AN EVENTFUL SANREMO

I am watching the last night of Sanremo as I write and this is an article of mine about the 2010 Festival that was published in Italy Magazine on Thursday:

The 2010 Festival di Sanremo – the sixtieth edition - has been very eventful and, at the time of writing, there are still three evenings to go.

Controversy began last year when Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont, or, to give him his Italian title, Emanuele Filiberto Di Savoia, announced that he was going to take part. His family, by all accounts, were not overjoyed.

Then, before the Festival had even started, the singer Morgan was banned from appearing because he admitted, in a magazine interview, that he had taken crack. The Chairman of Rai Uno said that the decision had been taken because Sanremo is “a product for families and young people.” There have been many protests from Morgan’s fans.

However, everybody cheered up late on Tuesday when Susan Boyle arrived on stage. Her fans in Italy had been campaigning for months to bring her to Sanremo. Miss Boyle sang her signature song, “I Dreamed a Dream” and received a standing ovation. Earlier, at rehearsal, she had received an ovation from the orchestra, too.

Another event that pleased everybody was the appearance at the Festival on Wednesday of one of Italy’s greatest fans, Queen Rania of Jordan. The Queen, wearing Giorgio Armani Privé, was interviewed by Antonella Clerici about how she met the King and her daily life and was then asked for a recipe. Queen Rania presented the campaign 1GOAL, for the education of children in underdeveloped countries, at the Festival.

Emanuele Filiberto performed a song he had composed himself, “Italia Amore Mio”, with Pupo and Luca Canonici on Wednesday and was eliminated in the first round. His parents then said that, had he managed to reach the final, they would have travelled to Italy to support him. [Male members of the House of Savoy have only been allowed to set foot on Italian soil since 2002.] The Prince is in good company, as Toto Cutugno was also eliminated, along with Nino D’Angelo who had sung in dialect. [Dialect was allowed this year for the first time.]

Of course, anyone who is anyone – or who thinks they are - wants to be seen at Sanremo, so Patrizia D’Addario, the escort who has written a book about Mr Berlusconi, was not to be left out, arriving on Monday to promote her single, “All You Want”. She will not, however, be allowed to do so on the Festival stage.

Susan Boyle at Sanremo 2010 - I Dreamed a Dream