Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Italy participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Grande amore", written by Ciro Esposito and Francesco Boccia. The song was performed by the male operatic pop trio Il Volo. Italian broadcaster RAI announced in September 2014 that the winning performer(s) of the Sanremo Music Festival 2015 would have the right to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. The selected performer would also be given the right to choose their own song to compete with at Eurovision. In February 2015, Il Volo emerged as the winners of Sanremo with the song "Grande amore". The trio accepted the invitation to represent Italy at Eurovision and decided that "Grande amore" would be their contest entry.

As a member of the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), Italy competed directly in the final on 23 May 2015 and did not have to qualify from one of two semi-finals held on 19 May and 21 May. However, Italy was obligated to vote in the second semi-final. In Italy's forty-second Eurovision appearance on 23 May, "Grande amore" finished in third place out of 27 competing songs, receiving 292 points and full marks from nine countries.

Background
Prior to the 2015 contest, Italy had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-one times since its first entry during the inaugural contest in 1956. Since then, Italy has won the contest on two occasions: in 1964 with the song "Non ho l'età" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti and in 1990 with the song "Insieme: 1992" performed by Toto Cutugno. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times with their most recent absence spanning from 1998 until 2010. Their return in 2011 with the song "Madness of Love", performed by Raphael Gualazzi, placed second—their highest result, to this point, since their victory in 1990. The nation saw further success in 2012 and 2013, placing ninth and seventh, respectively. In 2014, Emma represented Italy with the song "La mia città", finishing in 21st place.

The Italian broadcaster for the 2015 Contest, who broadcast the event in Italy and organised the selection process for its entry, was RAI. Italy has previously organised national finals and internal selections to select their Eurovision entry. Between 2011 and 2013, the broadcaster used the Sanremo Music Festival as an artist selection pool where a special committee would select one of the competing artist, independent of the results in the competition, as the Eurovision entrant. The selected entrant was then responsible for selecting the song they would compete with. For 2014, RAI forwent using the Sanremo Music Festival artist lineup and internally selected their entry. In 2015, the Italian broadcaster announced that the winning artist of the 2015 Sanremo Music Festival would be rewarded with the opportunity to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Sanremo Music Festival 2015
On 29 September 2014, Italian broadcaster RAI confirmed that the performer that would represent Italy at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected from the competing artists at the Sanremo Music Festival 2015. According to the rules of Sanremo 2015, the winner of the Campioni or Big Artists category earns the right to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest, but in case the artist is not available or refuses the offer, the organisers of the event reserve the right to choose another participant via their own criteria. The competition took place between 10–14 February 2015 with the winner being selected on the last day of the festival.

Twenty artists competed in the Big Artists category of Sanremo 2015. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants Raf who represented Italy in 1987 together with Umberto Tozzi, Lara Fabian who represented Luxembourg in 1988, and Nina Zilli who represented Italy in 2012. The performers in the "Big Artists" category were:

Final
During the final evening of the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, Il Volo was selected as the winner with the song "Grande amore". RAI later confirmed during the closing press conference for the Sanremo Music Festival on 14 February 2015 that Il Volo had accepted to participate at Eurovision.

Song selection
On 19 February 2015, RAI announced that Il Volo would perform their Sanremo song "Grande amore" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.

At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. As a member of the "Big Five", Italy automatically qualified to compete in the final on 23 May 2015. In addition to their participation in the final, Italy was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 26 January 2015, Italy was assigned to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final on 21 May 2015.

In Italy, the first semi-final was broadcast delayed and the second semi-final was broadcast live on Rai 4 with commentary by Marco Ardemagni and Filippo Solibello. The final was broadcast on Rai 2 with commentary by Federico Russo and Valentina Correani. All shows were also broadcast via radio on Rai Radio 2 with commentary by Marco Ardemagni and Filippo Solibello. The Italian spokesperson, who announced the Italian votes during the final, was Federico Russo.

Final
Il Volo took part in technical rehearsals on 17 and 20 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries. After technical rehearsals were held on 20 May, the "Big 5" countries, host nation Austria and special guest Australia held a press conference. As part of this press conference, the artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. Italy was drawn to compete in the second half. Following the conclusion of the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final. The running order for the semi-finals and final was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Italy was subsequently placed to perform last in position 27, following the entry from Albania.

The stage show featured the three members of Il Volo on stage dressed in dark suits. Il Volo's staging was kept simple, focusing attention onto the song and the performers. The background LED screens projected images of Roman columns, statues and busts with large billowing clouds of smoke displayed during the chorus. The stage lighting and colours were darker at the start of the song and intensified as the performance progressed.

At the conclusion of the voting, Italy finished in third place with 292 points behind Sweden and Russia, which placed first and second respectively. Italy received 12 points, the maximum number of points a country can give to another country, from nine countries.

Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards, first awarded during the 2002 contest, are awards honouring the best competing songs in the final each year. Named after the creator of the annual contest, Marcel Bezençon, the awards are divided into 3 categories: the Press Award, given to the best entry as voted on by the accredited media and press during the event; the Artistic Award, presented to the best artist as voted on by the shows' commentators; and the Composer Award, given to the best and most original composition as voted by the participating composers. "Grande amore" was awarded the Press Award, which was accepted at the awards ceremony by the three members of Il Volo: Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble.

Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Italy had won the public televote and placed sixth with the jury vote. In the public vote, Italy scored 366 points—an 80-point lead over Russia in second place with 286 points. The eventual winner Sweden placed third in the public televote with 279 points but was placed first by the juries with 353 points. Italy scored 171 points with the juries to finish sixth.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Italy and awarded by Italy in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Detailed voting results
The following members comprised the Italian jury:
 * Franco Zanetti (jury chairperson) – director of the music information website rockoll.it
 * Valerio Paolini – co-founder and software architect of musixmatch
 * Nicolò Cerioni – art director, stylist, videomaker
 * Barbara Mosconi – journalist
 * Flavia Cercato – radio and TV host