Nobody touches Sanremo

We have to go back almost 30 years to find ratings equal to those of the last edition of Sanremo, share skyrocketing, millions of Italians glued in front of the TV for 5 nights in a row, an international audience connected uninterruptedly to perhaps the most famous singing event in the world. This particular showcase of polished national-popular Italy has always been one of Rai's flagship products and is also the media mirror that faithfully reflects the image of our nation in all its facets.

In Sanremo singing and fashion, irony and seriousness, anger and joy, creativity and extreme kitsch, transgression and tradition, cunning and ingenuity, do-gooders and gossip coexist... all in a single highly concentrated solution that the excellent deus ex machina Amadeus, distributes with skilful dosage to a fervent and passionate audience. Politics cannot remain indifferent to such a deployment of high-potential forces and, fascinated by such a massively loyal transversal public, tries in every way to show its face, stick labels, recognize hidden ideologies or even question the whole festival bandwagon because it's too biased.

All against all as usual in our beautiful country to then toast in unison to the amazing success by attributing the merits in turn, a cathodic game of roles where opposites coexist without hurting themselves too much with the sparkling blessing of the more generalist network of Rai.

But this year, just at the end, to spoil the party at its most beautiful, a piece of news was leaked by the Sanremo departments; the exclusive contract of the festival will expire at the end of 2023 and the proposal for the management of the entire event by a consortium of mysterious independent entrepreneurs has arrived on the tables of the operators… dismay, tragedy, desecration of the temple, general shock for politics and millions of viewers.

Suddenly, in a new world hyperconnected 24/7, but apparently less and less attracted by state television programming, a heterogeneous mass of listeners felt threatened in their habits and in the collective rituals that have their roots in distant times.

Rai and Sanremo are an inseparable pair, they were born and raised together with us, one of the rare certainties of our country which, in lightheartedness, has managed to build solid credibility, a truly rare commodity for us. We are docile and available, superficial voters ready to vote for whoever shouts the loudest, we accept compromises and sensational about-faces without making too much noise, we digest the most indigestible politicians… but if we get the festival…

Michelagelo Dotta

NP Marzo 2023