🇮🇹 Italy: Olly wins Sanremo 2025!

After 5 nights of brilliant performances and tough competition, Olly has claimed the crown in the Sanremo Music Festival 2025! He now has first refusal rights to perform for Italy at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland in May.

All 29 competing songs were performed again tonight, and the votes were tallied and added to the general rankings from nights one, two and three. The following acts were announced as the top 5, in no particular order:

Fedez – “Battito”
Simone Cristicchi – “Quando sarai piccola”
Brunori Sas – “L’albero delle noci”
Lucio Corsi – “Volevo essere un duro”
Olly – “Balorda nostalgia”

Odds-on favourites Giorgia and Achille Lauro placed 6th and 7th respectively, to the apparent shock of a vocally upset studio audience.

Voting opened again for the top five songs in the superfinal, and the results were once again added to the previous rankings. After 4 nights’ worth of voting (as Covers Night is no longer included in the total result), the press jury (with 33% vote share), the radio jury (33%) and a public televote (34%) decided that Simone Cristicchi was in 5th place, Fedez 4th, Brunori Sas 3rd, and Lucio Corsi 2nd.

Prior to tonight’s performances, all artists signed a contract stating whether they were willing to perform at Eurovision if they were to win. The last time a Sanremo winner chose not to perform at Eurovision was 2016, when Stadio relinquished the right and runner-up Francesca Michielin stepped in. Olly will confirm his decision at a press conference tomorrow.

Carlo Conti once again hosted proceedings, and was joined by guest hosts Alessia Marcuzzi and Alessandro Cattelan, the latter of whom you may recognise as a co-host of Eurovision 2022 in Turin. Guest performances on stage included Gabry Ponte and Mahmood, with Tedua dialling in from the Suzuki Stage and Planet Funk performing live on the Tuscan Coast.

The night also included a range of awards leading up to the big announcement. A Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Antonello Venditti, who also performed as an interval act. Bianca Balti returned to present the awards for Best Lyrics to Brunori Sas and Best Musical Composition to Simone Cristicchi. The Critics’ Award and Press Room Award were both won by Lucio Corsi, and the Tim Award went to Giorgia for the most social media buzz during the live shows.

Italy will proceed straight to the Grand Final in Basel on May 17 as part of the Big Five. They will also vote during the first semi-final on May 13.

What do #YOU think of Olly and “Balorda nostalgia”? Let us know on our social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Discord – or on our forum page!