Francesco Gabbani to Kyiv after winning Sanremo

After five nights of the Festival di Sanremo, Italy have chosen Francesco Gabbani as the winner of the 67th edition. In the superfinal, Gabbani beat Fiorella Mannoia and Ermal Meta. The winning song is called Occidentali’s Karma. Soon after the show ended, speculations started. Did Gabbani say yes or no to the Eurovision Song Contest?

The decision

During the show, RAI already announced that the winner of the Festival di Sanremo would be asked to go to Eurovision. However, it went silent after that. During the press conference after the show, journalists simply asked him if he would indeed go to Eurovision. Gabbani, unsure of being allowed to answer, then gave the final call: Yes, he would indeed be going to Eurovision. RAI soon confirmed that he will sing Occidentali’s Karma in Ukraine:

🎤🎉Francesco Gabbani con «Occidentali's Karma» rappresenterà l'Italia all'Eurovision Song Contest 2017! https://t.co/nIzh1W30X0

— Eurovision Rai (@EurovisionRai) February 12, 2017

The results

The final was made up of sixteen acts, of which three progressed to a superfinal. Those three were Fiorella Mannoia, Ermal Meta and obviously Francesco Gabbani. The full classification was as follows:

1. Francesco Gabbani – Occidentali’s Karma
2. Fiorella Mannoia – Che Sia Benedetta
3. Ermal Meta – Vietato Morire
4. Michele Bravi – Il Diario Degli Errori
5. Paola Turci – Fatti Bella Per Te
6. Sergio Sylvestre – Con Te
7. Fabrizio Moro – Portami Via
8. Elodie – Tutta Colpa Mia
9. Bianca Atzei – Oro Esisti Solo Tu
10. Samuel – Vedrai
11. Michele Zarrillo – Mani Nelle Mani
12. Lodovico Comello – Il Cielo Non Mi Basta
13. Marco Masini – Spostato Di Un Secondo
14. Chiara – Nessun Posto È Casa Mia
15. Alessio Bernabei – Nel Mezzo Di Un Applauso
16. Clementino – Ragazzi Fuori

Francesco Gabbani

Francesco Gabbani is relatively new to the Italian music scene. He won last year’s Giovani Category in Sanremo with his song Amen. His career took off after that, so the 34 year old got a chance in the Big Category of Sanremo this year. He started off as an outsider, but slowly moved up the board with bookmakers with his song Occidentali’s Karma.

Since coming back

Since coming back to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011, Italy have been using Sanremo as their selection method in all years, except 2014. Their best result was scored by Raphael Gualazzi in 2011, who came second with Madness Of Love. Il Volo’s Grande Amore managed to win the televote in 2015. Last year, winners Stadio refused to go to the Eurovision Song Contest, so RAI asked Francesca Michielin, the runner-up to take up the ticket for Stockholm.

Big Five

As a member of the Big Five, Italy will not have to take part in one of the two semifinals. They will however vote in the first semifinal, taking place on 9th May. Last year, EBU showed one minute rehearsal clips of all automatic qualifiers during the semifinal they voted in. If that is the case again, we’ll see Francesco Gabbani on 9th May. And who knows, he might bring his dancing gorilla…