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The Festival of Italian Song is under way
The Sanremo Festival, the song contest held every year in the "city of flowers", began on Tuesday 24th and lasts 5 days, ending with the announcement of the winners on Saturday evening. Don't call anyone over the next few evenings: you will find them otherwise engaged, and if they say they're free to talk they are lying.
Italians always say they loathe the Sanremo Festival and can't bear the overdose of light pop songs, yet they remain glued to the screen until one in the morning to find out live who is the winner - utterly undeserving, of course. Last year 13 million Italians (some 59%) suffered this very fate.
This year the Festival will be a crucial test for the RAI, the state TV company that runs it, since it faced a barrage of criticism throughout the winter over its handling of certain information programmes and for having lost the ratings battle with Silvio Berlusconi's three private channels on several occasions.
"We intend to beat last year's audience figures", promised the director of RAI 1. The broadcast is being moderated by a popular Italian comedian, Raimondo Vianello, flanked by four other presenters including the Czech top model Eva Erzigova. All the songs in the competition, 28 altogether, were presented immediately on the first evening. What is more, this opening marathon was further extended by a performance by Madonna.
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