Introduction

• Participant(s): Francesca Michielin
• Song: No Degree Of Separation
• Writer(s): Francesca Michielin, Federica Abbate & Norma Jean Martine
• Composer(s): Fabio Gargiulo, Federica Abbate & Cheope
• Broadcaster: RAI
• Social media:  
• Team review: 

The Italian San Remo Festival is normally delivering the singer and song for the ESC, like this year. But the winner of the San Remo Festival is not automatically the representative for Eurovision. The Italian broadcaster RAI has picked the second placed this year, as the winning group Stadio has uttered having other tour plans. And this might have not been the best option for Italy in the ESC as well. Francesca Michielin is going to sing “No Degree Of Separation”. The original title “Nessun grado di separazione” has been exchanged to English and the song is mainly sung in Italian, but has some English phrases.

Francesca Michielin was born in Bassano del Grappa, close to Vicenza, Italy in 1995. As a child she started to study the piano and electric bass. In the age of 16 she has won the X-Factor in Italy. Her winning song “Distratto” went #1 in the iTunes charts and received double platinum. By now Francesca has recorded two albums Cigno Nero and Magnifico. She has also written and sung of the Spiderman Soundtrack song “Amazing”. Watch Francesca singing her song “Nice To Meet You”.

The Song “No Degree Of Separation” is a modern love ballad with a silent discreet melody, which can make addictive when listening to it for a couple of times. This song has style and approach and has already become a great radio hit in Italy. This is another good evidence that Italy belongs to the Eurovision Song Contest, as it always provides good entries and many of them become evergreens.

History

• Debut: 1956
• Participations: 43
• Victories: 2
• Finals: 42
• Top 10: 31
• Chance for Top 10: 72 %

For Italy it’s the 43rd time participating in the Eurovision Song Contest! The original idea of the ESC resulted from the Italian music festival called “San Remo Festival” which started in 1951 for the first time and it’s still exciting and very popular. The winners or participants are often the representatives for Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest. The concept came up to do a similar contest on an international level, which has become reality in 1956. Normally one of the winners of the San Remo festival has been chosen to be the Italian representative for the ESC. In the ESC Italy has only won twice “Non Ho L'étà” by Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964 and “Insieme: 1992” by Toto Cutugno in 1990.

Over the years many of the Italian contributions became hits or even evergreens all over Europe and are strongly connected with typical Italian music like “Per Lucia” by Riccardo Fogli in 1983 (11th), “Gente di Mare” by Umberto Tozzi & Raff in 1987 (3rd) and “Fiumi di Parole” by Jalisse in 1997 (4th) and lately the tenor trio Il Volo with “Grand Amore” (3rd). Furthermore there were many Top 10 rankings for Italy – 4 times 2nd and 5 times 3rd -, so it’s one of the most successful countries in Eurovision. The chances for a Top10 placing are enormously high with 72%.

Italy has paused for twelve years (1998 – 2010) until the Italian broadcaster RAI has decided to return in 2011, this has been highly appreciated internationally, as Italy is known for high quality music. Luckily, Italy shaped up very well in Düsseldorf with “Follia D’Amore” by Raphael Gualazzi who came 2nd. One year later with “L’Amore E Femina” by Nina Zilli a 9th rank could be reached. One year later Marco Mengoni could even make a respectable 7th place in Malmö, while the 2014 entry "La Mia Città" by Emma Marrone only reached the 21st place in Copenhagen, but therefore Il Volo could make the Italians proud again with “Grande Amore” and a 3rd place!