Amadeus, the Artistic Director for the 2021 Sanremo Festival, has come out with a blunt message surrounding next year’s Festival and the current Coronavirus pandemic. He had the following to say:

“The 2021 Festival, what for me is 70 + 1, must be the first post Coronavirus, that of rebirth: it must be the festival of normality after the pandemic.

An empty Ariston, or with a distant audience, the members of the orchestra being two meters apart from each other is unthinkable. So, if we were to understand that it still cannot be done without masks, the only solution would be to cancel.”

Unlike other national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest who’ve announced plans with multiple scenarios, Amadeus is adamant that an audience should be present for Sanremo to go ahead.

We should also state that Sanremo is a festival in itself and not a national selection competition. RAI invites the winner of the festival to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest. If Sanremo does get cancelled, the question does remain whether or not if RAI will invite Diodato back to represent Italy?

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: ESCXtra