20 artists competing for the big prize, alongside eight newbies. However, for the first 20 years it was held, each song was sung by two different artists, to emphasize that this was a song competition rather than a prize for the best performer.

The song titles from newcomers this year include two titles all Italian-learners will be familiar with: 'Il congiuntivo' (the subjunctive) and 'Come stai' (how are you).

The rules

These days, only one artist sings each song, but it must be a totally original entry which has never been performed in public before. The winner is decided by a jury and online public vote, meaning it has evolved into more of a reality TV show than a festival.

Big names

The festival is a major event, with Italian and international celebrities gracing the red carpet and stage alongside the competitors. Last year, Robbie Williams, Biffy Clyro, Clean Bandit and Ricky Martin all performed at the opening ceremony, and in the past, the festival has hosted Queen, The Village People, Avril Lavigne and Cher. But perhaps the most controversial guest was burlesque dancer Dita von Teese in 2010, when she stripped on stage until her modesty was protected only by $2.5 million worth of diamonds.

High security

The event sees celebrities, Italians and tourists flock to the Ligurian coast, so security is always on high alert. For the past two years, cement blocks have been in place to prevent vehicle access on the seafront area, there will be a huge police presence and surveillance drones in operation.

The flowers

Sanremo is known locally as the 'city of flowers', and it holds a spectacular flower festival at around the same time as the musical extravaganza, usually a little later at the start of March. So while you're watching the show on TV, make sure to look out for the magnificent floral displays.

A version of this article was first published in February 2017.

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Ice to AC: Nine of the most common American misconceptions about Italy

It’s no secret that Americans love to visit Italy; the Washington Post predicted in December that the country would be Americans’ top foreign tourist destination for 2023, and the volume of US visitors who’ve arrived in Italy since then appears to have borne this out.

But while many Americans have a deep knowledge of – and love for – Italian culture, there are some surprisingly enduring myths about Italy that can be found in the USA specifically.

Some come close to the truth, while others fall wide of the mark.

There is no ice in Europe/Italian restaurants charge for ice

Fiction – Americans love ice, beverages are routinely served with it and refrigerators in the US often have some type of ice dispenser attached to the door.

But in Italy, ice is simply less prioritised. While ice in your drink will usually not cost you extra, you might need to specifically request it. Soft drinks in Italy are usually served without ice, so if you want your beverage iced, you need to request the drink con ghiaccio – with ice.

A classic Italian spritz should always come with ice. Photo by Tomasz Rynkiewicz on Unsplash

Italian homes don’t have dryers

Fact (mostly) – Tumble dryers do exist in Italy, but they’re rare. A survey published by Italy’s national statistics office (Istat) in 2014 found that just 3.3 percent of Italian households had one, whereas 96.2 percent had a washing machine and 39.3 percent a dishwasher.

Those washing lines strung with laundry hanging above the heads of passers by aren’t there just to create a quaint backdrop for photos – people make wide use of the abundant sun to air dry their clothes and sheets.

That does not mean that Italians in cities don’t occasionally use clothes dryers though if they’re in a rush; some might take items to a nearby laundromat.

McDonald’s is healthier in Italy

Fact (sort of) – McDonald’s uses different ingredients based on the country, and the Big Mac in Italy is (slightly) healthier than the one sold in the United States. It is slightly less calorific, with 509 kCal in contrast to the American Big Mac’s 540 kCal per 100g.

The Italian Big Mac also has less salt and fat, but it does not compare to the world’s healthiest Big Mac (found in Israel).

McDonald’s in Italy also uses EU-sourced ingredients, and the EU restricts the usage of additives and growth hormones. For example Azodicarbonamide which is used to bleach flour, is banned in the EU, but not in the United States, where McDonald’s was still using it as of 2016.

It is true, however, that you can buy beer in McDonald’s in Italy.

McDonald’s burgers are marginally healthy in Italy compared to the US. Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Italians drive small cars

Fiction (increasingly) – Think of Italian cars, and you might picture a classic Fiat 500 puttering around picturesque cobbled streets – but that’s all changing.

2021 was a historic year for the Italian automotive industry: the sale of SUVs surpassed those of medium-sized sedans for the first time, claiming 48 percent of the market share compared to the sedan’s 45 percent.

That may not match the US, where SUVs and pick-up trucks currently account for around 73 percent of vehicles sold, but it’s a huge increase from 2012, when SUVs made up just 17 percent of vehicle sales in Italy.

There are no free public toilets

Fact (mostly) – You will occasionally find an Italian town or city that offers some free public toilets. For the most part though, you’ll have to pay, including in train stations – and even paid public toilets are few and fair between.

Instead, you’re better off heading to one of the many caffe-bars found all over the country and paying for a euro for a bottle of water or a coffee so you can use their facilities – if you ask nicely, you might even be allowed to go for free.

Metro stations, supermarkets and grocery stores tend to not have any toilets at all, and neither will most clothing stores. One place you will find plenty of free public bathrooms, though, is a motorway service station.

Something that strikes many visitors to Italy as odd is the lack of seats on public toilets. Exactly why this is the case is debated, but there’s a general consensus that the phenomenon has rapidly accelerated in the past couple of decades.

A street sign at an antiques fair in Turin. Free toilets in Italy are few and far between. Photo by rashid khreiss on Unsplash

Italy doesn’t have air conditioning

Fact (sort of) – There’s not no air conditioning in Italy – in fact data from Italy’s national statistics office showed that one in two Italian households had AC in 2021.

It’s far less popular than in the US, though, where 90 percent of households have air conditioning. There’s still not much of a culture of AC in Italy, where many believe it will give you a colpo d’aria leading to at best a sore neck and at worst pneumonia – so even households that have a unit tend to use it sparingly.

If your hotel or Airbnb doesn’t specifically mention AC, you can assume it doesn’t have it.

Coca-Cola tastes different in Italy

Fact – While Coke is available almost everywhere in the world, the actual ingredients in Coca-Cola are different in some countries, which could lead some Coke connoisseurs to notice a difference in taste between the products in the US and those in the EU.

The biggest difference is the regular Coke – in the US this uses high fructose corn syrup while in Europe cane sugar is used to sweeten the product, resulting in a significant difference in taste.

You’re much more likely in Italy to come across Coca Zero, the zero-sugar version of Coca-Cola, than Coca-Coca Light, the European version of Diet Coke, which has always been hard to find and which some online sources say Italy stopped distributing altogether in 2022.

Coke in the US: different to its European counterparts. Photo by Cody Engel on Unsplash

You don’t need to tip

Fact – It’s not necessary to tip after a restaurant meal in Italy. However, this is a matter of personal choice and you are free to do so (tipping certainly won’t cause upset).

Diners do often leave some change after a particularly enjoyable meal. In terms of how much to give, some people round up a bill to include a tip, while others give what spare change they have.

Some people may also opt to tip other professionals as well, such as taxi drivers and cleaners, but again – this is optional and typically not a large quantity. In some apartment buildings, residents may give a Christmas card with money inside to the portiere (doorman) as a kind of annual tip.

All cars are stick shift

Mostly fact – In the United States, stick shift vehicles are becoming a thing of the past, but in Italy they are still very much being bought and driven.

As of 2018, around 20 percent of new cars sold in Italy were automatic – which is much higher than the less-than-one percent sold in the 1980s, but still a lot less than the US’s figure of 96 percent.

That said, around 70 percent of SUVs sold in Italy use automatic transition, so with the popularity of these larger vehicles on the rise, you can expect to see more automatics on Italian roads in the future.

What do you think? Have you noticed any other common beliefs or misconceptions about Italy in the US, or elsewhere? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

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