«Nicola Savino will organize the Dopofestival».
From the stage of the Festival dello Spettacolo, at Milan's Superstudio Più, Carlo Conti announced the name of the host who will lead the traditional post-festival late-night program. "Savino," Conti added, "will also host four special episodes of Tale e Quale Show in January."
The Festival's artistic director, interviewed by Aldo Vitali, director of TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, explained that he's still focused on selecting the competing songs. "I don't know if we'll have just one host; right now I'm just focusing on the songs. After announcing the titles, I'll think about the rest."
Conti revealed that he's divided the songs into three symbolic groups, "Paradise, Purgatory, and Hell": "For now, there are 40 good ones in the Paradise section. I'll have to eliminate some, but it's a great starting point." Work is therefore proceeding at full speed: "After the songs, I'll organize the PrimaFestival and then the Dopofestival."
As for the songs in the competition—the official rules stipulate 26 (plus four from newcomers)—"there will be maybe a couple more," Conti says mysteriously. The Festival's structure "will be the same as last year ": "Last year exceeded our wildest expectations, but every Sanremo is a different story. You shouldn't compare one edition with another: a single share point higher or lower depends on a thousand factors."
"This is the most difficult month of Sanremo for me, the month of choices," he adds. "I have to complete the puzzle, the patchwork, the bouquet of flowers. Before Spotify, it was all instinct, and I continue to trust my radio ear. It's the same instinct that Amadeus had: we come from the same world, and we do Sanremo the way Pippo Baudo taught us ."
(Unioneonline/D)