Italy: Sanremo kicks off tonight!

The legendary Italian music festival starts today with the first show being held from the city of Sanremo!

A total of twenty artists (Campioni Category) will be competing at this year’s edition to get the trophy and consequently have the chance to represent Italy at Eurovision 2015. However, if the winner declines the invitation, the Italian hopeful for Vienna would be selected among the other candidates.

These are the first 10 artists to take the stage at today’s show:

1. Chiara – Straordinario
2. Gianluca Grignani – Sogni infranti
3. Alex Britti – Un attimo importante
4. Malika Ayane – Adesso e qui (Nostalgico presente)
5. Dear Jack – Il mondo esplode tranne noi
6. Lara Fabian – Voce
7. Nek – Fatti avanti amore
8. Grazia Di Michele e Platinette – Io sono una finestra
9. Annalisa – Una finestra tra le stelle
10. Nesli – Buona fortuna amore

The voting will be open from tonight until Friday and a mix of public televote, professional jury and audience will decide the four acts which won’t make it to the Saturday’s grand final.

During today’s show, some well-known singers will be performing: Tiziano Ferro, Al Bano & Romina Power, Imagine Dragons and Alessandro Siani.

The show will be hosted by Carlo Conti, Arisa, Emma (ESC 2014) and Rocío Muñoz and it will be broadcasted live on RAI 1 and RAI Radio at 20.30. You can watch the show by clicking here.