Italy Walks Out of Eurovision for Thirteen Years

MAY 15 1997 · 12:00

RAI (boycott) · "N/A" · Italy · 1997 Language: N/A · Venue: N/A · Host: multiple, multiple · Type: boycott · Broadcast: digital hd Italy — Eurovision's founding member — withdraws after 1997 and doesn't return until 2011. The reasoning published by RAI: Eurovision had become 'too commercial', 'no longer reflective of Italian musical tradition', and 'disconnected from Sanremo'. Italian pop stars throughout the era — Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, Gigi D'Alessio, Giorgia — refuse Eurovision approaches. When Italy returns with Raphael Gualazzi's 'Madness of Love' in 2011, the boycott has lasted 13 years. Context Sanremo had always been Italy's dominant pop festival. The 1990s-2000s saw Eurovision migrate eastward with Baltic and Caucasus additions; RAI felt the contest had moved away from Italian chanson aesthetics. The pipeline of Sanremo winner → Eurovision entry that Italy had pioneered in 1956 was abandoned. Italian pop producers recommended against participation. Legacy Italy's return in 2011 reignited the Sanremo-Eurovision link; Gualazzi finished 2nd. Subsequent Italian entries (Emma 2014, Il Volo 2015, Francesca Michielin 2016, Mahmood 2019, Måneskin 2021 win) restored Italian prestige. The 1997-2010 boycott era is now cited as a cautionary tale about cultural self-isolation in Eurovision. Italy became a Big Five country on return.