Italy’s Eurovision Wins

This past weekend, Roman rock bank Måneskin, won this year’s Eurovision competition, becoming only the 3rd Italian entry to win the contest. The win gives Italy hosting duties for the 2022 event.

Måneskin had won this year’s Sanremo song festival, which Eurovision was based on, and had been a favorite for the, at times, eccentric contest held this year in Rotterdam after being canceled in 2020. They join as winners from Italy the 16 year-old Gigliola Cinquettii, who took Europe and the world by storm in 1964 with “Non ho l’età,” and fan favorite Toto Cutugno in 1990 with the pro-EU and catchy “Insieme: 1992“, won in Yugoslavia. While Cinquetti’s song had won Sanremo that same year, Toto finished 2nd in that year’s Sanremo contest to I Pooh‘s Uomini Soli with a different song, Gli Amori (song in English at the Festival by Ray Charles). Cutugno was already a loved figure throughout Europe not only for his hit Italian songs but even as a songwriter for French artists like Joe Dassin and Johnny Hallyday, and Latin superstars like Miguel Bosé and Luis Miguel.

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