It will be a Sanremo final with a bang on Saturday 10 February because for the first time in the history of the Festival there will be 30 singers competing.
In past years, due to the lower number of artists competing in the Big category and due to eliminations, this had never happened.
It is one of the records of the fifth consecutive Amadeus festival, the one with which it reaches the record, but only for the number of consecutive editions, of the record hosts Pippo Baudo (who boasts 13) and Mike Bongiorno (11).
However, it must be said that Amadeus will surpass Pippo and Mike because in 5 years he will have hosted 25 consecutive evenings, while for Pippo the consecutive evenings were 22 and for Mike 15.
Analyzing the event, together with ANSA, is Eddy Anselmi, historian of the Festival and author of numerous publications including Il Festival di Sanremo, published by De Agostini in 2020. Another curious aspect of the 74th edition is the presence of 15 debutants out of 30 competing artists.
It is the first time for many of them even if, for example, Ghali has already been a guest of the Festival, as has Alessandra Amoroso, she even several times considering the duet evenings.
Some return to the competition after last year's cover evening, Rose Villain (she was with Rosa Chemical), Biga Mama (with Elodie) and Bnkr44 (with Sethu).
And how are we doing on the gender equality front?
In the competition there are 9 solo women out of 30, to these we must add Angela dei Ricchi and Poveri, as a duo.
No women in the bands, Negramaro and Bnkr44, nor in the trio Il Volo and the trio La Sad.
A woman hasn't won for 10 years.
The last one was Arisa in 2014, with 'Controvento' (without considering the presence on the first step of the podium of Victoria De Angelis, bassist of Maneskin, winners in 2021).
On the songwriting front, things are even worse: since 2008, a song written solely by a woman hasn't won: the last one was 'Colpo di at first sight', written by Gianna Nannini and brought to triumph by Giò Di Tonno and Lola Ponce.
Scrolling through the list of competitors of the 2024 edition we find six former Sanremo winners who are back in the game: Diodato, Emma, Il Volo, Mahmood, Francesco Renga (competing this year paired with Nek) and Ricchi e Poveri .
The latter present themselves for the first time at the Festival as a duo, Angela Brambati and Angelo Sotgiu, after their participation in a trio with the late Franco Gatti and, going back in time to their beginnings, in a quartet with the blonde Marina Occhiena.
The Rich and the Poor are among the senators of the 74th Sanremo Festival: among the competing artists they are the oldest ever and those with the most participations, 13 including this one, followed by Loredana Bertè, 12, and Francesco Renga who, also if younger, he boasts 11, including as singer of a band, Timoria.
If we shift the focus to the entire history of the Festival, the record of 15 participations is held, ex aequo, by Peppino di Capri, Al Bano, Anna Oxa, Toto Cutugno and Milva.
Claudio Villa is the record holder of victories with four festivals (and a minor prize in '57), followed by Domenico Modugno with four and Iva Zanicchi with three.
Among the artists competing this year, Mahmood stands out, twice winner of the festival (alone with 'Soldi' and paired with Blanco with 'Brividi'). Another curiosity: three of the five are the co-hosts of Amadeus (Giorgia, Fiorello and Lorella Cuccarini) meet again in Sanremo after having all three competed in 1995, with captain Pippo Baudo on the bridge.
Giorgia, together with Gigliola Cinquetti and Eros Ramazzotti, will also participate in the tributes to the great songs of the Festival.
On Wednesday he will sing E poi, presented in Sanremo thirty years ago;
Eros Ramazzotti will arrive on Thursday with Terra Promessa, the song that forty years ago saw him triumph in the Nuove Proposte section;
on the final evening Gigliola Cinquetti will go on stage with Non ho l'età, with which she won the Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest sixty years ago, in 1964.
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