1 like = 1 random fact about Sanremo

The contest was born in 1951 to promote the town of Sanremo in the winter season (mainly in February)

Toto Cutugno (Winner of ESC 1990) holds a record for having classified 2nd six times, of which four times were in a row

Francesco Gabbani (ESC 2017) is the first artist to have won the Big category one year after winning the New Proposals section

Mia Martini (ESC 1977 and 1992) was the sister of Loredana Bertè (whose most recent participation is from 2019)

Nilla Pizzi was the first ever artist to win Festival Di Sanremo in 1951, reaching the first place even in 1952

Tonina Toninelli (ESC 1956) didn't know she took part in Eurovision after years later. She thought it was just a random concert of her international tour

Morgan (yeah, the one who took part with Bugo at Sanremo 2020) was disqualified from Sanremo 2010 after admitting to do drugs

The last all-female top 3 was in 2012, with Emma (ESC 2014) winning and Arisa (Sanremo 2014 winner) and Noemi completing the top 3

Mahmood wouldn't have won Sanremo 2019 with a vote based solely on the Televote
(Thank God juries exist)

Francesca Michielin found herself competing in Sanremo 2016 against three of the X Factor coaches that mentored in the year she won the talent show: Elio, Arisa and...guess who? Morgan

Jalisse were allegedly sabotaged by RAI after their win in Sanremo 1997

In the early years of the Festival, many international artists took part. Shirley Bassey is among those names

Marco Carta, winner of the 2009 edition, has reportedly shoplifted in a famous shop in Milan last yeat

Levante and Diodato used to date. In fact, Levante's song "Antonio" (from her latest album Magmamemoria) is dedicated to him, while rumor has it that Fai Rumore is dedicated to her although Diodato has always publicly denied it

Iva Zanicchi, who won the contest several times, is also known for having faked to make the poop live in a TV studio of a popular show while being "hypnotised"
There should be a video on YT

Morgan was the student of my Italian Literature teacher

Elodie was body-shamed by Marco Masini back in February

Mia Martini, two times Italian representative at ESC and veteran of Sanremo, had a bad impact on her career due to a false belief that she brought bad luck wherever she went. She tragically died in 1995 at her house, while listening to her songs for an upcoming concert

Domenico Modugno holds a joint record for most wins with Claudio Villa. None of the two are alive to defend their title, but they had an impact in Italian music

Iva Zanicchi, the singer who pooped live, is the woman with the most wins, three in total

Queen, the band we all know, were invited to make a guest performance at the festival in 1984. Not agreeing with the playback policy, the lead singer Freddie Mercury performed it making sure the public knew it was all playback

Eminem also was invited in the early 2000's and despite being told not to swear on Italian TV (ugh curse words!1!1!1!1!), he did it anyway
Despite that, since the Italian public wasn't ready, the reactions to his performances were very cold

Morgan (yes, him again) was Marco Mengoni (ESC 2013)'s mentor at X Factor in 2009. Marco ended up winning the show

Ell & Nikki ( 2011) crowned the Sanremo winner in 2012 (apparently)

Luisa Sobral has been invited in the past few years to send in a song for Sanremo, stating that she was even asked to be part of a duet

Raquel Del Rosario (ESDM, 2013) took part in Sanremo 2011 duetting with Luca Barbarossa

In 2016, many of the competing artists wore a rainbow themed object to show support for the law regarding civil unions for gay couples.
Francesca Michielin even brought that same element to ESC

The festival has been held in several locations, such as the Casino, the Palafiori and Ariston's theatre (current venue)

Lara Fabian ( 1988) has Italian origins and in 2015 took part in Sanremo with her song "Voce" (Voice), being eliminated before the Final

From the New Proposals section list of 2016 you can find:
- Francesco Gabbani (ESC 2017), ended 1st
- Ermal Meta (ESC 2018), ended 3rd
- Mahmood (ESC 2019), ended 4th
- Irama (Sanremo 2019), didn't qualify to the final

Do you remember the booing in 2019 after the top 24 (top 3 excluded was announced)? Well, if that surprised you, I bet you haven't seen the public and Orchestra's reaction to the top 3 in 2010

Let's go back to Mia Martini. After her death, the Sanremo critics prize officially took her name, since she was the first artist to win it and also the one who had won it more times than others back when she had died

Following the (ridicolous) disputes about the voting system in 2019 (which by the way was used even in the years prior to Mahmood's win), the voting structure has totally changed this year, making the results be pretty clear already after the fourth night

Several artists took part in the festival after their experience in a talent show: the first ones to do so were Marco Carta (in the Big section, eventually becoming the winner) and Karima Ammar (New Proposals, ended 3rd) in 2009, both coming from "Amici di Maria De Filippi"