The Sanremo Song Festival got off to a
flying start on Tuesday, with President Sergio Mattarella
getting a standing ovation as he attended the much-loved event
for the first time and Oscar-winning director and actor Roberto
Benigni paying homage to the Italian Constitution on its 75th
anniversary.
Benigni pointed out that, if all the countries of the world had
adopted the Constitution, which states that Italy repudiates
war, humanity would have put conflict behind it.
Other highlights were veteran pop star Gianni Morandi singing
the national anthem and top influencer Chiara Ferragni reading a
letter to her child self in which she stressed that being a
woman is not a limitation.
Tuesday's opening night attracted an average of 10.757 million
viewers to State broadcaster Rai's flagship channel, 62.4% of
the audience share, compared to 10.911 million viewers and an
audience share of 54.7% on the equivalent evening last year.
The week-long festival, which runs until Saturday, revolves
around a best-song competition.
A national institution that inspired the Eurovision song
contest, it helped launch the careers of many of Italy's top
music stars, such as Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini and Maneskin
The winner gets to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song
Contest.
Singer Marco Mengoni was top of the standings of the 2023
competition after the first night.
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