Sanremo, all the Sardinians who participated in the Festival: do you remember them?
The first was in 1965 Vittorio Inzaina: 23 years old, born in Telti, bricklayer by profession
From Marisa Sannia via the Ice and Tazenda, arriving at the winners Marco Carta, Valerio Scanu and Mahmood, there are several artists who have brought Sardinia to Sanremo.
The first ever was in 1965 the 23-year-old from Telti Vittorio Inzaina. Bricklayer, he had won the Castrocaro festival the year before, the "Sanremo Giovani" of those times. In Sanremo he sang with the Malagasy group Les Surfs the song We will see, which reached the final. However, the Festival was won by Bobby Solo with Se piangi, se rid.
In 1968 Marisa Sannia arrives at Ariston , an extraordinary woman who, with her shyness and her elegance, has gone from basketball to cinema to the Sanremo stage to TV . Born in Iglesias in 1947, her destiny seemed sealed by her love for basketball. And instead in 1966 he snatched his first recording contract with a debut single signed by the great Sergio Endrigo. Two years after the dream: the doors of the Ariston theater open before her . He performs in tandem with Ornella Vanoni Casa Bianca, written by Don Backy, which wins second place and will be the soundtrack of Alfredo Alfredo by Pietro Germi, with Dustin Hoffman and Stefania Sandrelli.
Sannia returns to the Festival twice more, to then collaborate with Vecchioni, De Gregori, Lauzi, Minghi, de Moraes and De Angelis .
In 1970 it was the time of Angelo Sotgiu from Gallura with the Ricchi e Poveri . Born in Trinità d'Agultu, Sotgiu and his group made their debut in Sanremo with La prima cosa bella paired with Nicola di Bari, obtaining second place. The Ricchi e Poveri will return to Sanremo 11 more times, very close to the record of Al Bano, Toto Cutugno and Peppino di Capri (15 festivals).
In 1977 the Collages from Olbia – Masino Usai on drums, Piero Pischedda on lead guitar, the Neapolitan Pino Ambrosio on keyboards and vocals, Tore Fazzi on bass and vocals, Piero Fazzi on rhythm guitar and vocals – came in second place with Tu mi rubi the soul . They will return to Sanremo in 1979 with La gente parla, in 1981 with The boys who love each other and in 1984 with Quanto ti amo. The first formation also included the singer Luciano Degortes who in 1974 definitively left the group also due to the call to military service.
In 1988 it was the turn of the Ice from Sassari. After winning the Castrocaro Festival, they bring to Sanremo in the New Proposals section, Mama, the first Sardinian song of the Festival, written by Piero Marras.
The group consisted of Andrea Desole, Massimo Cossu, Uccio Soro, Giancarlo Longoni and Paolo Zannin. «Do you know that I was born in Alghero?», she asked the frontman Gabriella Carlucci introducing them on stage. "You will sing in dialect," she added, immediately corrected by Desole. "No, we will sing in the language."
In 1991 here are the wonderful Tazenda with the Italian version of their Disamparados which, with the magic of Pierangelo Bertoli, becomes Spunta la luna dal monte. The song - a poem - won the Targa Tenco. It is not known what place it reached because the regulation of the time provided for only the first positions of the final classification to be disclosed. But the success is extraordinary. The following year, in 1992, they returned with Pitzinnos in sa gherra. In 1993, Maria Grazia Impero , from Calangianus, tries with Tu con la mia amica, while in 2001, among the New Proposals, the Isola Song – Tore Melis, Rocco Melis, Giuseppe Melis and Massimiliano Podda – arrive with Grazie.
2009-2010 is the two-year period for Sardinia: Marco Carta from Cagliari from Cagliari wins first with La forza mia, then Valerio Scanu from La Maddalena with Per tutti le volte che. For Carta, fresh from the triumph at Amici in 2008, a song written by Paolo Carta, guitarist and companion of Laura Pausini, which remains for 6 consecutive weeks at the second position of the Top Singles.
For Scanu, runner-up to Amici in 2009, a piece composed by Pierdavide Carone , at the time a student of the talent. The song, initially rejected in the late evening by the vote of the opinion poll jury, is then fished out thanks to televoting. After Sanremo it is certified platinum, with over 30,000 digital sales. Scanu will return to Sanremo in 2016 with Finally it rains.
In 2013 Ilaria Porceddu , from Assemini, finished second with "Inquilibrium" in Sanremo Giovani.
Two Sanremo Festivals for Bianca Atzei, the singer born in Milan and originally from Siamanna. In 2015 with the song Il solo al mondo , written by Kekko Silvestre, which gets the 14th place. In 2017 he returned to the Ariston with Now only you exist : the song, which reached the final, finished in ninth place. It was always the Alghero designer Antonio Marras who dressed her from head to toe.
Finally, the extraordinary Mahmood, Egyptian father and mother from Orosei: in 2018 Sanremo Giovani wins with Gioventù Bruciata , a triumph that allows him to take off the ticket for the big competition where, in 2019, he is first with the song Soldi (and second at the Eurovision Song Contest). In the latest edition of Sanremo , that of 2022, he wins hands down in a duet with Blanco with the song Chills. Some of the most beautiful verses of the song - in February 2022 most listened to song in a single day on Spotify Italy, 3 million and 384,192 times - «I wrote them in Sardinia», revealed Mahmood. Land of inspiration for many.
