Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958

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Nel blu dipinto di blu"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result3rd, 13 points
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1957
• 		1958 •
1959►

Italy was represented by

1958 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 12 March in Hilversum, Netherlands. Broadcaster RAI chose the winning song from the Sanremo Music Festival 1958 as their Eurovision entry: the song had been performed twice at Sanremo and Modugno was chosen over Johnny Dorelli
as the performer.

Although "Nel blu dipinto di blu" did not win at Eurovision, it went on after the contest (under the title "Volare") to become a huge worldwide hit. The song spent five weeks at the

United Kingdom
.

"Volare"'s popularity has not diminished with time and it rapidly assumed the status of a worldwide musical standard. It is invariably cited, along with

Waterloo
", as globally the most successful and instantly recognisable song ever to have emerged from Eurovision.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Modugno performed first in the running order, preceding the Netherlands. However, a technical problem meant that the performance had not been seen in all countries, so Modugno was required to perform the song again after all the other entries had been sung – it remained the only time in Eurovision history that a song has had to be performed twice in its entirety until 2010 when Spain was allowed to do the same after their first performance was disturbed.

At the close of the voting "Nel blu dipinto di blu" had received 13 points (the highest being 4s from Belgium and Germany), placing Italy third of the 10 entries. The Italian jury awarded 6 of its 10 points to contest winners France.[1]

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Main article: Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

In 2005, "Nel blu dipinto di blu" was one of fourteen songs chosen by Eurovision fans and an EBU reference group to participate in the Congratulations anniversary competition. It was the only Italian entry featured and the only song from the 1950s represented, as well as one of three participating songs that hadn't actually won in its year (the others being "

Non ho l'eta
" during one of the medleys).

"Nel blu dipinto di blu" appeared sixth in the running order, following "

Nicole and preceding "Waterloo" by ABBA. While the majority of performances that night featured brief appearances by the original singer(s), Domenico Modugno had died in 1994. Therefore, the song was represented by footage of his original performance alongside dancers performing a routine. At the end of the first round, "Nel blu dipinto di blu" was announced as one of the five songs headed to the second round. It was later revealed that the song finished as runner-up in the first round, receiving 200 points (as, unlike in 1958, the twelve-point system introduced in 1975 was being used, and the song's reputation had grown significantly since its original appearance).[3] In the end, "Nel blu dipinto di blu" finished in second place overall with 267 points. Among these were three top scores from Germany, Lithuania, and Turkey.[4]

Voting

References

  1. ^ ESC History - Italy 1958
  2. ^ a b "Results of the Final of Hilversum 1958". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Congratulations: Results from the voting (Round 1)" (PDF). Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Congratulations: Results from the voting (Round 2)" (PDF). Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
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