If a good day can be seen from the morning Tg1, here is the announcement that puts Italians at ease on the not exactly burning issue of the succession to the artistic direction and management of the next Italian Song Festival. «Sanremo 2025», and the one after it, will be hosted and directed by Carlo Conti, the announced and most logical successor after the successful Amadeus editions.
According to what was communicated, the choice was born from a unanimous decision of Rai’s top management: the CEO Roberto Sergio, the general director Giampaolo Rossi in concert with the Prime Time Entertainment director Marcello Ciannamea. For two consecutive years Conti will lead the most important multimedia event organized by the public service and the Municipality of Sanremo.
All the hypotheses put forward up until a few days ago have fallen through, including that of co-hosting with Alessandro Cattelan. Thus begins for Conti a two-year period of challenges which aims to keep the Festival’s fortunes high, continuing to promote and enhance the trends of Italian music, the same ones that have allowed Ama to bring the record companies closer to Ariston and the songs in competition on the radio. As artistic director Carlo Conti must take up the baton of his predecessor and at the same time resume the thread of the discourse that he had kept alive from 2015 to 2017. In those editions artists were launched who today are protagonists of the Italian music scene.
At the moment in which Rai suffers the suspension decided by Fiorello, the departure of Fazio first, then Amadeus, making the most of home resources is practically an obligation. And Conti represents without a shadow of a doubt a popular national resource which must also be considered in light of the continuous successes achieved in the field of his broadcasts: «Tale e Quale Show», «The Best Years», «Yesterday and Today». Carlo has history and creative solidity in Rai, he knows the Festival machine, he has always maintained good relationships with artists and record companies. He knows the history of Italian music very well and is completely familiar with the radio environment. In short, for all intents and purposes he seems like the right person, in the right place, at the right time.
At the moment in which Rai suffers the suspension decided by Fiorello, the departure of Fazio first, then Amadeus, making the most of home resources is practically an obligation. And Conti represents without a shadow of a doubt a popular national resource which must also be considered in light of the continuous successes achieved in the field of his broadcasts.
After the five consecutive editions directed and hosted by Amadeus, in tandem with Fiorello, Conti only has to act as a bridge towards a future that remains to be invented, but will certainly be in line with the character that the host has created with great measure And savoir-faire. On the television level there are no problems, if anything we have to ask ourselves how much in recent years Carlo has kept up with the musical tempos which are not that great, but are still the ones that the public has favored in the last five years of the Festival. Compared to Maneskin, Diodato and Pinguini, Ama has brought rap, trap, urban and recently dance to the Ariston, alongside some classics. The songwriting lived here for a while, leaving some traces. Now it’s a matter of seeing what happens. The comparison with Amadeus will be the highlight of the next edition of the Festival number 75.
Recently, in an interview with Repubblica, Conti had hinted that some ideas were already ready, even if he made a profession of humility by saying: «I don’t know if I still have the right musical ear». We must give credit to Amadeus for having put the Sanremo Festival in tune with the current times, whether good or bad. Carlo Conti will certainly have to start again from that figure.
«I’m returning to Sanremo after seven years», explains Conti from the news window. «I will try to resume that work done and carried forward to a great extent by the two editions of Baglioni and to a great extent by the five editions of Amadeus. Music as always at the centre, current music, which is popular, we hope to do a good job and continue the wonderful tradition of this event which brings everyone together, the whole family in front of the TV. I accepted thanks to the great affection of our company, from the CEO to the general manager to the entertainment director, up to the cleaning lady, the cameramen, the technicians, I felt this support for me which made me say: let’s come back”.
Conti is aware of the work carried out by Ama in the latest editions of the Festival. She will still try to avoid the inevitable comparisons. As part of the television courses and appeals, Sanremo has started to breathe well again. In the three Festivals conducted by Conti the results, beyond the share, were interesting, Il Volo won in the 2015 edition, the following year it was Stadio’s turn, in 2017 Fiorella Mannoia was “duped” by Gabbani’s “Occidentali’s Karma”, with the «monkey» to change the trend of festival choreographies. After Baglioni, who staged some auteur revolution, Amadeus has gradually changed the habits of the Festival, leading it into the heart of a different musical scenario, suited to the seasons, musical fashions, and especially young people. The standard of the Festival has grown in standardized quality, although not many good songs have exploded from there. It has always been like this, however, and it must be said that artists like Vasco have skyrocketed right from Sanremo, who could one day return, perhaps for a luxury guest. If the Accounts come back, who knows he might not come back too.
