After four hours an forty minutes, the first night of the Festival di Sanremo finished, ahead of schedule. All twenty-nine entries performed for the first time, revealing their entry to the world, after which a provisional jury ranking was created. Only the top five were revealed.
Five songs – obvious choices and surprises
The top 5 songs were revealed in a randomized order, without any indication on the actual rankings. In the order of reveal, they were:
- Brunori Sas – “L’albero delle noci“
- Giorgia – “La cura per me“
- Lucio Corsi – “Volevo essere un duro“
- Simone Cristicchi – “Quando sarai piccolà“
- Achille Lauro – “Incoscienti giovani”
These were only the votes of the “TV, Press and Web” jury, which was the only one voting tonight.
Of these five, three were, with some degree of subjectivity, not very surprising. Giorgia has been the favourite in the odds to win the Festival, while Brunori Sas and Simone Cristicchi brought two of the most acclaimed texts, lyrics-wise, from this edition. “L’albero delle noci” (“The Hazel Tree”) is a song about the challenges of becoming a father, a parent, while “Quando sarai piccolà” (“When you become little”) talks of the challenges of seeing one’s parents grow old and weaker, and becoming dependent, like children again. Cristicchi received a standing ovation, with some tears among the public of the Ariston theatre.’
Lucio Corsi was a surprising choice, which was even called out by Carlo Conti’s co-host Gerry Zcotti. The glam-rock artist, wearing white make-up all over his face, sang a very good ballad but was not particularly thought of being incredibly jury-friendly either.
Achille Lauro, who had taken part in previous editions of Sanremo with very provocative stagings, and who also represented San Marino at Eurovision in 2022, departed from this style to sing a strong, heartfelt ballad, wearing a tuxedo and a tailcoat. This was apparently rewarded by the jury.
Although this seemed surprising after watching all the songs, a ranking from journalists who heard all the songs before Sanremo week came up with the exact same top 5, having placed Sas first, then Christicchi, Giorgia, Corsi, and finally Lauro in fifth.
Did you expect this top 5? What was your top 5? And now that all the songs have been revealed, who do you think will win Sanremo 2025? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra!
