An hour of performance is enough to understand that this won't be a crackling evening. Lillo's comedy isn't enough, nor is Pilar Fogliati's charm, much less the standout duet between Laura and Lauro: the sober opening turns, in the second installment of the Festival—a crucial test after declining ratings—into a slow succession of events, with some worthy peaks of emotion, such as the tribute to the victims of Crans Montana. Gaining a few more million viewers, compared to the 9.6 million at the opening, a full three million fewer than expected in 2025, becomes difficult. But not impossible.

We kick off with the double challenge of the New Proposals, accompanied on stage by an unsteady Gianluca Gazzoli, who at least makes us understand that hosting at the Ariston isn't something for a speaker or podcaster, no matter how successful. Four of them make it to the double challenge, but Filippucci with "Laguna" and the super favorite Angelica Bove with "Mattone" secure their place in the final, after beating Blind, El Ma & Soniko with the song "Nei Miei DM" and a (very original) Mazzariello with "Manifestazione d'Amore" respectively.

Pilar Fogliati holds her own on stage, albeit with some difficulty, when she debuts as Uvetta, the young, snobbish Roman aristocrat among the neurotic characters in the film "Romanticism." It doesn't take off as a start, but fortunately Pilar quickly returns: "When Conti called me, I was on the phone with a friend. I thought it was a teleshopping show, and I almost fainted." Lillo delivers, though he's also defused: "Better to do many things badly than one well, that's my motto." She dances unlikely choreography and dismantles the stereotypes of her Sanremo co-host: "Welcome to the festival," "let's turn the page," "the next singer will play us a tune." She stings, or rather, pushes Carlo Conti into a scathing quip about the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics: "Look, I don't have to keep repeating that we're at the Ariston, that's obvious. Where else are we?" And Conti: "At the Teatro Olimpico?" A hug to former Rai Sport director Paolo Petrecca.

It's then Achille Lauro's turn, returning to the stage where he competed four times, most recently in 2025, as a regular guest, special guest, and this time as co-host. The audience cheers him on, giving him a standing ovation for his duet with Laura Pausini on the tune of "16 marzo." But it's much more heartfelt when, shrouded in darkness, with a twenty-piece choir and soprano Valentina Gargano, he performs "Perdutamente," one of his most touching songs, but above all, the piece that the mother of Achille Barosi, who died at 16 in the New Year's Eve massacre in Switzerland, sang at her son's coffin: "If this could have comforted even just one person and done some good, for us it was a duty."

The competition: Patty Pravo, regal in ruby red velvet, LDA and Aka 7even take us to a bonfire on a summer evening, Tommaso Paradiso to a sports arena, Chiello to a club, Enrico Nigiotti to boredom, Elettra Lamborghini to a rainbow parade. And then Ermal Meta, with his story of a Palestinian girl ("Children should make noise, not silence"), the country of J-Ax, the dull rock of Bambole di Pezza, the pure rap (by Ariston standards) of Nayt, the urban-electro rhythms of Ditonellapiaga, the indie-pop of Fulminacci, the great love of Levante, the satire of Dargen, and the darkness of Fedez and Masini. The provisional top five, voted by the home audience and radio panel, are: Tommaso Paradiso, Lda and Aka 7even, Nayt, Fedez & Masini, and Ermal Meta.

In a symbolic relay race with the Milan-Cortina Games, champions Francesca Lollobrigida and Lisa Vittozzi, and Paralympic champions Giacomo Bertagnolli, led by Andrea Ravelli and Giuliana Turra, arrive at the Ariston. Arianna Fontana withdrew, having been kept home with a fever of 104°F. The dream of the choir of ANFFAS, the National Association of Families and People with Intellectual Disabilities and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, also comes true, giving new substance to "Si può dare di più," a festival classic by Morandi, Ruggeri, and Tozzi. Pausini also joins in. From the ship, another sculptural medley by Max Pezzali, and Bresh from Piazza Colombo. Finally, tributes are paid to Ornella Vanoni with her niece Camilla Ardenzi, and to the dark voice of Fausto Leali, who received a lifetime achievement award after sixty years of music. In 1968 his first Sanremo, in black and white, hosted by... Pippo Baudo, tutelary deity.

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