Leo the Drone will show the beauty of Italy in postcards

RAI

Say hi to Leo the Drone! This enthusiastic and curious drone will fly the length and breadth of Italy, filming the postcards used between performances, before landing in the Pala Alpitour in Turin for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

Mentioned in the official Media Handbook at Eurovision.tv, this year’s postcards will be a journey to discover the beautiful landscape of Italy through the eyes of this little Drone. Thanks to a little help from the Ministry of Tourism, ENIT, the Piemonte Region, City of Turin. Leo will use the FPV drone shooting technique combined with a stabilised drone, as well as CGI and postproduction graphics to share with us the beauty Italy offer.

Leo will be called in by the presenters every time a new contestant is on stage. It’s mission will be very thrilling: at first, it will show the surroundings, then the flight will be normalised so that viewers can admire the location. He will wander around the location and pictures showing the participants and their artistic world will appear as if by magic. Leo will curiously observe such images and it will then decide when to stop. Eventually, a beam of light will come out of his body, and it will show unreleased videos by the contestants, who will interact with Leo on camera. At the end, shots of our Leo filming his flight over the skies of Italy will be shown, as the performance of the act starts again.

Leo begins his journey in Sardinia, with Barumini paired to Albania’s Ronela. Here’s the full list of postcard locations matched with a participating country.

Second Semi-Final: Thursday 12 May

Albania – Barumini (South Sardinia, Sardinia)
Latvia – Merano (Bolzano, Trentino Alto Adige)
Lithuania – Bergamo (Lombardy)
Switzerland – Termoli (Campobasso, Molise)
Slovenia – Civita di Bagnoregio (Viterbo, Lazio)
Ukraine – Florence (Tuscany)
Bulgaria – Castel del Monte (Barletta-Andria-Trani, Apulia)
Netherlands – Ravenna (Emilia Romagna)
Moldova – Urbino (Marche)
Portugal – Genova (Liguria)
Croatia – Grinzane Cavour (Cuneo, Piemonte)
Denmark – Procida (Naples, Campania)
Austria – Miramare Castle (Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia)
Iceland – Cortina d’Ampezzo (Belluno, Veneto)
Greece – Selinunte (Trapani, Sicily)
Norway – Lake Scanno (L’Aquila, Abruzzo)
Armenia – Marmore Waterfall (Terni, Umbria)

Second Semi-Final: Thursday 12 May

Finland – Laghi di Fusine a Tarvisio (Udine, Friuli Venezia Giulia)
Israel – Manarola – Cinque Terre (La Spezia, Liguria)
Serbia – Rocca Calascio (L’Aquila, Abruzzo)
Azerbaijan – Varenna (Lecco, Lombardy)
Georgia – Burano (Venice, Veneto)
Malta – San Galgano Abbey in Chiusdino (Siena, Tuscany)
San Marino – Rome (Lazio)
Australia – MART Rovereto (Trento, Trentino Alto Adige)
Cyprus – Monte Cervino (Aosta, Valle d’Aosta)
Ireland – Matera (Basilicata)
North Macedonia – Cala Luna in Dorgali, Gulf of Orosei (Nuoro, Sardinia)
Estonia – Sacra di San Michele in Sant’Ambrogio di Torino (Piemonte)
Romania – Le Castella in Isola di Capo Rizzuto (Crotone, Calabria)
Poland – Scala dei Turchi in Realmonte (Agrigento, Sicily)
Montenegro – Monte Conero (Ancona, Marche)
Belgium – Perugia (Umbria)
Sweden – Rimini (Emilia Romagna)
Czech Republic – Reggia di Caserta (Campania)

Grand Final (featuring Big Five postcards): Saturday 14 May

France – rice fields of Cavour (a canal for rice fields built by Cavour in Turin soon after Italian unification, in Chivasso, Piemonte)
Germany – Turin Lingotto (Piemonte)
Italy – Mole Antonelliana, Turin (Piemonte)
United Kingdom – Orta San Giulio (Novara, Piemonte)
Spain – Alagna Valsesia (Vercelli, Piemonte)

Last year, The Netherlands also had the challenge to create postcards without the artists traveling to the Netherlands. The postcard featurd a ‘tiny house’ which provided a home for the story and personality of each country’s act. This means could still be introduced from special places all around the Netherlands, allowing the host country to shine!