At the Ariston they have recently dismantled, strictly by hand, the sign 'Festival della canzone italiana', but in the meantime the totonome for Sanremo 2025 has already started. In fact, Amadeus confirms once again, at Bruno Vespa's microphone for Five Minutes, that it feels "that it's the right time to close after five years."
A farewell that opens the difficult game of succession for Rai, after the record results of the edition just concluded, with an average share of 66%, 88% among 15-24 year olds and an advertising revenue seen by 60 ,2 millions.
Back in his glass at the Foro Italico, Fiorello, who also opted out of the Sanremo legacy, launches the Clerici-Cattelan pairing.
"But if they offered you to host the Festival, would you accept?", he asks the host in a surprise phone call.
“With a friend like you, perhaps,” she replies.
"I see you well with Alessandro Cattelan", suggests the showman.
And Clerici: "It could be, I adore Alessandro, I think it's right to launch young people and then I have nothing to lose, even if a Festival were to go badly, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Regardless of everything, I'm rooting for a woman like Artistic director".
"How nice! We're rooting for you!", comments Fiorello.
It's been 14 years since Sanremo had a woman at the helm: the last one was Clerici, in 2010, the festival that went down in history due to the orchestral revolt.
She was then at the Ariston in 2020, as co-host with Amadeus and in the past she has already said that she wouldn't mind returning to the festival.
Among the historical faces of the company who could take up the baton from Amadeus, there are also Milly Carlucci and Carlo Conti, former artistic director and presenter between 2015 and 2017 ("If Rai asked me if I would be willing to do it again in one, two, three , ten years, I will sit down and try to understand, beyond the ideas, if I still have the energy and ear to do it", he said recently).
Cattelan did not shine with Da Grande's experience: he is preparing to return to prime time with a new project in the spring, but the path to leading the battleship Sanremo still appears long.
The bookies, who are betting on a new entry, however put the name of the host of Stasera c'è Cattelan in pole position - which returns to the air tomorrow on Rai2 hosting the winner of the festival, Angelina Mango - followed by Stefano De Martino, whose RAI prices are on the rise.
In the totonome there is no shortage of big names in the competition: above all Paolo Bonolis, already in Sanremo in 2005 and 2009, who has a contract with Mediaset expiring in June, and Gerry Scotti, never before at Ariston.
Without forgetting the Laura Pausini-Paola Cortellesi hypothesis.
"In the meantime - said the entertainment director of Prime Time Rai, Marcello Ciannamea - I would like to redo Laura & Paola, the wonderful show from a few years ago: they are two wonderful artists, but they are always very busy".
The president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa also gets involved in the succession game.
"Would I confirm Amadeus for the next Sanremo? No, with all due respect he has already given, let's satisfy him since he said that he wants to leave", he says to Un giorno da pecora.
Who would you see next year?
"I don't have a particular preference, but I liked that girl, Teresa Mannino."
So how would you see the Mannino-Fiorello couple for Sanremo 2025?
"I would like it, it would be a nice couple", he replies.
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