The first round ends 2 to 1: not even Amadeus, which in the run-up to its five Sanremos had accustomed us to daily incursions into Tg1, had never dared so much. Yesterday morning, on the 8 o’clock news, the official announcement, in the evening, at 8 pm, the sensational encore: as widely expected, Carlo Conti he will be the next host and artistic director of Sanremo, a two-year position, for 2025 and 2026. And “Striscia la notizia” immediately ignites an initial controversy: the agreement with the Municipality expires with the next edition, for the 2026 edition it will have to be renewed. But there is all the time needed to do so, and the controversy seems short-lived.
Apart from this, and the official investiture, no surprises. There Raiafter letting the goose that lays the golden eggs (and the platinum ratings) run away, invests in safe second-hand: the sixty-three-year-old Florentine host already has three Festivals under his belt, from 2015 to 2017, with excellent results. more than positive audiences and the beginning of a process of renewal later deepened by his successors.
«I return to Sanremo after eight years, I will try to resume the work done and carried forward in a big way by the two editions of Claudio Baglioni and from five o’clock on Amadeus”, the words given to viewers from the living room in the morning. Yes, but what kind of festival will it be? Since we’re talking about it so far in advance, it would be nice to know, but the communication strategy doesn’t foresee any surprises, just positioning in the area, focusing on «music as always at the centre, current music, which is popular, we hope to do a good job and to continue the wonderful tradition of this event that brings everyone together, the whole family in front of the TV.”
The problem is the very heavy legacy of the last five years, extraordinary in terms of ratings, advertising revenue and results in the record charts. Now, it’s true that Conti hosted 2,154 episodes of “The Inheritance”, but we were talking about something else. In a Rai divided on everything and everyone, he brought everything and everyone to an agreement, or at least that’s what they make us believe: the CEO Roberto Sergio, who left, the general director Giampaolo Rossi, the director of Prime Time Entertainment Marcello Ciannamea .
Carletto the brunette is ready for the challenge and thanks the affection of «our company», from the top management «to the cleaning lady, the cameramen, the technicians. I felt this support for me that made me say: let’s go back.” A return that is immediately festive, as there is plenty of time before the (painful?) notes arrive: «It will also be a nice way to celebrate my first 40 years with Rai: the first contract dates back to June 1985». Giorgia Cardinaletti in the evening he also reminds him that his «first Sanremo» was not the one in 2015 and takes out a film from 1991 in which he was the guitarist for his friend Pieraccioni: «But it wasn’t the Festival, we were at “Sanremo folies” and Leonardo he had brought me and Novello Novelli with him.”
Madness or not, it’s time to get to work, in five years the Amatissimo has turned the persimmons’ land upside down like a sock: «There are very specific steps: now there is the most important thing, the regulations, then we will start to listen to the songs of the new proposals, then those of the big names and lastly I will try to understand the team with me on stage for the presentation and all the guests and what comes from it”.
Like the one already mentioned Pieraccioni and Panariello by his side? “I don’t think so, at least not in permanent presence. I think I’ll go ahead with the idea of alternating something different every evening, and then we do too many things together, I can hardly stand those two anymore.”
Just to reassure the company, and Carlo himself, the first message of congratulations for the renewed position would come from Fiorellowho, having turned off the «Viva Rai2!» cameras, is enjoying a bit of rest: «If we had been on the air», he wrote, «we would have had a lot of fun». Then come the best wishes, and a phone call, from Amadeus. Meanwhile, social media is going crazy: the Festival is about ten months away, but posts, memes and archive images are putting it at the top of the trends. Annalisa is the most cited as co-host, Alessandro Cattelan is going strong, also to lead the Dopofestival, in case he were to return.
«Carlo Conti is a professional who also paved the way for the great results of Amadeus and we are happy with his return to leading the event», he applauds Enzo Mazza, CEO of Fimi, the record industry conf, citing the «particularly happy moment» for the Italian music industry». But then he asks mother Rai to shell out some more money for “the priority issue of the festival costs: for companies today they are absolutely unsustainable”.
In the evening connection with Cardinaletti there is space for a few more jokes, reviewing the images of the debut all‘Ariston in 2015: «I have definitely aged: when my wife saw that video she said to me: “How young you were!” She was a great energy booster. The only thing that still remains is the color of your skin and the desire to make music, to party, to keep the name of Sanremo high.”
In 2017 the big hit of his third Festival was Maria De Filippi, amused in the role of valet or little more. What if she were the queen of the next edition?
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The morning
