Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Super Pippo Younger Eurovision fans only know Amadeus and Carlo Conti as Sanremo gods but there's one man who has done more than anyone else, launched more Italian global stars , shaped more the Italian music scene in television than anyone else. He could really own the slogan he had created: "I have invented her/him/them!" The only miss I can think about his career is that he didn't get involved in Eurovision - if he put his efforts in Eurovision as much as in Sanremo Italy would have quite a few more wins I think. The man is of course Pippo Baudo. Born Giuseppe Raimondo Vittorio Baudo June 1936 in Sicily near Catania and died in Rome on August 16, 2025 at the age of 89. He studied law and became a lawyer but entertaining world was what he wanted to do and he started working as an actor, comedian, singer and pianist in the 1950's. He first appeared in tv in 1959 and got his big breakthrough in 1966 presenting the musical show Settevoci. Since then he was hosting ...

Amadeus has found a way to bring previous hosts to Sanremo Giovani - as the professional jury. Among them legendary talent scout Pippo Baudo who has discovered more new talent than anyone in Italy during the 20 festivals he has hosted and acted as the artistic director.  He has discovered among others Al Bano, Eros Ramazzotti, Lorella Cuccarini, Laura Pausini, Andrea Bocelli, Giorgia, Michelle Hunziker, Gianluca Grignani, Gigi D'Alessio and Anna Tatangelo and therefor there's a saying  "L'ho inventato io...." (I have invented him/her!) that refers to his talent. He gets company from Carlo Conti who also did a great job with his 3 consecutive festivals, Paolo Bonolis who would like to make Sanremo more Eurovisionlike and bring it out of tiny Teatro Ariston, Piero Chiambretti and Antonella Clerici, the godmother of Il Volo. So these five will decide who will get the tickets to the festival next February on December 19 in a show hosted by ever youthful Marco ...

The 24 finalists for Sanremo Giovani in December will be selected among these  previously announced ones from open call, and among these ones below coming through Area Sanremo selection. In previous years Area Sanremo ones had two places reserved among the Newcomers, but this time it seems the 24 will be selected among all these entries without limiting the numbers. Both groups have the live auditions in front of the committee, Area Sanremo ones on November 26, while the other already had theirs on November 12. It's worth remembering one of these could become Italy's entrant for the Eurovision song contest 2019... Sanremo Giovani runs from December 17 to 22, with the first four nights presenting six entries each before the prime time and will be hosted by Eurovision veteran Luca Barbarossa. The two final nights in prime time live television are presented by Sanremo legend Pippo Baudo and Fabio Rovazzi.   Listen Area Sanremo entries here .  Adabell - Questa ...

Tonight's the second night in Sanremo. The opening might scored a share of 52,1%, or 11.603.000,  the highest since 2005 so this edition of Baglioni has started with a triumph! The peak was 17,2 million when Baglioni sung with Fiorello. The pressure is high to continue as strong..... There has been also a bit of a drama, when Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Mori's song is a bit too similar to a sing Silenzio from 2015, that even took part in Sanremo Giovani 2016. And there's more: one of the writers, Febo, is behind that song, too. But case closed: their song won't be disqualified as it has new lyrics and it has been altered and apparently Febo had asked Rai to remove it from the site already before etc. Now it's apparently gone. Last night. Just like that. UPDATE: Their entry has been suspended while waiting for final decision. They won't be performing tonight as scheduled! This blogger enjoyed last night a lot. Beautiful stage, fantastic graphics, not too m...

  While we still wait for the list of artists taking part in the next Sanremo festival, due before Christmas - and the possible next nanes for Eurovision for Italy - also the rumor mill for the future hosts is heating up. The rumors are very strong Claudio Baglioni will have on his side none other than Swiss showgirl Michelle Hunziker (and ex-Mrs Ramazzotti) and not forgetting the other side of the audience, actors Raoul Bova and Luca Argentero seem to be the strongest contenders for co-host, Argentero a bit stronger than Bova as he seems to be free from other jobs around February. Hunziker has already hosted Sanremo once, in 2007 in the era of Pippo Baudo. She's done a lot of television, some movies, dubbing and even recorded an album, and is wellknown also in German speaking Europe. If Italy would win and host Eurovision, I suppose she'd be high on the list of possible hostesses at Rai. Argentero made himself known in Big Brother, third season ending third. He...

Surprising hot rumors from Italy: Pippo Baudo could return to Sanremo with Mika and Virginia Raffaele with him.  Mika has been rumored since spring and his Stasera Casa Mika entertainment show on Rai 2 that was a success in late 2016. The second season is to be aired this fall.  Virginia Raffaele, comedienne, has been present in the past two festivals with a great success and would fit in nicely for the third year as well. The real surprise would be the return of Pippo Baudo (81). No one can deny his success with the festival as the host and artistic director in the past, and the list of artists he has discovered and made stars is a very long one. He has hosted the festival 13 times (1968, 1984-85, 1987, 1992-96, 2002-03, 2007-08).  This would surely be an interesting trio with a real veteran to whom hosting the five nights might just be a bit too much in his tender age, a rather new one with not so much experience holding a hours long live show and a crazy sho...

Tormentone aka the summer earworm has been served! By Pippo Baudo the Legend himself. Tagaki & Ketra have got Arisa and Lorenzo Fragola in vocals for their L'Esercito del Selfie that flirts with today's selfie mania and lack of rea human touch instead of online one and a good dose of Motown groove. 

There's no doubt Laura Pausini is one of the most succesful Italian singers of all time. She broke through by winning the Sanremo 1993 Newcomers with La solitudine . Since then her record sales are counted in millions all over the world. She has recorded for the US market in English, in Spanish and Portuguese for the Latin market, in French for France. Countless collaborations and duets with world class stars have been her thing all the way. Tonight RAI 1 will broadcast (21.15 CET) her special show from the magnificient Greek anfitheater in Taormina, Sicily celebrating these 20 years with her. Of course she has also special guests and most importantly the past two Italian Eurovision acts: Marco Mengoni and Emma Marrone . Mengoni gets to do James Blunt 's bits in Primavera in anticipo (It is my song) while Emma is featured in Con la musica alla radio with other female stars ( Noemi, Paola Turci, Malika Ayane, L'Aura, Syria and La Pina ). Other guests of the night...

Eurovision makes a round of news in Italy again when Pippo Baudo (host of 13 Sanremos being also the musical director of most of them) in a talk show furiously attacks Eurovision praising Sanremo. He also proved he is completely out of touch with the reality of Eurovision saying "it has no success. It is just trash made for German TV!" when we can compare Sanremo to Eurovision: last year Sanremo was broadcasted live besides Italy only in Albania and Kosovo, while Eurovision gathered 122 million viewers all around the world. Alexander Rybak entered top-10 in iTunes in most European countries hitting number one in several. He even entered the Italian one. Who has heard the winning song from Sanremo 2009 raise your hand now! No one. Thought so. He also insist of calling it "Eurocanzone" or Eurosong while the commonly known name in Italy for Eurovision is Eurofestival. Then he goes on telling "German TV produces only programmes for idiots" One can only think t...