Italy: Which city will host Eurovision 2022?

Rome: A total of 17 Italian cities have launched official bids to host the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest after Rome band Måneskin won the title for Italy in May with the song Zitti e buoni.

Bids have been submitted from large cities including Bologna, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Rome, Turin and Trieste, as well as provincial capitals Alessandria, Matera, Pesaro, Rimini and Viterbo.

There were also candidature bids from the smaller cities and towns of Acireale (Catania), Bertinoro di Romagna (Forlì – Cesena), Jesolo (Venice), Palazzolo Acreide (Siracusa) and Sanremo (Imperia).

The submissions have been sent to state broadcaster RAI which will decide on the winner at the end of August.
Within hours of Måneskin’s triumph in May, several cities proposed themselves as suitable candidates, ahead of the official bidding process for the 66th edition of the European song competition.

Among them was Rome which hosted the last Italian Eurovision after the victory of Toto Cutugno in 1990.

Rome mayor Virginia Raggi, currently seeking re-election, put the capital forward as the “perfect stage to relaunch the challenge.”

The 1991 edition of the Eurovision was held in Rome’s Cinecittà Film Studios while the only other time that Italy hosted the contest, following the victory of Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964, was at the Centro RAI in Naples.

Turin mayor Chiara Appendino was also quick to propose her city as a host for next year’s Eurovision, assuring that her administration is already preparing the official bid.

In its favour, Turin was already identified as a potential Eurovision venue in 2017 by RAI ahead of Italy’s entry that year, bookies’ favourite Francesco Gabbani, who failed to win in the end.

Milan is also seen as a strong candidate, given its experience of hosting the Expo in 2015. The winning city will be revealed next month.